Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 25, 2019
Let’s see…our spies report that Our PAL Val and Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore have snuck (sneaked?) $6 mill into (presumably) the Bond Bill for a levee to protect the Underground City At Ft. DuPont. And our spies report that Pistol Pete has ordered that the ‘Do Your Fucking Job’ bill aimed at Kathy Kramedas McGuiness not see the light of day.
Welcome to the last week of session. Where the corrupt and incompetent are either enabled and/or protected. Or, do the enabling and/or the protecting.
Attention must be paid. Starting with the House.
Today’s House Agenda is composed entirely of House bills. This is to be expected as the idea is to get these bills to the Senate in time for them to be considered before the end of session. Bills that interest me:
*HB 184 (Heffernan) ‘creates a classification of post-use polymers and other recoverable feedstocks and acknowledges their distinction from solid waste’ in order to ‘the development of pyrolysis and gasification facilities in Delaware and realize environmental benefits’.
*HB 77 and HB 78 (both Bolden) are part of the criminal justice reform package. HB 77 ‘aims to make the burglary section of Delaware’s Criminal Code simpler and fairer’, and HB 78 ‘aims to make the robbery section of Delaware’s Criminal Code simpler and fairer’. Judging by the co-sponsors, these are worthy bills.
BTW, there is a loaded, I mean loaded, House Education Committee meeting scheduled for today. On the agenda and of interest to me:
*The companion piece to the Louis Redding Consortium bill, which is also on the Agenda, HB 222 (Chukwuocha) ‘allows the State Board of Education to change or alter boundaries of reorganized school districts. It allows the State Board of Education to do so based upon redistricting recommendations from the newly formed Redding Consortium for Educational Equity.’
*HB 223 (Williams) is my kind of bill. Bask in the glow of its synopsis:
Since 1996, students across Delaware have participated in school choice. Currently, reorganized school districts, vocational technical school districts, and charter schools do not follow the same processes thus causing confusion and barriers for families seeking to access choice for their children. This Act aims to streamline the school choice process, making it easier and clearer for parents, guardians, and school administrators to navigate. This Act requires reorganized school districts, vocational-technical school districts, and charter schools to use a standard online application receipt and processing tool approved by the Department that is offered at no charge. It also clarifies that the application deadlines apply to all students, regardless of age or school. Additionally, it will prohibit schools from asking for additional information that does not directly pertain to an enrollment or program criterion. The bill will make the timing uniform for the ranked waitlist process. It aligns the sibling preference across all school types and eliminates the separate charter school April 1st enrollment requirement of 80% and moving to May 1st to allow for parents to make a final, informed decision. Under this bill, in the event of a mid-year termination of a pupil’s enrollment, the sending reorganized school district, vocational-technical school district, or charter school and the receiving reorganized school district, vocational-technical school district, or charter school shall enter into an agreement providing for the pro-ration of student funding based on a formula prescribed by the DDOE.
Needless to say, I’m rooting hard for this one.
*HB 170 (Heffernan) ‘increases the age requirement for compulsory school attendance in Delaware from 16 to 18 years of age’. What do our education mavens think about this? Is it better to require disengaged students to attend school for two more years, or does that damage the quality of education for those who are engaged?
Conspicuous by its absence is the aforementioned SB 159. Oh-h-h, Pete hasn’t even assigned it to committee yet, unlike every single other Senate bill that passed on Thursday of last week. Don’t believe me? Check out the status of those bills here. Every other Senate bill is in ‘committee’. SB 159 merely has ‘passed’ next to it. Pete is sitting on it. To save his friend Kathy McGuiness from embarrassment. Yo, Pete, how about you do your job by making her do hers?
Let’s head on over to today’s Senate Agenda.
The Annual Operating Budget will be headed to the Governor’s office some time today once the Senate completes work on it. Will Bonini vote no again? Is it too late to take state money away from Wesley College this year? I don’t think it’s legal for them to get any state money at all. Not that anyone cares.
*The state will throw another $750 K at two ‘agriculture horse racing programs’ if SB 145 (Ennis) passes. A waste of money, IMO.
*SB 150 (Lockman) ‘requires the Department of Education (“Department”) to establish a uniform kindergarten registration process.’
*SB 71 (Delcollo) ‘protects consumers from paying high prices for prescription drugs by ensuring competition in the marketplace by doing the following: 1. Prohibiting a pharmacy benefit manager from requiring or providing an incentive for an insured individual to use a pharmacy in which the pharmacy benefit manager has an ownership interest. 2. Requiring that a pharmacy must be owned by a pharmacist or by a majority of pharmacists if owned by an artificial entity.’
Pull up a chair, put your feet up. We’re just getting started.
Nicely done.
I felt like I needed to shower after reading just the first few sentences.
Alan Muller sent out an alert about HB 184, the “Let’s Incinerate Plastic” act. He translates the synopsis into English:
Most troubling is the claim that this bill exists to allow “a new and bold strategy the state can use to eliminate plastic pollution in the state.” In other words, this bill exists to allow some unnamed industrial company to build a plant that would manufacture something out of used plastics.
This is, as should be obvious, completely wrong. If this company has a legitimate process, the public should know about it. Instead Debra Heffernan and DNREC alike have stonewalled inquiries about the company and process they seek to legalize.
John Kowalko has introduced several amendments to try to safeguard the public, but the real takeaway here is exactly what Jason said yesterday — the Democrats you elect to the General Assembly are not there to serve your interests.
For more on this bill, visit Green Delaware web site.
I wonder if promoting “pyrolysis and gasification facilities” is related to Harris McDowell’s history of abuse of the public trust?
It sounds very familiar.
I’m glad you caught that. The bill captured my interest b/c it sounded like it was doing something important while using semi-impenetrable language.
Obfuscation is a tactic used to hide the truth from people. Especially if Nemours and/or DuPont are behind the obfuscation, as appears to be the case here.
Regarding HB 223 – Could you give me a brief synopsis of the issue being addressed beyond what you posted above? I don’t have kids so I really have no clue what the current choice process involves. I’m gathering that, like every other process, poor people are being screwed somehow?
I’m aware that Vo-tech and Charter Schools have always received special treatment and funding and it sounds like they are looking to level the playing field between the schools. But is there some way that parents and kids are being cheated that this addresses?
It’s in the synopsis:
“Currently, reorganized school districts, vocational technical school districts, and charter schools do not follow the same processes thus causing confusion and barriers for families seeking to access choice for their children.”
The bill’s intent is to make the process clearer, more uniform, and more accessible to families seeking to utilize choice.
Hey, boss — got a customer here who wants a can of worms.
Am I wrong in thinking that up state folk have no paternal sentiment toward the DE beaches and inland bays? Wonder why? The carnage going on now with endless construction of ugly expensive houses, deforestation, runoff into recreational waters and traffic congestion is ruining the place where almost every Delawarean vacations. I don’t get why people up there aren’t screaming at legislators?
Because most of the damage is done via SuxCo County Council. The state has no mechanism for halting the construction of McMansions; it’s a county matter.
The state could pass critical area legislation like was done on the Chesapeake. They have to the authority to supersede Sussex Council which is mostly self serving incompetent right wingers trying to cash in
Some of those self-serving incompetent right-wingers moved on to the Legislature. Or they’re related to them.
In other words, the problem isn’t upstate legislators, it’s downstate legislators.
That’s true but I would argue that coastal DE is a state wide resource. The new legislators in Sussex are an abomination to anything good
I have an idea, why don’t we just let lower slower become it’s own state? We would not have to put up with your assinine ideas and we could watch as your liberal friends ruin your state.
Most upstate legislators are self-serving incompetent centrists trying to cash in. The only difference is how they feel about abortion.
One thing you liberals don’t understand are “private property rights”. Private property is just that, since I own the property I can do whatever I want with it– including sell it, develop it, or keep it just the way it is, it is MY choice not yours!! I just took a trip to “northern Delaware ” today and you want to talk about development? You crazy hippocrates, you can’t go 75 feet without crossing in a neighbor’s yard. All I have to say is as long as yoose from New York, New Jersey, and upstate Delaware are willing to buy those Mcmansions, cut down the trees and build them so you will come. But remember to pay those taxes to The Sussex County Government, because we in slower lower sho’ could use your money.
Sorry, David, but you’re as wrong as could be. There’s something called “zoning laws” that most places have, though those in Delaware are incredibly weak.
Your spelling ability is a good measure of your intellectual ability. Go back to school.
When I moved to Delaware in 1974 it became obvious that developers did what they liked and zoning was an alien concept in the state, nothing has changed. The beach and inland bays are a fragile ecosystem, easy to predict big problems with ground water and septic systems for the area. As there’s big money involved the money will triumph, it always does here.
Similarly, when I returned to Delaware with my wife, she noted: “If there is a cheaper, more stupid, uglier way to do something, Delaware will do it.”
Well said, your missus
I especially like how everyone’s so fucking proud of it.
Yeah, my county councilman said he’s against government rules and we should let the market determine how the area will be covered with generic ugly high density houses for cheapskate retirees to have cheap taxes along with payday loan and mattress store treeless metal strip malls
Which one is that?
We have a “new slogan in slower lower Delaware ” — “Welcome to lower slower Delaware; remember why you moved here– DON’T MESS IT UP!!”
Mine is Hudson, it was Riley who actually made that statement. His district runs east west on the southern border from the coast to the MD line.
Anecdotally, it just seems to me that Delawareans don’t really care about the coastal region in any active manner. I’ve lived in MD and FL and still am passionate about the Chesapeake, and Florida’s everglades and waterways like they are my own. I walked for hours in the inland bays the other day and was never in water higher than my waist. There’s not much water out there to absorb abuse from developers
Go back!!!
Being a politician is great! Its the only profession where not only do you not have to do your job, you can out right say you arent going to do it. And in Delaware they still get re-elected.
In Delaware there is no coastal region – only the boardwalk and parking meters.
Senate passes budget. Bonini votes no. Dog bites man.
If only the man were Bonini.
I have never seen a State so willing to be run by developers
I have an idea, why don’t we just let lower slower become it’s own state? We would not have to put up with your assinine ideas and we could watch as your liberal friends ruin your state.
You SuxCo trogs are already at the level of Alabama. What do you want, to give Alabama a break so they’re not last in everything?
The only thing more embarrassing for the state than the AOA not doing the Odyssey Charter audit would be her doing it. Sending the AOA into Odyessey looking for conflicted interests is a complete waste of time. I don’t know if she even understands what that means.