General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., May 27, 2020
OK, now we’ve got the virtual lay of the land. The House voted yesterday to permit virtual sessions. Two R’s voted no: Rich Collins, who doesn’t believe that there should be any government, and Shannon Morris, who wants to be just like Rich Collins when he grows up. The Senate will do so today at a virtual session scheduled to begin at 4:30 and to likely end by 5.
Here, though, is all that we can expect for the rest of the legislative session:
Each chamber is expected to convene virtually just once a week, although the schedule is still being completed.
Lawmakers are expected to focus on just a few things: the “money” bills and COVID relief. That means proposals like legalizing marijuana and reinstating the death penalty that were expected to see debates in 2020 will probably have to wait until 2021.
The 12 members of the Joint Finance Committee will meet to review the governor’s January budget recommendations June 2 through June 9. Because that spending plan was produced in the pre-COVID time, legislators will have to make substantial changes to account for the projected $619 million loss in revenue for the current and upcoming fiscal years.
Unlike the full legislature, JFC members will gather in the building but will do so wearing masks and keeping at least 6 feet from one another. Limited staff will be allowed in for JFC as well, but otherwise the building will remain locked.
The Senate Executive Committee will meet virtually at 3 pm today, so it’s possible that the Senate may consider some nominations as well as passing the resolution that has passed the House.
That’s all I’ve got today, and Matt Bittle of the Delaware State News wrote more here than I did.
Man, I’m in withdrawal.
I am currently waiting for a return call from the staff at leg hall to clear up a few things for me about how the General Assembly is actually going to be conducting business in public view. I am not feeling it right now. I am not seeing it. I feel rooked.
The House Ds and Rs sent emails last night but neither group got into why their link to “the YouTube Channel” held no evidence of their meeting. Nothing to see there several hours after the virtual meeting and vote.
Who would guess? Is our legislature is going to try to get away with meeting virtually and not preserving their meetings already being RECORDED for YouTube?
Are our elected officials going to continue to prevent the public from viewing their activity later? The House did not preserve their meeting recording for later public access. Why? Did I look in the wrong place for it?
I didn’t get in on the 2 pm meeting yesterday but I will be hovering at 4;30 pm.
Oh, and at 3 pm to see if they are offering any public observation of the Senate Executive Committee meeting. https://legis.delaware.gov/MeetingNotice/22308
That agenda simply gives a loop from the committee meeting notice “See comments for off-site location”back to the home page with the comment: “The audio and video link will be published at https://legis.delaware.gov/” But the public notice doesn’t even name or give the URL for the YouTube Channel that is supposedly going to house these meeting recordings. Or not.
“PUBLIC NOTICE –
“The General Assembly will reconvene virtually. The House of Representatives will meet virtually on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, at 2 p.m. and the Senate will meet virtually on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at 4:30 p.m. Additional information is available on the House’s agenda page and the Senate’s agenda page. The livestream will be available through the normal “Listen Live” link which will redirect to a YouTube channel.
The Joint Finance Committee meeting notices have been published and a link to the livestream will be posted in this section ahead of the meetings.
Legislative Hall remains closed to the public until further notice.
For questions or assistance please call (302) 744-4114 or email LC_Reception@delaware.gov.
This Senate Committee is now viewable on the Senate channel here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zum0EOeGtl4
Will it be available for viewing later? Will check back.
The session from yesterday is available on the House YouTube page.
https://youtu.be/JsyWHz__tOY
Lest we forget, PAWS For People should lose its grants-in-aid funding for caving in to Mike Ramone’s Trump-esque bullying lies and threats.
I got a return call from the House staff today who said that audio recordings of the meetings would be available to be emailed to people upon request. She didn’t expect that the YouTube system would preserve the video or audio so I am surprised that Al found a link to the House meeting.