Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, March 8, 2021
The initial Joint Finance Committee hearings are over (budget mark-up will come later), so the General Assembly will be working up until an Easter break. The House will not officially reconvene until Thursday. However, House committees will meet both today and tomorrow. The Senate will convene today.
Perhaps the biggest news is the imminent introduction of two important bills: A $15 minimum wage, and marijuana legalization. Along with the fact that our Governor has not taken a position in support of either. Repeat after me: In no way, shape, or form is he a Democrat. Here’s Matt Bittle on the two issues:
This week could see both the marijuana and minimum wage bills filed. The two are sure to draw strong reactions from the public and legislators, with a wide partisan gap between Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats are hopeful they have the votes to make Delaware the 15th state to approve recreational cannabis use, even though Gov. John Carney does not support the bill.
A proposal lifting the minimum wage from $9.25 to $15 by 2025 will be especially controversial, with business organizations already speaking out against the concept. The Delaware Working Families Party, along with several unions, will hold a news conference Monday urging legislators to pass the bill.
While most if not all Democratic legislators will be onboard for minimum wage and marijuana, the two bills will see fierce resistance from the GOP.
House Minority Leader Danny Short, R-Seaford, said businesses, particularly in the hospitality field, are reeling from COVID-19 and cannot afford big jumps in their labor costs. He wants Democrats to hold major bills like marijuana and minimum wage until in-person proceedings resume, allowing for greater public participation.
“I really believe the things that impact lives and people who are very personally involved with those topics … that create divide need to be done when in the Hall,” Rep. Short said.
Might I point out that Short’s basic premise is bullshit? If anything, legislative access is even greater now b/c people can go online and watch and even participate from home or work. What doesn’t happen is that paid lobbyists don’t enjoy the same unfettered access to legislators as they would generally have. That’s a good thing. Lobbyists are paid to roam the hall, buttonhole legislators, and try to impose the will of their clients over the will of the people. Constituents have to make plans, perhaps miss work, to drive to Dover to be on something close to an equal footing. I sorta wouldn’t mind if a Virtual Legislature becomes permanent. Maybe they can create a virtual cafeteria so that Bobby Byrd will have somewhere to stuff his pie hole.
As to Short’s BS claims on the minimum wage bill, the bill is phased in over a period of four years. The first increase wouldn’t take place this year, but in 2022. He’s just spouting the Chamber talking points. The question is, will Carney do the same? The only real possibility to kill a minimum wage increase is if Carney puts the kibosh on it. Otherwise, it will fly right through. Even with Gerald Brady as the House sponsor. (Seriously, couldn’t they find someone who is able to express a simple thought to sponsor the bill in the House? He was painful to listen to during yesterday’s press conference.)
One last note before I look at today’s activity: Congratulations to Sen. Tizzy Lockman, who just got married. Just one question, Senator: Do you intend to live in Wilmington or in Townsend (where Collins lives)? The answer ‘both’ is not acceptable, not if you really want to serve your constituents. Plus, since your husband works for Carper, I’d suggest that you do not publicly state that you support the $15 minimum wage ‘in principle’. Them’s weasel words.
Ho-kay. Today’s Senate Agenda features two bills dealing with disciplinary matters for two construction trades, sponsored by a senator with a construction trade background. No comment.
Highlights from today’s Senate Committee meetings:
SB 55 (Sokola) ‘creates emergency access to epinephrine that allows an institution of higher education to acquire and stock a supply of epinephrine autoinjectors if an employee or agent has completed a training program. This Act allows the individual who has completed the training program to provide an epinephrine autoinjector to someone experiencing anaphylaxis for immediate self-administration or administer an epinephrine autoinjector to someone experiencing anaphylaxis. (Health & Social Services).
HB 55 (Matthews), which passed the House unanimously, ‘establishes the Delaware Gun Shop Project. The Gun Shop Project’s primary purpose is to develop, create, and provide suicide prevention education materials and training, to be made available for dealers and consumers of licensed deadly weapons in Delaware.’
Today’s House Committee highlights:
HCR 3 (Lynn) ‘establishes the Delaware Corrections Investigation Task Force to investigate and make findings and recommendations regarding the treatment of inmates and the quality of healthcare provided to inmates in this State’s correctional institutions.’ My Spidey Sense is tingling. Why was this bill placed in the House Administration Committee rather than in the Corrections Committee? Will Pete ‘n Val enable a cover-up on the part of the Governor and his Commissioner Of Corrections? We’ll have a pretty good idea when we see if this bill is reported out of committee, as it should be. We’ll be watching.
SB 32 (Brown) is on the fast-track, and deserves to be. The bill ‘makes clear that (discrimination based on) race also includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and a protective hairstyle, which includes braids, locks, and twists. It passed the Senate unanimously. House Administration.
HB 95 (K. Williams) ‘requires that individual, group, State employee, and public assistance insurance plans provide coverage for epinephrine autoinjectors for individuals who are 18 years of age or under and must include at least 1 formulation of epinephrine autoinjectors on the lowest tier of the drug formulary developed and maintained by the carrier if the insurance plan has tiers.’ Seeing how these autoinjectors are lifesavers, I like this bill. (Business Lapdog Committee.)
HB 26 (Heffernan) ‘requires the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families (“DSCYF”) to have exclusive jurisdiction over all aspects of a child’s care, custody and control when a child is convicted of a Superior Court offense. The Act establishes that from a date certain, no more juveniles would be transferred to the custody of the Department of Correction upon their adjudication and Level V sentence in Superior Court.’ Yes. This. (Judiciary).
HB 87 (K. Williams) ‘increases the membership of the Human Trafficking Interagency Coordinating Council to 24 members by adding representatives from the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Criminal Justice Council, the Department of Transportation, and the Division of Professional Regulation, a person who has been a victim of human trafficking, and a person who has prior experience working with victims of human trafficking in a legal or advocacy capacity’. OK, here’s my concern here: Delaware enacted a strong package of legislation to address human trafficking to the point where we had some of the strongest laws in the country. On paper. However, the coordination just hasn’t been there. Between the police, the social service agencies, the courts, the advocates. That’s why we still have so-called ‘Oriental massage parlors’ that pop up, only to relocate suddenly. I think the implementation of the legislation has been a failure. So. If we’re merely adding and rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, this bill is a waste of time. If the bill will finally bring effective coordination to the issue, then fine. However, I don’t see how putting political appointees on this Coordinating Council that doesn’t do enough coordination will yield that result. (Judiciary).
Back tomorrow with more intriguing bills to analyze…
