Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., March 26, 2019

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on March 26, 2019

Will the NRA once again kill common-sense gun reform? It’s possible. The House is scheduled to consider HB 63(Lynn) today.  The bill:

…revises the crime of “unlawfully permitting a child access to a firearm,” an existing class A misdemeanor under Delaware law. The offense is renamed “unsafe storage of a firearm” to place emphasis on firearm safety and proper storage. Under the revised statute, a crime is committed when a person intentionally or recklessly stores or leaves a loaded firearm where a minor or other person prohibited by law, or “unauthorized person,” can access the firearm, and the unauthorized person obtains the firearm. The unauthorized person’s use of the firearm to inflict serious physical injury or death is not an element of the offense, but is an aggravating factor.

Got that? The bill’s intent is to make sure that minors and other unauthorized persons don’t get access to loaded weapons. The bill passed the House last year, but was buried in Senate committee, thanks to NRA opposition.  Senate leadership has promised that the bill will be brought to the floor this year–if it again passes the House. You’d think that’d be a no-brainer.  But the bill was in some jeopardy b/c  the NRA was putting a lot of pressure on at least one freshman legislator.  As luck would have it, he’s my state rep, Ray Seigfried. Over the weekend, I expressed my strong support for the bill with him, and though he was non-committal then, he announced at tonight’s Arden Town Meeting that he would vote for the bill. He did the right thing, and it’s possible that hearing from people like me might have helped.   Here is how you can do the same–regardless of who your state rep happens to be, courtesy of Delaware United:

NOW is the time to write to your State Representative to express your support for this bill – we’ve made it easy for you to do here. Then why not follow up with a phone call on today? And, if you can, we implore you to come down to Dover and testify on the floor. The opposition is sure to be out in force.
 
What this bill does is simply place an important emphasis on firearm safety and proper storage in homes where people who are unauthorized to handle a firearm live or spend time – including children. It does not abdicate the rights of lawful gun owners, or place any unreasonable restrictions on anyone. It is a purely common sense piece of legislation. Yet, the gun lobby has been coming out in force. That is why we need your help.
 
Read the text of the bill here and find a phone number for your Representative here. If you’d like to see a great explanation of what the bill will do when it is passed, watch this interview with Representative Lynn.
HB 63 is the only real bill of substance on today’s House Agenda, and its passage is essential to make clear to the NRA and to those who support common-sense gun reform that it’s no longer business as usual in Dover.
 
There is now yet another Senate Substitute bill to send money Del-Tech’s way.  SS2/SB 50(McDowell) appears to have issues as well.  So much so that even John Carney has been roused from his torpor to express concerns:
Speaking Thursday on the revised bill before the vote was postponed, the governor said he does not believe it is “sound fiscal management” even while he understands and sympathizes with DelTech’s needs.
You have to marvel at Carney-speak.  Anyway, I’m pretty sure he was referencing the first revised bill, not the second revised bill, which, and how pathetic is this…:
…provides that it is the intent of the General Assembly to appropriate at least $10 million for deferred maintenance for the next 5 years to be deposited to the Fund together with such other funds as may be deposited by the College from sources including, but not limited to, tuition and fees, private funds, non-state grants and federal support.
So, I don’t think that ‘intent’ and ‘commitment’ are the same thing. One session of the General Assembly cannot bind future sessions of the General Assembly.  In other words, this bill isn’t nearly as effective as a signed contract. But here’s where they might be trying to pull another fast one. From the body of the bill:
Further, it is the intent that the General Assembly fully fund the College’s annual capital improvement request for Critical Capital Needs/Deferred Maintenance.
Oh. So, let’s just say that Del-Tech has something approximating $80 mill in deferred maintenance requirements.  If the ‘intent’ of the General Assembly is to provide some $50 mill to meet this need over the next five years, does the previous line also mean that it is the ‘intent’ of the General Assembly to pony up an additional $30 mill during that time? And can that ‘intent’ be taken to the bank? Or the bond market?
 
I’m sorry. Del-Tech turns out the type of workforce suited to the needs of our state. But plenty of people already get free education to Del-Tech through state programs, as well they should. Is it asking too much to have Del-Tech at least charge a little more for those who are able to pay for their education?  Why is that seemingly the last resort in this case and not the first resort? And how/why did Del-Tech ignore this problem for so long? Especially since the institution had the General Assembly wired? All ‘killing your parents and begging for mercy from the judge b/c you’re an orphan’ analogies apply.
 
The bill is on today’s Senate Agenda, even though, like SS1/SB 50, it wasn’t considered by committee.  I, for one, doubt that it will be run today.
 
I strongly support SB 8 (Walsh), which ‘makes compensation a mandatory subject of bargaining for any group of (state) employees who have joined together for purposes of collective bargaining and certified a labor organization to serve as the group’s exclusive collective bargaining representative’.  This is one bill that may well benefit from the defeat of Greg Lavelle.  Senators Bruce Ennis and Trey Paradee are on the bill as co-sponsors, as is Cathy Cloutier. With those three on board,  I think it’s gonna pass.  Ennis and Paradee have generally been very good on minimum wage and state employee issues, and Cloutier is moving further left as she faces reelection.
 
Be back tomorrow with a committee preview.  While relatively sparse in numbers, there are some serious bills that we will discuss.
 
 
 
 

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  1. Alby says:
    March 26, 2019 at 8:58 am

    There’s probably a reason the GA either can’t or won’t simply issue bonds itself as part of the annual bond bill, just as it does for K-12 school construction. Does anyone know what it is?

  2. mouse says:
    March 26, 2019 at 9:11 am

    I can’t find any limits on how much they can issue or any limitation?

  3. Stewball says:
    March 26, 2019 at 9:12 am

    Isn’t there a statutory limit on how much the state can borrow every year in the bond bill? I think it is 5 percent of total revenues based on DEFAC projections. So the state can only sell bonds up to a certain amount, and then the rest of the Bond Bill is funded with cash not appropriated by the JFC in the operating or Grant in Aid budget. El Som may remember more of the dirty details than I do but I think I am pretty close. The statutory limit on bonding limits the amount of money that can be allocated, especially in tight years when there’s not much leftover cash when JFC is done. If DelTech is guaranteed a certain amount every year in the bond bill, it could greatly limit what is left over for other agencies and needs.

  4. Arthur says:
    March 26, 2019 at 9:51 am

    The NRA is a group that receives money from donations and “membership” correct? They dont actually sell anything right? The bill says ‘guns should be locked up safely” so why doesnt the NRA support these bills and partner with a gun safe company to have the safe say NRA approved and they get a few bucks from each sale. my long guns are in a gun safe and my hand guns are in individually locked cases. its not a hard thing to do.

    and why doesnt del tech do what uofd, del state, wesley, and every other college do and fundraise through their graduates?

  5. El Somnambulo says:
    March 26, 2019 at 9:53 am

    Looks like the News Journal has contracted out its legislative coverage to the Associated Press:

    https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/03/26/delaware-lawmakers-vote-community-college-bonding-authority/3275018002/

  6. William(Bill) Bowden says:
    March 26, 2019 at 3:46 pm

    Two different DelTech viewpoints at Delaware Online this afternoon:

    Matt Albright
    https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/readers/2019/03/26/opinion-do-lawmakers-support-deltech-much-they-say-they-do/3277705002/

    Me
    https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2019/03/26/opinion-deltechs-infrastructure-problems-merit-more-scrutiny/3278500002/

  7. El Somnambulo says:
    March 26, 2019 at 6:18 pm

    HB 63 BARELY passed the House today. 22-19. D’s voting no: Andria Bennett; Mark Brainard’s proctologist Bill Bush; Lumpy Carson; and Quin Johnson. R’s voting yes: NONE.

    That Rogue’s Gallery of D no’s all deserve serious primary challenges–not just for this vote, but for their comprehensive records of voting more as R’s than D’s.

  8. El Somnambulo says:
    March 26, 2019 at 6:20 pm

    Harris McDowell’s latest sop to Del-Tech passed today, 19 Y 1N (Lawson), I NV(Delcollo).

  9. jason330 says:
    March 26, 2019 at 10:11 pm

    Representative Shannon Morris, R- Wyoming, voted against the measure.

    “I believe this bill infringes on the spirit if not to the letter of our state Constitution by restricting access to firearms for the use of defense of self, family and home and by law abiding citizens,” Morris said.

    Such bullshit. The only way you could vote against this bill is if you want to protect the rights of irresponsible gun owners to act irresponsibly.

    • Alby says:
      March 27, 2019 at 6:44 am

      They run from their noisiest constituents. Which is why RE Vanella has the right idea — we have to make more noise than the idiots.

  10. Rufus Y. Kneedog says:
    March 27, 2019 at 6:51 am

    A couple of notes on DelTech from their website:
    The board is appointed by the Governor, 6 members and a chair.
    One member each from Wilmington, NCCo outside Wilm, Kent, Sussex, two more at large.
    Their meeting minutes are supposed to be posted online once they are approved but the last full board meeting minutes posted are almost a year old with several in between. Often that happens when a board can’t get a quorum which is a sign of a disengaged board. Committee meeting minutes are supposed to be posted too but many of those are also lagging. It doesn’t say if the meetings are open to the public, location is TBA.

    • Alby says:
      March 27, 2019 at 7:01 am

      Thanks for checking that out.

      I have no problems with the state funding a community college. I DO have a problem with that community college being run as a nepotistic political feather bed.

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