Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Thursday, January 21, 2021

Is Val Longhurst the least ethical member of the Delaware General Assembly?  Well, let’s see, she parlayed her office into getting a job as the Executive Director of the Delaware Police Athletic League, thanks largely to all the ex-legislators who were on the Board that chose her.

She, along with Nicole ‘No Longer Poore’, have also pushed the ethical sewer that is the ‘Underground City At Ft. DuPont’, aided and abetted by Jack Markell, for something like seven years now.  Which brings me to this:  Guess who ‘introduced’ a bill yesterday (when the General Assembly was not even in session), added it to a committee agenda (her very own committee) for today, and, oh, yes, actually placed it on today’s House Agenda, which assumes (correctly) that the bill will clear the committee.  Ignoring all proper public notice requirements that are right there in the House rules.

Oh, did I mention that this bill, introduced in secrecy and put on the fast track, addresses, wait for it, the Underground City At Fort DuPont?   Well, of course the sponsor is Our PAL Val, and it’s co-sponsored by her (current? former? future?) drinkin’ buddy Nicole Poore?  As always with these Ft. DuPont bills, they are the only sponsors on the legislation.   Here’s the bill:

HB 85 (Longhurst):  This bill, OK, I’m gonna cut-and-paste the entire synopsis:

This Act is to fortify the Declaration of Purpose for the Fort DuPont Complex. This Act requires that at least one of the 4 directors appointed by the Mayor of Delaware City is a resident of the Fort DuPont Complex. This Act prohibits the executive director or any employee of the Corporation any gift from the Corporation, the Board or any member of the Board valued in excess of $200.00 or from renting or leasing any property on the Fort DuPont Complex except for fair market value and only with a rental or lease agreement. This Act requires the Executive Director to provide an annual written report of the activities of the Corporation to the Chair of the Board and the Chair of the Fort DuPont Oversight Committee. This Act also provides that no administrative costs of the Corporation may be requested or paid by an appropriation of the Geneal Assembly beginning January 1, 2022. This Act imposes continuing duties upon the Corporation to prepare and provide an annual report and audit for the Governor and the Captial Improvement Committee of the General Assembly. Finally, this Act establishes the Fort DuPont Oversight Committee that assists and provides oversight to the Board in carrying out its purposes under the statute. The Oversight Committee authority includes reviewing records, including financial records, of the Corporation, reviewing appropriation requests to the General Assembly, attending Corporation Board meetings, and oversight of redevelopment plans and the purchase, sale, lease or disposition of lands or buildings. The Oversight Committee shall consist of 7 members, 5 of which, including the Chair, are appointed by the Governor, 1 is appointed by the Speaker of the House, and 1 by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

I suppose you noticed that this bill was prepared in such haste that we got the ‘Geneal’ (I prefer ‘Genial’) Assembly and the ‘Captial’ Improvement Committee.  I’ve highlighted two areas that raise questions to me:

This Act requires that at least one of the 4 directors appointed by the Mayor of Delaware City is a resident of the Fort DuPont Complex.  OK, here’s what’s happening.  People who live in and near Delaware City are alarmed at how the project will impact their quality of life.  This provision is the weakest step imaginable to create the illusion that the bigwigs behind the project actually give a shit.  One out of the four appointees from the Delaware City Mayor? Puh-leeze.

This Act also provides that no administrative costs of the Corporation may be requested or paid by an appropriation of the Geneal Assembly beginning January 1, 2022.  Please allow me to translate: The corporation has yet one more year to steal from the taxpayers.  There should never have been this amount of government money thrown at what in essence is commercial development.

To all legislators:  Remove this bill from the fast track, and take time to see whether it is in the public interest. After all, why the sudden rush other than to avoid public scrutiny?  Not to mention, check out the fine print in the body of the bill.  Don’t trust, verify.

(Steps off soapbox.)

Here is the Session Activity report from Tuesday.  All of the governor’s nominees that we had profiled on Tuesday were unanimously approved by the Senate.

We have committee meetings in both the House and Senate today.  Today’s House Committee meetings.  Today’s Senate Committee meetings.  Here are the bills in committee that interest me other than HB 85:

HB 11 (Baumbach).  This Act ‘revises the process by which the New Castle County tax rate for owners of real property in municipalities is calculated so that the tax rate more fairly attributes the cost of services to property owners in municipalities and the unincorporated area’.   There are definitely winners and losers in this process, and you are not likely looking at unanimous support for this bill. House Administration.

HB 75 (Bentz).  The second leg of a constitutional amendment permitting ‘no excuses’ absentee voting. A key legislative priority.  House Administration.

HB 80 (Schwartzkopf).  A big boost in pension benefits for corrections officers and other ‘peace’ officers.  A similar bill for teachers, uh, is not in the offing.  House Administration.

SB 42 (Townsend).  This bill ‘suspends the educator evaluation system during the 2020-2021 school year and replaces it with an observation and feedback cycle that provides educators with coaching and support related to hybrid and remote learning practices.’ A good and necessary bill, as anyone who either teaches or has a teacher in the family can attest.  Broad bipartisan support. Senate Education.

Here is today’s Senate Agenda.  A couple of notes:

SB 31 (Brown) ‘is the second leg of a constitutional amendment to add race, color, and national origin to § 21 of Article I of the Delaware Constitution to explicitly declare that protection against discrimination based on race, color, and national origin is one of Delaware’s fundamental rights.  This bill is likely to pass both chambers before next week’s adjournment.

SB 30 (Poore)  reallocates some funds from last year’s Bond Bill.  You generally will see a bill like this every January, and it merely reflects some changes in timelines for projects and the freeing-up of funds that such changes create.

Here is today’s House Agenda.  Only one bill in addition to the suspect Ft. DuPont rush job.  But at least that one bill is a good one:

HB 65 (Osienski) ‘provides COVID-19 related relief to both claimants receiving unemployment benefits and employers who are assessed unemployment taxes, and extends the end date of the Secretary of Labor’s COVID-19 related rulemaking authority. Section 1 waives the 13-week waiting period for the state to “trigger on” to pay extended unemployment benefits in periods of high unemployment’.  I have to think that the Senate will move quickly on this bill once it passes the House.

Damn, I wish I got paid by the word. Jason? Jason?