Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., Jan. 22, 2019
Man, that Carney State Of The State was downright sad. Read it for yourself if you don’t believe me. Half-measures on everything except tilting the playing field to the advantage of businesses, regardless of what protections need to be sacrificed along the way. And the half-measures reflect Carney trying to get away with as little as he can on education and prison reform. Ahead, perhaps, of the courts.
Nowhere is his blinkered vision more apparent than when it comes to the budget. Allow me to quote: “I don’t believe it does any good to spend money on ongoing we know we can’t pay for in the long-term. That’s why at the end of last session, I signed an Executive Order committing to a budget that limits our spending and creates a Budget Stabilization Fund to use in an economic downturn. We will follow these principles in the budget I propose next week.”
That, my friends, is the idea he ‘borrowed’ from Ken Simpler. Circumscribe any long-term spending on essential programs by adopting a gimmick specifically designed to starve said programs. Inspired by his would-be Rethuglican challenger. Make no mistake, though. Carney LOVES the idea of ‘budget-smoothing’ as opposed to, say, higher taxes on the wealthy or a statewide reassessment. Coming later this week: Carney’s ‘budget-smoothing’-inspired budget. There will be a few small initiatives. And nothing else. Will the General Assembly go along with Carney’s lack of vision? Or will they insist on being a co-equal branch of government? I think it’s a closer call than in previous years.
If the House wasn’t under the thumb of its two leaders, all three items on today’s Agenda would at least be subject to some scrutiny: HB 34 to make sure that we’re not giving more voting rights to Rehoboth Beach LLC’s; HB 40 because that entire Ft. DuPont development project totally stinks; and SS1/SB9 because someone should ask why we’re spending even more state money to benefit Buccini/Pollin. But the deals have all been cut to get these three bills through the General Assembly by the end of January. This, of course, being the last legislative week in January. Gotta say it, the early returns on this General Assembly’s priorities are not promising.
There is, again, no agenda for the Senate. Don’t worry, though. The Schwartzkopf/Longhurst bills will be headed to the governor’s desk by week’s end.
Uh oh, didn’t take long for Harris McDowell to peddle Mark Brainard’s Del-Tech ‘taxation without representation’ scheme this session. For at least the third consecutive session, this bill threatens to saddle taxpayers with funding Del-Tech w/o any vote by the taxpayers, but merely with the affirmative vote of the college’s board of trustees (gee, that should be difficult to get). I am especially concerned that freshman Senators Brown, Lockman, and Sturgeon have signed on as co-sponsors. I can only hope that they did that as a matter of courtesy w/o understanding what a rip-off this is. Uh, if one of them is your senator, you might want to remind them that this money grab is undeserved. Oh, and McDowell is trying to rush this bill out of committee while nobody’s looking. It’s scheduled for a committee hearing tomorrow. This is a change in tactics. In past years, he tried to sneak it through at the end of session. Now, he’s trying to sneak it through before everybody knows what’s going on. This bill should not be rushed through w/o proper public input. I would ask the committee members, which include my state senator, Cathy Cloutier, to keep the bill in committee for now. Unless they want to explain to their constituents why their taxes were raised to fund an already well-funded institution without their input.
See ya tomorrow for Committee Day.
A statewide property tax is needed, but not for the bloated budget of DelTech. It should be used for primary and secondary education. That would raise a lot more than the paltry $20 million Carney said he would devote to low-income students while promising not to “throw money” at the problem.
Man oh man Carney needs a primary opponent.
Someone starts at 45% of the primary vote if they simply said – “There is plenty of money in this state. Our problem is that our state’s wealth is being hoarded and off-shored by the very companies John Carney claims need ongoing support.”
We run a tax haven of world renown. Millions are laundered through our little shire on a daily basis. But those who can pay the few hundred grand in vigorish get to do it. And we have to keep doing it, apparently.
So what’s happening with hb41 to move up the primary bill or will they pass it when no one is looking so everyone will be late filing?
No. The bill as written wouldn’t take effect until the 2022 cycle. Plus, there’s not real unanimous support for this bill. At best, it’s got a 50-50 chance of passage. This one will take awhile, may not ever hit the floor.
Thanks for the info el som. They redraw the Lines soon too. Oh boy
That actually could have an impact on the effective date of the legislation. The Census should be completed in 2020, although, who knows with this Administration. Lines need to be drawn in time for the 2022 election. I don’t know how much in advance of those elections the lines need to be drawn. But if, say, all the lines aren’t drawn until June or later of 2021 (keep in mind that the counties can’t draw their lines until after the General Assembly redraws theirs), then there would be less than a year until the primaries. Maybe several months less. Don’t think that would fly.
The bill takes effect Jan 2020. It’s the last line.
Ugh, you’re right. That’ll never fly. Bill will almost certainly have to be amended to provide for a later effective date.
Why?
Because, even if the bill makes it through this year, it will be at least a few months down the road. At some point, the sponsor will almost certainly have to change the Effective Date due to the need to effectively implement the bill and to provide proper notice for prospective candidates.
Of course, having said that, I notice that the bill is scheduled for consideration in Pete ‘n Val’s catch-all committee. They’ve both had primary challenges, and would prefer not to have them. So, you never know.
If he is indeed ahead of the courts on education funding its only because Judge Laster is prodding him from behind with his gavel. The “we can’t just throw money at it” line indicates his level of passion and commitment for this. The WEIC report has been out for almost 4 years now and nothing has been done.
Exactly. To Carney, spending money to address a problem is the same as throwing money at the problem.
I think Jose Mattews of Red Clay Board has the best analysis of Gov’s anemic education plan:
Earlier this week, I attended the monthly Red Clay Community Financial Review Committee meeting. At that meeting, we were brought up to speed on Governor John Carney’s plan to invest $60 million over three years for our English learners and students living in poverty. I applaud the governor for being the first to finally recognize that these two groups of students need more resources to be successful.
However, I’m a STEM kid, so I immediately began calculating in my mind what this would actually bring our schools. $60 million divided by three years equals $20 million. Using data from past grants Red Clay has received (like Race to the Top), my estimate is Red Clay will get between $2-3 million per year. The average full-time teacher employee in Delaware costs us about $100,000 per year in salary and benefits, which means if our district decides to spend this money on more teachers to lower class sizes or provide more professional staff, we will be able to hire about 20-30, which isn’t even one additional teacher per school.
While I am so thankful that the governor is giving these groups of students the long-overdue attention they deserve, I find I’m in agreement with the ACLU’s comment in the attached article on this — we must do more and we must do better and we need a systemic fix beyond three years.
(NOTE: Red Clay’s current annual operating budget is roughly $250 million. So, this literally will only be about 1% of additional funds, as the ACLU Executive Director says in her quote from The News Journal.)
I’ve spoken with teachers in our schools and they are asking for many more educators to reduce class sizes dramatically in our neediest schools. I’ve spoken with administrators in our schools and they are asking for more money for vibrant after school programs and extracurricular activities for students. I’ve spoken with specialists in our schools and they are begging for one, two, or even three more guidance counselors or social workers in our schools to work with students suffering trauma and mental health issues.
Gov. Carney is demanding results from this investment and I’m with him: We need results. I am just not believing that this investment — which, no doubt, is sizable in its sum, but lacking when broken down into 19 school districts and two dozen charter schools — is going to do what it needs to do once we calculate how these numbers will actually impact our schools.
It’s a start. This money needs to get to our classrooms, but let’s keep this conversation going and get even more to our students who need it the most! I’m still of the belief that one of the biggest things we need to do for our students is fully fund Kim Williams State Representative, 19th District and Sen. Nicole Poore’s Basic K-3 special education bill and I’m hoping the legislature will do that this year!
BREAKING: State House Of Reps to vote on legislation to help furloughed Federal workers:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/22/delaware-legislature-vote-helping-furloughed-federal-workers/2643627002/
Bills are being introduced today and voted on today in the House. Exigent circumstances being what they are, I support the unusually quick process. Here are the two bills:
http://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=37111
http://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=37112
4 Rethugs voted against protecting Federal workers from stuff like foreclosures. They were Collins, Morris, Shupe (didn’t he fashion himself as some sort of moderate?), and Vanderwende. Three rookies and the most right-wing of all Repukes.