Richard Collins. Shannon Morris. Bryan Shupe. Jesse Vanderwende. Remember those names.
Yesterday, the Delaware House Of Representatives enacted emergency legislation designed to lessen the burden of federal workers who have been caught up in the government shutdown. HB 2 (Schwartzkopf), well, let me just post the synopsis in its entirety:
This Act creates the Delaware Federal Employees Civil Relief Act which provides the temporary suspension of judicial and administrative proceedings and transactions in Delaware that may adversely affect the civil rights of Federal workers during a shutdown. This Act only applies to Federal workers who reside in Delaware. The Act permits a Federal worker who is furloughed or required to work without pay during a shutdown to apply to a court or administrative agency for a temporary stay, postponement or suspension of any payment of rent, mortgage, tax, fine, penalty, insurance premium, or other civil obligation or liability. A court or administrative agency may grant such relief if it finds that the ability of the Federal worker to pay such obligation has been materially affected by the shutdown. The length of stay may be for the period of the shutdown and 90 days thereafter. This Act also prohibits landlords from evicting a federal worker from premises that are occupied or intended to be occupied primarily as a residence. This Act also prohibits the lapse, termination or forfeiture of the health, life, disability, or motor vehicle insurance policy of a Federal worker without a court order. This Act also places limits on the interest rate that can be imposed on a Federal worker during a shutdown. Finally, this Act empowers the Attorney General to enforce the provisions of the Act and permits a court to impose a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for violations of the Act.
This bill represents pretty much all that state government can do to protect those who, through no fault of their own, are pawns in Trump’s latest temper tantrum. It’s an essential piece of legislation. Now return to those four names highlighted above. Those four Republicans voted no. If you can’t at least muster up enough empathy to protect these innocent victims and their families, then you have no business doing the public’s business in Dover. Truly shameful votes. GTFO, and allow successors with consciences to take your place.
HB 3 (Longhurst) ‘authorizes the Office of Management and Budget to partner with financial institutions and non-profit providers to establish a temporary loan program for furloughed and unpaid Federal employees as a result of the shutdown caused by a lapse in appropriations.’ This bill passed the House unanimously.
These bills represent the General Assembly at its best. It’s not easy putting together a bill as complicated as HB 2 under deadline pressure (the deadline being that the GA is out of session for the next six weeks). Yes, I approach everything with a critical eye, and a lot of what I write is negative as a result. But this legislative accomplishment is an exemplary and vital contribution to the public welfare. The Senate no doubt will follow through by week’s end. In fact, both bills are set to be heard in the Senate today under suspension of rules.
All three bills on yesterday’s House Agenda passed unanimously. I had raised questions about all three bills, ranging from whether the Rehoboth Beach Charter Change gave more voting rights to LLC’s, whether the Ft. DuPont project would ever receive legislative oversight, to whether it’s right to give Buccini/Pollin yet more state largesse. Doesn’t look like legislators had any similar questions.
Wednesday, of course, is committee day. The House never runs an agenda on Wednesdays except right at the end of the legislative session in June. Let’s check out committee ‘highlights’, starting with the Senate. First, here is the full slate of Senate committee meetings for today. Bills of interest to me:
SB 5(Hansen) seeks to address the issue of ‘individuals dumping large quantities of trash on public and private property’. Senate Transportation Committee.
HB 35 (Bolden) allows the new arena on the Wilmington Riverfront to sell alcohol. Buccini/Pollin supports it, hence, it will pass by tomorrow. Senate Banking, Business & Insurance Committee.
SB 8 (Walsh) enhances collective bargaining protections for State employees. Senate Labor Committee.
SB 50 (McDowell) enables Del-Tech to collect money from all Delawareans merely by a vote of its Board Of Trustees. A blatant money grab by perhaps the most politically-connected entity in all of Delaware. There is no way that this bill should be rushed through the Senate. This is the Delaware General Assembly at its worst. Senate Elections, Govt. & Community Affairs Committee.
And now for the House Committee highlights:
More great comprehensive manufactured housing legislation from Paul Baumbach, who inexplicably was stripped of the chairmanship of the Manufactured Housing Committee by Speaker Pete. There’s a story there. Manufactured Housing Committee.
I like this. While there are no bills being considered in today’s House Judiciary Committee, there will be presentations from both the ACLU and the Office of Defense Services. Did I mention that Sean Lynn is the chair?
Whoa. A good bill being considered in the Business Lapdog Committee. HB 24 (Bennett):
This Act would prohibit insurers and pharmacy benefit managers from engaging in the practice of “clawbacks”. When the total cost of a prescription drug to an insurer or pharmacy benefits manager is less than a patient’s co-pay, the insurer or pharmacy benefits manager keeps the difference in a practice known as a “clawback”.
That sucks, and this bill would eliminate that practice.
You’d think that this would already be law, but it’s Delaware, where ‘throwing money’ at a problem is rarely an option. HB 19 (Jaques):
…seeks to ensure that every public school in the State has a school nurse. This Act provides a mechanism to allow a district or a charter school that currently does not have a school nurse to receive State funds. This Act also permits a district to levy a tax under § 1902(b), Title 14, known as a “match tax”, to assist those districts that hire a school nurse as a result of this Act to pay for the local share of that school nurse.
It’s disgraceful that there are public schools in Delaware w/o a school nurse. It’s equally disgraceful that there is even a need to come up with this type of mechanism to close the gap. John, you’d only have to ‘throw nickels’ at this, but then you wouldn’t be true to your green eyeshade roots. House Education Committee.
HB 41(Bolden) moves state primaries from September to April. As Hmmm pointed out yesterday, the bill would take effect for the 2020 election. There has been a lively discussion here as to whether this bill would be good or bad for insurgent campaigns. I think it would be bad. I don’t think that there’s any way that Bryan Townsend defeats Tony DeLuca if this change was in effect. I also disagree with those who say that incumbents are at a disadvantage. Here’s why. The General Assembly is out of session for six weeks during what would be the height of the campaign season, end of January through mid-March, already. And nothing protects endangered incumbents more than being given a popular bill to run right before an election. I could be wrong, though. We don’t really know. But the so-called savings are negligible and do not, IMHO, justify a change. House Administration Committee.
HB 29 (Dukes). Here’s a bill I don’t like. A classic Police State bill. This bill ‘will provide that any person arrested [vs convicted] for any of these specific crimes will now be subject to DNA testing’. If you’re not guilty of anything, and there are no other justifiable reasons for taking your DNA, you should not be in the data base. Betcha I’m on the wrong side of how this ends up. Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee.
HB 25 (Matthews) ‘allows Civic Associations in unincorporated areas of New Castle County to create garbage collection districts for units in their subdivision or housing development and contract for garbage collection.’ Housing & Community Affairs Committee.
See you tomorrow for the last legislative day before Joint Finance Committee meetings. Budget smoothies all around.