Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 28, 2016.

Final three days for this General Assembly.  Here’s what HAS to happen: Pass Budget Bill, Pass Bond Bill, Pass Grant-In-Aid Bill. (Actually, they don’t have to pass a grant-in-aid bill, but who wants to tell the local volunteer fire companies and senior centers that they didn’t pass the bill?)

The budget is a done deal.  The bill has been introduced and has been laid on the table, aka DeLuca’d, in the Senate.  It can be lifted any time via a motion.  I expect the bill to reach the Governor’s desk before Thursday.  The final DEFAC numbers are causing some issues with the Bond and Grant-In-Aid bills, but nothing that some kick-the-can-down-the-road fiscal legerdemain can’t solve.

Before we examine today’s agendas, let’s look at a last-minute bill that made me go ‘Hmmm’.

A distinctively noxious odor wafts from HB 440 (Viola),  which ‘eliminates the requirement that charitable gaming organizations donate at least 40% of the organization’s proceeds to a charitable purpose…’.  Now, kids, first some history.  For years, slots and video poker machines could be found in VFWs and American Legion posts.  They were illegal but, you know, ‘veterans’. Everybody looked the other way.  Until the Markell Administration called them on it in 2013.  This, of course, created a ‘crisis’ because, you know, veterans.  Which led to SB 112 (Bushweller), the so-called ‘solution’ to this ‘problem’ because the veterans’ organizations ignored the law.  The bill was passed.  The ‘permanent solution’ is now proving to be temporary and, of course, the beneficiaries would be the serial scofflaws who ignored the laws until 2013.  The new solution:  Get rid of the requirement that 40% of the proceeds go to charitable contributions. So, first they carved out an exemption for serial scofflaws and now they seek to reward the serial scofflaws even more.  This is the creation of a benefit for a special class, and it’s a disgrace.  Can machines at FOP lodges be far behind, or do they already have them? Hey, for all we know, it’s possible that money from the SLEAF Slush fund has gone to pay for them.  But, I digress. The VFW/Legion bill was introduced last Wednesday and is already on today’s House Agenda.

One more cautionary note before we look at today’s agendas.  There are a couple of bills that got caught up in the headlights last June, and we can’t be sure that the General Assembly won’t try to run them under cover of darkness this year.  ‘Doctor’ Mark Brainard and Harris McDowell could still try to sneak through a bill giving Del-Tech direct access to your wallets. Here’s what I wrote last June:

The Del-Tech stench grows fouler by the hour.  Despite the fact that no public notice was given, as required by Senate rules, the Senate Finance Commitee (illegally) met today and voted the Del-Tech Relief Act out of committee.  It’s on today’s agenda, just as it was on yesterday’s agenda.  The difference being that only one Senate rule was violated instead of the two rules that were violated in order for it to be placed on yesterday’s agenda. Make no mistake. The committee met because of what we wrote here yesterday.  They’re gonna try to railroad this bill through, and every homeowner will pay w/o having any say over the so-called ‘Community College Infrastructure Fund’.

As Al Mascitti pointed out yesterday, this is not the first time this exact same scheme has been proposed by Del-Tech. When Lonnie George did it, he at least announced the legislation in January, which gave legislators and the public enough (or, for those of you supported it, too much) time to reject it for the blatant rip-off it was.  It’s no coincidence that Mark Brainard and the bill’s supporters waited until June 11 to introduce the bill and try to sneak it through w/o any public input. The bill still sucks. As Al also pointed out, tuition at Del-Tech is far below the national average, and a very modest increase in that tuition would pay for this scheme w/o bilking homeowners who have no interest in Del-Tech and have no idea they’re about to be bilked. I call on many of the fine legislators who inexplicably have signed onto this bill to put the brakes on this cynical maneuver.

Oh, and the D’s and R’s want this one, they just don’t want to be called on it.  I wrote about this bill last year, and what I and others wrote still holds up, except perhaps for the comments from one Mitch Crane. The bill is still nothing but a cash grab for the political parties, it’s still alive, and it still sucks.

You have been warned.

Dogs, ticks, and flea-bitten political parties share space on today’s Senate Agenda.  Let’s start with the political parties and the fleas. Or is it ‘fleece’?  Well, lookee here. If it’s late June, the parties must be pulling a fast one.  This time, it’s SB 290 (Henry),  which ‘allows the election cycle regarding contributions from political parties and political action committees to reset after the Primary Election as it does for other contributors’.  I’m not even sure that this is a particularly bad bill. I am sure that, when something like this is introduced on June 22 with only two sponsors, and it immediately appears on a Senate Agenda, someone or some someones are trying to circumvent the legislative process.  This did not suddenly appear in a party official’s fever dream, it’s been there for awhile and some cynics decided they’d sneak it through when nobody was looking.  Well, we’re looking.  Mitch Crane responds in terms that only a lickspittle lackey could love in 3…2…1.

The dog in question is the Golden Retriever, which is about to become Delaware’s Official State Dog even though the dog has no roots in Delaware.  Forget dogs playing poker.  I wanna see the golden retrievers taking part in a Maypole Dance. Rob, Rob Tornoe? Can you make this happen? That visual pretty much sums up this year’s entire Delaware General Assembly session to me.

Oh, and to complete my tortured analogy, HB 291 (Schwartzkopf), which creates a board to educate health professionals about Lyme disease, is also on the Senate Agenda. Why we need an ‘oversight board’ to do this is beyond me, but the cause is worthwhile.

Today’s House Agenda features neither the minimum wage increase bill nor the death penalty repeal bill.  Think about it.  A Democratic House of Representatives buries a modest minimum wage increase bill b/c the Chamber told them to do so. Oh, and b/c our ‘Democratic’ governor Jack Markell can’t bear the thought of having to defend this to his Greenville pals. Pathetic.  Is there nothing the Caucus can do? Do they have the votes/guts to petition it out? If so, do it.

It looks like the House is working the last group of House bills that they want the Senate to consider before adjournment. The first 15 bills on the 18-item agenda are House bills.

It will be interesting to see whether HB 418 (Mulrooney) makes it through. The bill restores about $900,000 in training funds for dislocated workers that were lost due to reduced tax revenues. It’s a 3/5 bill, so it likely needs a couple of R’s to come on board.

I don’t much like HB 357 (Smyk), and the synopsis explains why:

Importers, manufacturers and dealers of “destructive weapons” are licensed and regulated under Federal law. Under existing Delaware law, importers, manufacturers and dealers of destructive weapons are not permitted to deliver them to purchasers in Delaware who are otherwise permitted to own such weapons, such as military or police forces. This Bill will permit properly licensed importers, manufacturers and dealers to possess and store destructive weapons in this State and engage in activities associated with the sale and delivery of such weapons to (or from) qualified purchasers.

Correct me if I’m wrong.  Are police and the military having a difficult time procuring ‘destructive weapons’ for their jobs?  If not, we don’t need this.  We certainly don’t need them walking around with these weapons in their respective private arsenals.

Isn’t ‘captive insurance’ supposedly the only item in KWS’ wheelhouse?  Anyway, Rep. Bryon Short is sponsoring two bills that will keep Delaware as a ‘leader’ when it comes to captive insurance companies. Whether that’s good, bad, or indifferent is above my pay grade.

The final stench-inducing item on today’s agenda is Rep. Viola’s sop to the VFW and the American Legion.  Which is pretty much where I came in. I’m out until tomorrow.