The bill raising the minimum age for purchasing deadly weapons was voted out of Senate committee yesterday and is scheduled for today’s Senate Agenda. 3 of 5 members voted to release it, but the committee report doesn’t specify who the third vote was. The third person who voted to release the bill clearly opposes the bill, as he voted to release it with an ‘unfavorable’ ranking. Which brings us to a brief Teaching Opportunity. Yay! A legislator can either vote to release a bill from committee or against releasing a bill from committee. Once a legislator votes to release a bill from committee, they must sign the backer of the bill and release the bill with a vote of ‘favorable’, ‘on its merits’, or ‘unfavorable’. Whichever choice they make doesn’t matter as long as they vote to release the bill. In this case, someone opposing the bill agreed to allow it to move forward. My guess is that it was Sen. Ennis, since he’s a definite no. Had Lavelle opted to vote to release it, he likely would have signed it out ‘on its merits’, since he likely doesn’t want to commit to a no vote on the floor. I think the bill will pass, as only Ennis is likely to vote no on the D side, Cloutier is a yes, and Lopez, DelCollo, Lavelle, and Simpson are all in play.
Oh, here’s something interesting. Sen. Marshall introduced a new minimum wage bill yesterday. More steps through 2021 with a minimum wage of $10.25 by then. Rep. Paradee is a sponsor of the bill, meaning that, once Sen. Bushweller leaves, there will be one more vote for minimum wage in the Senate. I wonder if there’s a method to what Marshall is doing beyond an electoral one.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. The Senate approved several nominees. Other than that, all the action was in committee.
Number One With A Bullet on today’s House Agenda is the School Impenetrable Fortress Act. Oh, the bill has a fiscal note. I looked at it. Fiscal notes project out for three years. The official cost projections for those years if the bill becomes law? ‘Indeterminable’. For all three years. I will refrain from insulting your intelligence by stating/asking the obvious. We’ve previously discussed the other notable bills on the agenda.
Except…HB 349(Keeley), which ‘creates a Delaware Commission on Irish Heritage and Culture’. I don’t think the State should be in the business of underwriting these ventures into ethnic triumphalism. It’s not as if anybody needs a state-sanctioned body to promote Irish heritage and culture. Yes, I know that there have been other similar bodies created by the General Assembly, and they are equally devoid of the need for state-sanctioning and funding. BTW, you can be sure that this ‘Commission’ will be stuffed with pols, ex-pols, and hangers-on. A social club, in other words. Of which there are already plenty in Delaware.
In addition to the deadly weapons bill, the Senate Agenda also features HS1/HB 287 (K. Williams), which passed the House but not without some controversy. We’ll see if any amendments are forthcoming.
Following today’s session, the General Assembly takes a two-week break. Giving me time to focus on what’s really important in my life…fine-tuning my fantasy baseball team.