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.