General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., April 13, 2016
I don’t think it was on yesterday’s Senate Agenda, but this was the best, and potentially most important, bill passed yesterday. SS2/SB 130 (McDowell) creates Complete Community Enterprise Districts, and here’s the statement of policy as to what they’re supposed to do:
(1) Encourage development that maximizes the economic value to the citizens and the government of the State of both existing and new transportation infrastructure.
(2) Strategically deploy transportation funds in ways that meet the mobility needs of the people of the State at the lowest total economic cost to the people and government of the State.
(3) Encourage transportation solutions that enable the formation of new households in the State that have less than one vehicle per adult worker.
Should the bill become law, local communities could enter into agreements with DELDOT to create districts using the synergies described above.
McDowell has been at this issue for virtually his entire career. Troglodytes like Kermit Justice and a succession of like-minded Transportation Secretaries have kept Delaware far behind the national curve when it comes to innovative mass transportation alternatives. Justice fought commuter rail tooth and nail. Until, of course, his conviction for taking kickbacks. Jason330’s new BFF, Colin Bonini, was a co-sponsor, leaving only three downstate Troggs to vote no. Hocker, Lawson and Simpson.
It looks like this bill has the strong support of the current DELDOT secretary, so maybe better things are ahead. I know that this would be a boon for the ongoing Claymont renaissance, so I’m for it.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.
Today’s Committee meeting schedules. House. Senate. Click on each committee for the respective agendas.
Today’s Most Interesting Bills* in Committees (*=interesting to me):
SB 165 (Peterson): Wow! This bill completely changes school elections as we know them:
The purpose of this Act is to eliminate the potential for improper electioneering in schools being used as polling placed and to increase voter participation. To accomplish this purpose, this Act directs the Department of Elections to conduct all public school elections by United States mail and requires that all voters participating in such an election be registered voters.
This Act also provides that all public school elections will be held on the same day, the second Tuesday of May. This includes referendum elections under Chapters 19, 20, and 21 of Title 14 of the Delaware Code and, therefore, a school board may hold only 1 referendum election in any calendar year, on the second Tuesday of May. Senate Education Committee.
As much as I generally support and vote for district referenda, it is a bit ridiculous that they can have elections seemingly every two months when one fails. Maybe if they only had one shot a year, they’d do a better job of explaining their proposals and mobilizing support.
SB 226 (Hall-Long): Hey, if BHL and Speaker Pete say there’s a need for a new psych hospital in Georgetown, then screw the review process, or get rid of it altogether. Which is what this bill does. Any truth to the rumor that there will be a wing exclusively devoted to constitutional sheriffs? Senate Health & Social Services Committee.
HB 142 (Outten): What would back-benchers do if they couldn’t introduce special license plates bills? This time, retired firefighters. Already passed the House. Senate Highways & Transportation Committee.
HB 239 (Dukes): Worst Bill of the Week. I rarely double-down on a bill I previously covered. But this bill routs us back to the 1990’s and some of the ill-considered draconian drug laws that led to prison overcrowding. We all know that there is a major opiate epidemic sweeping the nation. We should know that, in large part, this was created due to the greed of pharmaceutical companies. The over-prescription of pain medications by doctors helped create this demand. Jump-started by a relentless marketing campaign for oxycontin by Big Pharma. Physicians and pharmacists are now taking the lead in trying to rein in this epidemic. For those unfamiliar with the roots of this epidemic, I highly recommend this book, especially to legislators. So, El Som, blahblahblah, what does the bill do? Glad you asked. The bill creates a new crime: Drug Dealing–Resulting In Death. Meaning added charges and sentences for the schlub who sold the drug if it turns out that the purchaser died. As if that’s gonna solve the problem. You can bet that PurduePharma will not be held liable under this law, although they sure as shit should be. They paid a huge fine and kept on marketing Oxy. A health professional like BHL should be ashamed to be a prime sponsor on this bill. But, when you’re running for office…Anyway, the bill just squeaked through the House, 23 Y, 10 N, 2 Not Voting, and 6 Absent. Here’s hoping that reason prevails in the Senate. Senate Judiciary Committee.
HB 285 (Keeley): A nice little bill that removes arbitrary discretion on the part of the Department of Corrections when it comes to increasing a probationer’s accountability level. The determination is to be made by the courts. House Corrections Committee.
HB 232 (K. Williams): This bill requires that the State Board of Education “accept(s) public comment on all agenda items at its meetings, including charter school applications and changes to regulations. The Board is not required to accept public comment concerning student disciplinary appeals. The Board retains discretion to limit the manner, length, and timing of public comment at its meetings.” House Education Committee.
HB 296 (Viola): This is why I do the updates. Because it’s better than fiction. This bill would designate the Golden Retriever as the Official State Dog of Delaware. Why? Because it’s a really cool dog. Didja know that both Reagan and Ford had them as White House pets? (Reagan’s dog doubled as Secretary of Agriculture, little-known fact. Hey, he was the best-qualified applicant.) Didja know that they can be service animals (as can several other breeds and, yes, mutts)? They’re great with kids, they retrieve tennis balls, they’re very gentle, I get it. However, there is nothing remotely Delawarean about the Golden Retriever. Laid-back Californian, yes. OK, I think I get it. There was probably a class somewhere, and the legislator challenged them to come up with a bill, and he would show them how a ‘bill becomes law’. And the kids came up with this. But, if this happened in all 50 states, it’s possible that the Golden Retriever would be the State Dog in all 50. I really hope that someone acts like a grown-up here. Besides, I have a serious proposal for the State Dog, and it would actually do some good: The Rescue Dog as the Delaware State Dog. You’re welcome.
HB 274 (Mulrooney): Appears to expand the bargaining rights of public employees. I don’t know the technical ins and outs, so could someone fill in the blanks for me?
Today’s Senate Agenda consists of bills that are listed as ‘Out of Committee’ even though they’re also listed on the committee schedule. Nevertheless, they appear to be bills that make incremental improvements when it comes to protecting people from domestic violence, so they should pass easily. The House does not generally have a Wednesday agenda, and today is no exception.
How about “drug sniffing dog” for state dog?
SB 165 (Peterson): Wow! This bill completely changes school elections as we know them:
“The purpose of this Act is to eliminate the potential for improper electioneering in schools being used as polling places and to increase voter participation.”
This is kind of a non-issue for me. Red Clay’s trip-up was not ensuring clear unimpeded access to voting booths.
“To accomplish this purpose, this Act directs the Department of Elections to conduct all public school elections by United States mail”
I’m okay with vote by mail. Several other states do it and it seems to relieve issues pertaining to voter access.
…” and requires that all voters participating in such an election be registered voters.”
This seems like a (poorly) veiled GOP style “guard” against non-existent voter fraud & impersonation. The ability to have taxes levied against you is not tied to voter registration status. Personally I don’t see a need to be a registered voter to say I want my taxes raised or not.
“This Act also provides that all public school elections will be held on the same day, the second Tuesday of May. This includes referendum elections under Chapters 19, 20, and 21 of Title 14 of the Delaware Code and, therefore, a school board may hold only 1 referendum election in any calendar year, on the second Tuesday of May. Senate Education Committee.”
I hated having to try 3 times to get a referendum passed. That’s no way to fund schools. Current law says Districts can only try twice in a rolling 12 month period, with a mandatory 60 day wait between tries. Don’t know that this is a real change. Where it would help is in removing the responsibility of Boards of Education to vote on a referendum date. That would actually do a favor to Districts whose Boards are dysfunctional.
Secondarily, School Districts are required by Delaware code to notify staff of job status for the following school year by certified mail on or before May 15 each year. To do this, Districts must have a concept of what their funding resources will look like in the coming year. Holding a referendum vote that far into May means only one thing from a teacher job status point of view: Districts will issue higher numbers of layoffs prior to the 15th of May every year going into a referendum year in order to financially prepare themselves in case the referendum fails.
Let’s apply this timeline to Christina’s May referendum last year. May 13 was the second Tuesday. It would be impossible to notify staff of job status by certified mail in less than 48 hours, which means the District would have had to pre-emptively do layoffs in excess. (Which they did anyway, but that was because we also failed in February; two tries in < 12 months). Pre-emptive excessive layoffs followed by a 5/13/15 referendum failure: would essentially give us the current school year in Christina. But without being able to try again until May 11 this year, the District would have to do excessive pre-emptive layoffs again for school year 2016-17 forcing an even more austere situation in the classrooms. I'm not a fan of the current system, but (as someone living this) this bill would actually put school districts in even more dire predicaments each spring. "Maybe if they only had one shot a year, they’d do a better job of explaining their proposals and mobilizing support." If lack of support and messaging were the only reasons referenda failed, you'd have a point.
‘Drug-sniffing dog.’ Now THAT suits Delaware perfectly. We can then make cops ‘the Official Dog Companion of Delaware’.
Thanks for the context, Brian.
Couldn’t agree with ElSom more about the Rescue Dog deserving to be the First State’s official canine. The legislature should make the Rescue Cat the state’s official feline too. Too bad Sen. Katz isn’t around anymore to sponsor that bill.
I predict “Drug Dealing–Resulting In Death” will pass. The only thing Leg Hall likes more than kicking the highly kick-able is making up special license plates.
Thank you to Brian for his excellent comment.
My concern with this bill is if school board and referendum elections are to be done by mail, then why do we need to designate a specific date in May to hold elections? I’m guessing that date would just be the day all mail-in ballots are due? Will the postage be paid? I see that as a poll tax if people have to pay their own postage. I’m guessing the money saved on not staffing polling places would be used to pay the postage?
Yeah, Jason, it’s gonna pass. You have BHL and Poore as sponsors along with Marshall and Ennis. 4 D’s along with the R’s, and it passes. And others will be on board as well.
How will they ever prove that the drugs that resulted in death came from a particular dealer and that they resulted in death? Sounds like a mess. I’m all for punishing the dealers while helping the addicts, but this one just seems like a stretch…
Mike Matthews: what’s your take on Mulrooney’s HB 274? The main difference seems to be in Sect. 1(c) changing the language “The exclusive bargaining representatives of all the employees shall join together to bargain collectively for that unit” to “Where a majority of employees are represented… the exclusive bargaining representatives of those employees shall join together … to bargain collectively for the represented employees..”
That looks like a change from “All employees represented bargaining for all employees” to “Majority of employees represented bargaining for majority of employees”.
The other standout change is that contract negotiations must commence July 1 in the year prior to expiration of the current agreement, rather than the current “at least 150 days before the expiration of the current agreement” and if no agreement is reached by Sept 1, parties shall enter into mediation.
I’m not a union guy so I honestly don’t really know what the deal is. Some of names on the Sponsor list seem to indicate this is a legit bill though.
Regarding the psych hospital bill – El Som, have you read any of the news coverage? The review process is being hung up because a competitor company that owns other hospitals is fighting to cut the number of beds in half. Trust me that there is a tremendous demand for this in Sussex County. The lack of mental health treatment here is abysmal. The legislators are trying to fight the greedheads who are blocking this hospital in order to preserve their inadequate monopoly, and should be commended.
Besides, I have a serious proposal for the State Dog, and it would actually do some good: The Rescue Dog as the Delaware State Dog. You’re welcome.
Not to burst your bubble, but Mayor Brian Shupe of Milford has been circulating a petition since March to have the Rescue Dog as the State Dog, you can find a link to his petition below:
Bryan Shupe
March 24 at 6:24pm · Milford, DE, United States ·
..
Yesterday several State Reps started a Bill to name the Golden Retriever as the State Dog for Delaware. Who will join me in asking these Reps to consider the ‘Rescue Dog’ as Delaware’s State Dog ?
Will you sign to help designate the ‘Rescue Dog’ as the official state dog of Delaware? https://www.gopetition.com/…/rescue-dog-as-official-state-d…
Let’s see if we can get some movement here https://www.facebook.com/RescueDogDelaware/
‘Rescue Dog’
Is that a specific breed? Do we really need to spend time on an official pet? Perhaps instead we can review the DE Code and determine why the penalties are so low for inhumane treatment of pets or why the code doesn’t require law enforcement to employ non-lethal methods of containing a pet.
“I really hope that someone acts like a grown-up here.”
Yeah me too. That’s not my expectation though. It remains merely a hope.
The state dog should be my dog Rags. Like Delaware he is scrappy, but lovable.
anon: I tried to sign the petition, but the link didn’t work.
I’ll betcha that someone like Jane Pierantozzi of Faithful Friends came up with the idea before either of us.
SW, who are the greedheads looking to cut mental health beds? I’d like to know.
Try this one:
https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/rescue-dog-as-official-state-dog-of-delaware.html
That worked. I signed. #283. It’s easy. Please sign!
El Som: Here you go. Tip: Google.
John McKenna, group director for Universal Health Services in Delaware, said officials are objecting to the size and scope of the hospital –– not the fact that another mental health provider is coming into the area. McKenna said there should be more of a focus on outpatient treatment slots, which is typically handled within a several-hour visit, and includes counseling.
“We concede that services are needed and I think we welcome another provider coming into the state, but what we are concerned about is the scale of the project,” McKenna said. “We do think that 90 beds is way excessive and suggest that if there are beds to be constructed that they be about 50 percent of that amount.”
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/health/2015/12/16/new-sussex-psychiatric-hospital-could-face-roadblock/77409340/