General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 7, 2017

A woman’s reproductive rights will be protected in Delaware, regardless of what the US Supreme Court does.  The House (barely) passed SS1/SB5 (Townsend), which protects those rights.  The vote was 22Y, 16N, 3A. Not a single R voted for the bill. Not one. Maybe Deborah Hudson would have, but she was absent.  2 D’s voted no. Gerald Brady, who you may recall somehow conned PDD into endorsing him a few years back, and Earl Jaques. I’ll have a lot more to say about Brady in the coming days. Suffice it to say that if you live in his district, have progressive views and have ever thought about running for office, now’s the time to go for it.

BTW, it was quite the scene at Leg Hall yesterday, and here’s the News-Journal report.  If you were there, what did you see?

Here’s yesterday’s Session Report  from a very busy day. Some of the other highlights:

SB 48 (Townsend)  heads to the Governor after passing both the House and Senate.  The House had placed an amendment on the bill, so the bill went back to the Senate for final passage. The bill enables pharmacists to administer naloxene.

The Senate passed HB 99 (Williams), which ‘require(s) that a resident 65 years of age or older claiming a tax credit against school taxes must be a resident of the state for at least 10 years before qualifying for such credit’. 3 R’s voted no, Bonini, Hocker and Pettyjohn.  Hocker was a sponsor on the bill. Of note, Sen. Lopez, who likely has quite a few constituents who would be impacted by this bill, voted yes.  Good for him.

HS 1/HB 1 (Longhurst), which outlaws certain practices that perpetuate wage disparity between men and women, passed by a 37-2 vote. The two nays were Collins and Postles. The bill had passed the Senate earlier yesterday, but with an amendment requiring the second House vote. Three senators voted no, Bonini, Lawson and Simpson. Richardson and Hocker went not voting. The bill now goes to the governor.

Let’s look at today’s Senate Committee Highlights, starting with probably its most notable bill:

*SS1/SB 80 (McDowell)  essentially would permit an ‘interim rate mechanism’, aka a rate increase w/o any regulatory review, for electric utilities.   Once again the phony Chamber mantra of ‘predictability’ is bandied about. However, this increase is not needed due to any kind of necessary infrastructure upgrades. It is being sought by Exelon because, to quote Public Advocate Drew Slater:

“Exelon is not requesting this legislation because it needs more money for reliability investment; if it really needed the DSIC funds for that, it would not have agreed to cap its reliability spending from 2015-2019 to $225 million. Rather, it is requesting this legislation because DPL is not currently earning its Commission-approved 9.7% return on equity, but instead is earning around 7%…. I do not believe that company and shareholder profit should be subsidized by Delaware’s captive residential, small commercial or industrial consumers.”

In other words, they are seeking to hike their shareholders’ returns at the expense of Delaware consumers. And Harris McDowell is running interference for them. Hardly the first time that he has done so. In McDowell’s Senate Environmental, Natural Resources & Energy Committee.

*SB 109 (Townsend)  requires that Delaware Medicaid coverage includes ‘treatment of substance abuse disorders’. It’s a pretty comprehensive bill and, I think, an essential one. Health, Children & Social Services Committee.

*SB 86 (Henry)  ‘authorizes the Family Court to appoint an education decision maker for abused, dependent, neglected, and delinquent children and children in the custody of the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families…when a parent or guardian is unavailable or unable to make such decisions or consents to the appointment’. Judicial & Community Affairs.  BTW, the Judicial & Community Affairs Committee is the lumpy mattress brainchild of President Pro Tem McBride.  ‘Community affairs’ generally refers to charter changes and the like.  It really has nothing to do with judiciary which, as the name implies, deals with legal issues within the scope of the judiciary.  Just thought you’d like to know.

House Committee highlights include:

*HB 189 (Mitchell), which ‘creates a new Chapter…that will accelerate investment in mobile broadband infrastructure and ready the State for the next wave of economic development in the digital economy’. The bill also ‘authorizes wireless providers access to the State’s rights of way and establishes a Statewide policy for deployment of small wireless cells to meet the growing demand for wireless services which provide Delaware citizens with access to advanced technology, information and 911 services’.  Transportation, Land Use, & Infrastructure Committee.

*A series of bills that clarify procedures to be used in Child Abuse and Neglect incidents.  The bills are HB’s 181, 182, and 183.  Judiciary Committee.

*SB 65 (McDowell), which places sanctions on the practice of conversion therapy. Health & Human Development Committee.

*HB 120 (Baumbach), the Delaware End of Options Act, which :

“…provides an additional option which terminally ill adults nearing their death can decide to select, to lessen their pain and suffering. The bill clarifies the procedures necessary for making the request, including 1) the presentation of all end of life options which include comfort care, hospice care, and pain control, 2) a physician’s evaluation, 3) medical confirmation by a second physician, 4) psychiatric/psychological counseling when indicated, 5) the passage of two waiting periods, and 6) the completion of a formally witnessed request for prescribed medication. The bill provides many safeguards to ensure the patient is making an informed decision, the right to rescind any request for medication, and immunity for persons participating in good faith compliance with the procedures. When the process is followed with its safeguards, the terminally ill patient is provided the right to receive medication to peacefully end the patient’s life in a humane and dignified manner. “

Rep. Baumbach has been working on this issue for some time now.  I hope his efforts lead to passage. Health & Human Development Committee.

*HB 170 (Ramone), my vote for Worst Bill of the Day.  This bill would give, wait for it, yet another tax break to filthy-rich investors who agree to ‘invest capital in qualified Delaware small technology companies’. Why the fuck should we do this?  We’ve been told forever that trickle-down works. Now we’ve got to bribe the wealthmongers to allow the trickle to trickle down? BTW, this bill would cost taxpayers $5 mill a year, according to the fiscal note. In the Business Lapdog Committee. And, yes, Chairman Bryon Bleeping Short is on the bill as a sponsor.

*Last, and certainly not least, the Coastal Zone Act bill is scheduled to be considered in the House Natural Resources Committee.  With all the questions surrounding this bill, it would make no sense to try to force this bill through during the last few weeks of session.  This bill should require public hearings all over the state.  I would urge committee members to table the bill in committee pending public input.

I leave with one note of caution: Kids, pay close attention to bills introduced in June. It’s that time when lobbyists like to slip stuff through.  Keep your antennae up, I know I will.