Death Penalty Repeal Released from Committee, but may face defeat on the floor.
House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Larry Mitchell announced today that he has taken action to release the bill to repeal the death penalty (Senate Bill 40) from the House Judiciary Committee, and allegedly, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf has committed to placing Senate Bill 40 on the House agenda for Thursday, January 28. I say allegedly only because, given actions to date, I will believe it when it happens, and if it happens, than a hearty thank you is due to the Speaker. But the cynic in me wonders if the Speaker is only doing this because he knows the bill is going to be defeated, and in fact, given his agreement to do this, I must say that that is the likeliest outcome here.
As you may know, SB 40 was debated in the House Judiciary Committee last year, but it failed to secure enough votes to be released from the committee. Rep. Sean Lynn, a prime sponsor of the bill along with Senator Karen Peterson, had stated that he would petition the bill out of committee at the start of the new session. To do that, he would need the signatures or votes of the majority of the chamber (or 21 votes). That he did not do that, and instead it was Committee Chair Larry Mitchell released it on his own accord with an unfavorable endorsement, tells me that maybe there are not enough yes votes for this to pass.
So we will see how this goes. If you want the death penalty repealed and you want your Democratic or Republican legislators to vote that way, you better contact them between now and next Thursday.
An alternative theory: the speaker was getting worried that they could reach the 21 signatures necessary for a discharge, so in an attempt to preserve the appearance of power and avoid a public rebuttal of his authority/the committee chairman, Schwartzkopf and Mitchell decided to move the bill out of committee by their own hands.
I have no intel on this. Just speculating.
That’s also possible, and it fits in my cynical view of the Speaker. Hopefully you are right.
Pete is always all about Pete, so that is likely.
Word is that two of the legislators who were going to vote for Repeal cannot be there on Thursday. What a coincidence! Without those two votes, it won’t pass. Disgusting Delaware politics, especially the Democrats!!
June: If there are enough votes for passage, it will eventually pass. If a couple of pro-repeal legislators are absent, then a bill supporter will simply switch their vote from yes to no. Having then voted on the ‘prevailing’ side, said legislator can get the bill restored via a motion.
Politics at its finest. And the coward’s way out. I can definitely see the theory by “Anongirl” turning out to be fact. Not that we’ll ever really know the truth. The Speaker likes nothing more than to remind the people of Delaware that it’s his way or the highway. Probably why he didn’t decide to run for Governor and picked a Lt. Gov. candidate who would do his bidding. I’m sure he thinks in eight short years, he will be able to control both the House and the Governor’s Mansion. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong and that the Speaker’s heart grew three sizes over the break.
Now wait a minute. Nobody has been more critical of Schwartzkopf here than I have been. I just don’t see how you can criticize him for burying the bill in committee and then criticize him for helping to get the bill OUT of committee.
Let’s not be so pessimistic – we are getting the bill to the Floor.
That in and of itself is a victory.
Now let’s get in touch with our Reps and ask them to vote “yes” on SB40.
I’ve contacted my legislators, Rep. Lynn, and encouraged my friends and family (whom I know support this bill) to do the same.
Thank you for stepping out of the foxhole on this legislation.