Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., April 19, 2016

Let us consider the regal Golden Retriever. Friendly, loyal, intelligent, great family dog, great service dog.  While Wikipedia can hardly be considered authoritative,  please read this copious article on the golden retriever.  Notice what’s missing? Any mention of Delaware, that’s what. Scotland yes, Delaware no.  There is nothing remotely Delawarean about the Golden Retriever, other than the fact that some Delawareans own golden retrievers. Yet, the Golden Retriever could become the official State Dog of Delaware. For no apparent reason.  In the cosmic shape of things, this means nothing. But it’s stoopid. And that bothers me.  There are only two possible explanations: (1) John Viola, one of Delaware’s worst and most intellectually-challenged legislators, is merely performing at his expected level, or (2) This is one of these schoolkid ideas where the legislator sponsors a bill they come up with to show ‘how a bill becomes law’.  If indeed HB 296 is enacted, it will serve as an example of how a bad bill becomes law.

Speaking of bad bills, it’s been at least 10 years or so since the General Assembly considered the possibility of calling a halt to all those special license plate bills.  Needless to say, the idea never took hold.  So, we’re blessed with such bills on both the House and Senate Agendas today.  HB 280 (Jaques) creates ‘ a special license plate for recipients of the Bronze Star without valor. A surviving spouse may keep the plate after the medal recipient has passed.’  BTW, as you might expect, this bill came out of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, a committee with 30 bleeping members, because, as you know, nothing is more important than coming up with special license plate bills for those who served. BTWBTW, the House Veterans Affairs Committee has more than twice as many members as any other House committee.  Education and Health & Human Services are next, each with 14 members.  At least the General Assembly has their priorities (reelection) in order.

Not to be outdone, the Senate will consider HB 142(Outten), which creates a special license plate for retired professional firefighters.  You see, because some occupations are more important than others.  No license plate for retired teachers, for example. In fairness to the Senate, this is a House bill, and of course it passed unanimously there.

Here is today’s House Agenda.

And today’s Senate Agenda. Other than a bill requiring post-secondary school students to be vaccinated against meningitis, it’s all charter changes all the time. And, uh, special license plates.

This week’s House Committee notices.

This week’s Senate Committee notices.

Here are the bills in committee this week that interest me:

*SB 230 (Hall-Long) ‘creates the option of a supported decision-making agreement for adults who do not need a guardian but who need assistance in gathering information, making decisions, and communicating those decisions. The Act allows these adults, called “principals” in this Act, to select and appoint one or more trusted friends or relatives or a paid provider to act as a supporter. The supporter can provide assistance and guidance on issues affecting the principal, such as coordinating health care and services; making health and service-related decisions; and dealing with housing issues, daily living activities, and routine financial matters’. Seems sorta like a power of attorney w/o the power. Senate Health & Social Services Committee.

*Beer gardens appear to be a ‘thing’. A legal thing if HB 282 (Keeley) passes. Beer gardens are defined as ‘outdoor venues that operate at least 5 months, but less than 9 months, of each year and are independent of any other licensed establishment’.  All the sponsors are from Wilmington, meaning, whoever wants this wants to open it/them in Wilmington. I wonder who the ‘whoever’ is. In the House Business Lapdog Committee.

*Oh, Jeez, Frank Luntz must be consulting with the House R’s again.  Today, Greenville’s Debbie Hudson and Monsignor Greg Lavelle are pushing the, wait for it, Parent Empowerment Education Savings Account Act in the House Education Committee.  If the bill’s title leads you to suspect that this is another scheme to take $$’s away from public schools, you are correct:

This bill provides opportunities to parents of special needs students to select the most appropriate and productive educational pathway for their children by using funds otherwise allocated to their residential school district.

The co-sponsors of this legislation appeal to the General Assembly to dignify parents of special needs children, by approving an innovative experiment to empower certain parents with the authority to design their special needs children’s education plan, subject only to state approval of vendors to be managed by the state Department of Education or its designee.

And, of course, those parents who aren’t ’empowered’ will find resources even scarcer than ever. Why do Rethugs hate public education?

*Rep. Joe Miro seeks to require that all voters in school elections be registered voters. I think I support this, if only to encourage everyone to register.  House Education Committee.

*Yet another sop to veterans. HB 236 (Miro)  provides ‘a school property tax exemption for a person of any age who has been designated as a disabled veteran by the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs.’ House Education Committee.

*Could this be the Best Bill of the Week? 8-Ball sez, “Signs Point to Yes’. HB 325(Osienski)  ‘closes a loophole to our gun background check laws. The current loophole allows for guns to be given to a potential purchaser if the background check is delayed for 3 days or more. In some cases a gun is given to a person who should not be in possession of a firearm. This leads to law enforcement having to retrieve a gun from a person prohibited if the background check provides that a person should not have a gun.’  House Administration Committee.

*This one looks like grist for the demagogues.  HB 287 (J. J. Johnson) prohibits municipalities from enacting residency restrictions more stringent for sex offenders than what is in the state code. Housing & Community Affairs Committee. I know it’s not an easy issue, but, to me, the synopsis makes sense:

Additional housing availability may reduce the number of homeless sex offenders and improve consistency in an offender’s participation in the sex offender registration process. When offenders have a registered home address, law enforcement as well as probation officers can more effectively verify the registration information. A stable residence may also assist an offender in decreasing the likelihood to re-offend, and being able to track registered sex offenders improves public safety.

*OK, kids, check this one out.  By now, you are, or should be aware of the Law Enforcement Slush Fund known as SLEAF. You know, the one where the cops just take stuff from people, make money off it, and (allegedly) put all those funds back into law enforcement.  So, in typical half-assed Delaware fashion, the same cop who sponsored the original bill now proposes legislation to, as Bill Clinton might say about welfare, ‘mend it, not end it’. HB 309(Mitchell)  ‘would remove the exemption from the Freedom of Information Act that currently exists for proceedings and records of the Special Law Enforcement Assistance Fund (SLEAF), making those records and proceedings of that fund subject to the State’s existing FOIA statute’. Well, that’s good, of course. But the fund remains, and the cops can still take people’s stuff with impunity. House Judiciary Committee. Oh, and I wonder what this means…:

The Act also provides for a process by which law enforcement agencies can determine if their applications for SLEAF funds will be public records under FOIA before they decide whether to pursue those applications. 

The mind boggles.  Just what scenario would cause the the cops to not even ask for money b/c, you know, ‘the public’?  This bill does nothing to get us out from under this Police State we call Delaware.  End it, it can’t be mended.

*Finally, I hope that SS2/SB 130(McDowell) continues on the fast track.  This bill offers opportunities for environmentally-responsible economic development. I don’t know if I’ve been more excited about a bill this year.  It’s also great to see DELDOT emerge as an agent of positive change.  The bipartisan sponsorship strongly indicates that the bill will pass. I can only hope that the bill’s potential is realized once it becomes law. House Transportation/Land Use Committee.

Wow. It’s so rare to end up on a positive note.  I feel invigorated. Arf-arf!