I’m still processing this Rebecca Walker story. Here’s the context for our current General Assembly: There really is a Cop Cabal. They do things, and refuse to do things, once the cops make their position known to them. Then-Rep. Walker did kill the ban on the death penalty bill in the House Judiciary Committee. Pete Schwartzkopf appointed her to head that committee for the specific purpose of killing that bill because the cops wanted it, um, killed. She was rewarded by getting that job with all the cops over at the Department of Homeland Security. A job she secured in a blatantly-corrupt manner in violation of state law. She then (allegedly) acted in a corrupt manner in her new post, starting from Day One. The cops do run the General Assembly. More precisely, the House. They no longer hold much sway over the Senate, thanks to all of us and all of you who volunteered and voted for change. Until the members of that House Caucus overcome their Stockholm Syndrome, and fight back against the bullying by their leaders, the cops will continue to rule the roost.
(Focus, Steve, focus.)
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. A very productive day. The Senate passed every bill on that admirable Agenda I highlighted yesterday. The only bill that ran into any controversy was SB 12 (Poore), and that was likely due to an amendment that somewhat limited the bill’s scope. Four Rethugs voted no, if you couldn’t guess.
Following a three-and-a-half-hour-hearing, the House Judiciary Committee released SS1/SB 6(Sokola), which ‘would prohibit magazines capable of holding more than 17 rounds’. Matt Bittle has a delightful blow-by-blow. BTW, a shout-out to Matt for providing some context:
Despite the fact opponents strongly outnumbered backers Tuesday, a poll released last month by the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence showed majority support for greater gun control in Delaware. Democrats hold strong majorities in both chambers, and Gov. John Carney is behind the permit-to-purchase and magazine ban bills, meaning individuals seeking to stop the measures from becoming law are facing a tough battle.
As in, the number of people who show up for a hearing in no way provides any empirical evidence as to how the public views a bill. It’s the same RWNJ’s dying on the same hill every time.
The Senate will hold committee hearings today, no Agenda. Here is a sneak peak at tomorrow’s proposed Senate Agenda. Highlights from today’s Senate Committee meetings:
*HB 28(Schwartzkopf) ‘increases the minimum amount of property damage that triggers the mandatory reporting of a vehicular collision to police from $500 to $2,000. This bill also increases the minimum amount of property damage requiring police agencies to investigate from $1,000 to $2,000.’ The cops don’t want to bother with this stuff any more. So, the cops won’t have to bother with this stuff any more. Transportation. Cop Cabal bill. May be harmless, but you know where it came from.
*SB 99 (Pinkney) makes it easier for minority educators to secure ‘High Needs Educator Student Loans’. Education.
*How you feel about homeschooling may impact how you feel about SB 106(Wilson), which ‘makes students who attend home schools eligible for the same services for children with disabilities as students who attend private schools in a manner that allows federal funds to pay for the services’. Education.
*The Senate Judiciary Committee considers the annual package from the Corporate Section of the Delaware Bar Association. You know, to keep Delaware in a ‘preeminent’ position. Nobody ever knows what these bills do, except possibly for a couple of the lawyer-legislators. They always slide right through. Judiciary.
*SB 102 (Mantzavinos) makes clear that bail agents must be licensed. There apparently have been some unscrupulous bail agents (is that redundant?) who have misrepresented themselves. Banking, Business & Insurance.
*SB 107 (Pinkney) ‘requires that individual, group, State employee, and public assistance insurance plans provide coverage for a medically necessary insulin pump at no cost to a covered individual.’ Banking, Business & Insurance. Of the 16 sponsors/co-sponsors of this bill, seven are new legislators and represent the progressive advances of 2020.
provides protections for consumers in connection with contracts with automatic renewal provisions. Multiple states have enacted laws regulating the automatic renewals of contracts, often described as “evergreen” clauses. These state laws are aimed at protecting consumers from unknowingly entering into these types of agreements by requiring that evergreen clauses be presented in a clear and conspicuous manner and that sellers of such contracts provide a written notice to consumers about an upcoming renewal. This bill also requires sellers of such contracts to provide consumers with a means to cancel the contract that is at least as easy to use as the means available to sign up for the contract.
Also in Banking, Business & Insurance.
SB 120 (Townsend) ‘continues recent efforts to strengthen the primary care system in this State’. Read the entire synopsis. It also appears that this bill is designed to make changes even if another bill working its way through the legislature should not be enacted. There’s a back-story here, meaning, I’d better do some research. Executive.
Today’s House Committee highlights. Um, there aren’t any. Seriously, there aren’t. Here’s a sneak peak at tomorrow’s House Agenda. You see what they’re doing. They have essentially changed the concept of the Consent Agenda, which had previously been used for inconsequential bills. There are now serious bills on that Agenda, but, hey, if they pass as part of a Consent Agenda, I don’t see the harm.
OK, time for me to cogitate some more on this Rebecca Walker story, which is a case study in the casual corruption of/by the Delaware Way…oh, I have one more question before I go. She has been accused of falsifying all these records. Why isn’t each record falsification a single offense? If Jane Brady was still AG, and if the defendant was some Black guy who got pulled over and miraculously not killed by the cops, it would have been. Each joint? 15 years. I guess ‘stacking of charges’ does not apply to politically-connected white (alleged) criminals. Are the cops gonna raid her home and steal all her stuff under the civil forfeiture provisions? Hmmm, will Bethany Hall-Long recuse herself if she somehow still heads the Board Of Pardons and Walker’s case comes before her?
Enough. Back tomorrow.