Let’s review yesterday’s Session Activity Report as a jumping-off point for what is sure to be a magnum opus today.
Pretty much every bill discussed yesterday passed w/o controversy, including, unfortunately, SB 61(Hansen), which will send yet more state dollars down the rabbit hole of bribing businesses to come here.
The one exception to this Era Of Good Feelings was the roll call on HB 5(Longhurst), a bill that provides judges more sentencing discretion when it comes to the ‘stacking of sentences’. While 8 Rethugs voted no, they were joined by 2 D’s, Lumpy Carson and Brainard Lickspittle Bill Bush. While there have been a few duds in the freshman class, nobody on the D side approaches Bush when it comes to being this out of step.
Before I highlight bills of interest in today’s committee meetings, I just can’t resist discussing one bill on today’s Senate Agenda. And, no, it’s not Dave McBride’s quixotic quest to align our citizenry with the good folks of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland when it comes to standard time.
It’s this bill, which ‘prohibits a new adult entertainment establishment or adult-oriented retail establishment from operating in a building in which an adult entertainment establishment or adult-oriented retail establishment previously operated’. We’ve already established distance requirements that prohibit such establishments from being in proximity to schools and churches. Thanks to the efforts of Corporal (I’m not making this name up) Hancock, we’ve gotten rid of many of those sleazy adult book stores that used to be in McBride’s district on Rt. 13. Back when McBride actually lived in his district, I mean. So, if an adult establishment can’t operate in a building already approved for said adult establishments, where would they operate? If you want to try to ban them, then fine, just be prepared to challenge the First Amendment in court. It hasn’t succeeded yet. Otherwise, all you’re doing is making it someone else’s problem in someone else’s district, if indeed a problem it is. All I can say is that McBride has been obsessed about this issue since the 1980’s. Makes me wonder where this obsession comes from. I have visions of him and Ray Hancock cruising the Rt. 13 corridor in matching raincoats, sniffing snuffing out vice wherever they found it. Those were heady days.
But, I digress. Where was I? Ah, yes, committee meetings.
Starting with today’s House Committee highlights:
*The Dog That Didn’t Bark. There will be no House Appropriations Committee meeting today. Meaning, that Val Longhurst’s unfunded Clean Water bill (read yesterday’s screed) will not be considered. After all, the Budget Bill has already been introduced. As has the ‘supplemental budget bill’, aka ‘one-time only’ expenditures, courtesy of budget-smoothing.
*HB 205 (Dorsey Walker), which establishes the standards for becoming a master barber, is included only for my gratuitous purposes. Among the requirements to become a master barber is the completion of ‘a 35-hour course in shaving’. Just thought you’d like to know. Sunset.
*HB 198 (Osienski) ‘increase(s) the maximum weekly benefit amount that would be payable to claimants seeking unemployment compensation benefits from the Delaware Division of Unemployment Insurance from $330 a week to $400 a week. Labor.
*HB 4(Longhurst), the so-called JJ Johnson Sentencing Act, represents a major and positive change to Delaware’s sentencing laws. The bill ‘strikes most drug crimes from the list of violent felonies’, and a whole bunch of other reforms. Read the synopsis for yourself, it’s worth it. Administration.
*HB 175 (Brady) provides for ‘voting by mail’. Administration.
*HB 134 (Baumbach) changes the term of office for school board members to three years instead of the current 5. Education.
*HB 129 (Jaques) ‘creates a mechanism by which school boards may increase funds for a school district both with and without a referendum. This bill also provides how certain school boards may levy real estate taxes.’ Yes, this is a bandaid, albeit a necessary one, to address (a) the difficulty school districts encounter in passing referenda, and (b) the resolute refusal of politicians to authorize a statewide property reassessment. I strongly support this bill, although its fate is uncertain. Education.
*HB 79 (Minor-Brown) ‘requires the State food safety standards for restaurants to include a system for requiring healthy beverages to be offered as the default beverage with a combination children’s meal inclusive of a drink, sold together at a unit price’. Business Lapdog Committee.
Today’s Senate committee highlights:
*SB 106 (Brown) ‘allows the Court to suspend an amount of the fine for uninsured driving if the defendant provides evidence that they have now secured insurance, demonstrating compliance with the law.’ Transportation.
*SB 105 (Brown) increases the minimum wage in the state by increments, ultimately providing for a minimum wage of $15 an hour by January 1, 2024. Labor.
*Sen. Brown has a series of bills, each of which provides some incremental criminal justice reform. You can check them out here in today’s Judiciary Committee agenda. Oh, and for comedic relief, also check out this bill from that kooky senator from Kent County, Dave Lawson. You’re welcome.
While I already referenced today’s Senate Agenda, so nice I posted it twice, I want to mention SB 123 (McBride), which is designed to enable those leaving the corrections system to reenter society with less burdensome debt.
There, I mentioned it.
I must be getting more economical with my wordsmithing. This clocks in at under 900 words. I’m proud of myself.