Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Congrats to the House Cop Cabal!  Congrats to John Carney! Congrats to every Delaware cop! Congrats to Cop-turned-Rep-turned-sellout of his constituents Franklin Cooke!  You all succeeded in your yearlong mission to protect the police abuses that drive the Black Lives Matter movement.

You may have missed it since the story was released late Friday afternoon on a beach getaway weekend.  As was intended.  But the so-called Task Force On Police Accountability, which was dominated by cops, voted down all the key reforms they were presented with.  For those who missed it, the following proposals were voted down:

• FAILED – Create policies creating civilian review boards for police agencies
  
• FAILED – Review the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights
• FAILED – Review Collective Bargaining Agreements, in particular their relationship with Freedom of Information Act request

You got that? A proposal to even review the Police Bill Of Rights failed.  Meaning nobody on the Task Force had even bothered to review the Police Bill of Rights over the past year.

This was a total and cynical destruction of the tenets of the Black Lives Matter movement–that cops shouldn’t have carte blanche to kill people and steal stuff.  Just the way Pete Schwartzkopf and the Cop Cabal drew it up.  Oh, why did I mention John Carney? Because he had three appointees to the Task Force, and appointed three cops.

This will not change until the Cop Cabal is out of power. Period.  Every bit of recruiting and training of candidates for the House should be done with that ultimate goal in mind.

Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, just take a gander at the bill that leads off today’s House Agenda.  HB 30 (Bolden) ‘moves the date of primary elections for statewide office, county office, and municipal office to the fourth Tuesday in April, which is the date of the presidential primary (in presidential election years)’.  OK, set aside the fact that the only Black Life that matters to Stephanie Bolden is the face that peers back at her from her mirror.  Forget about the fact that two of the three Cop Cabal House leaders are on the bill as sponsors. The impact of this bill would be to discourage challengers to incumbents, which is its intent.   Had this bill been in effect in 2020, we would have not won as many progressive victories as we did. Candidates would have to have filed by February.  There are scads of reasons why this bill sucks. Read all about them here.  This bill would take effect for the 2024 cycle, which is the year of probably the most impactful gubernatorial primary we’ve seen. (Hey, we thought that the Markell/Carney would be impactful, turns out they were both the same guy.) This is an anti-democratic bill. I think it could pass in the House, which would be a disgrace. We’ll be examining that roll call real closely.

The remainder of today’s House Agenda is far more worthy of consideration.  Highlights include:

*HB 31 (Longhurst), which ‘repeals certain provisions in Title 11 relating to abortion including provisions which treat abortion differently than other medical procedures, and provisions which criminalize women and the sale of medical devices and medicines.’ Bills like this take on urgency as the Supreme Court looks to eviscerate Roe v Wade even further.

*HB 124 (Griffith), which ‘prohibits a person who is the subject of a Protection from Abuse Order of the Family Court and who knows or has reason to know, that the Order has been issued from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm in this State. This Act also prohibits the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, active indictment or information related to a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from purchasing a firearm.’  Even Sen. Bruce Ennis, who usually sides with the so-called gun rights crowd, is a sponsor on this bill. Not one Rethug is, though.

*HB 136 (Lynn), which seeks to make the process of custody or visitation more humane for the children impacted by litigation.

and:

SB 5 (Gay), which ‘creates an automatic voter registration system at the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and grants the State Election Commissioner the authority to implement automatic voter registration at other state agencies that already offer voter registration services under existing law. This Act stipulates that an unregistered adult citizen who provides proof of U.S. citizenship during a DMV license or identification card transaction will be automatically registered to vote by the Department of Elections, if otherwise eligible for registration.’

That’s a real good Agenda with one really bad bill leading it off.

Here is today’s Senate Agenda, featuring Delaware’s ongoing rewrite of the Escheat laws.

I’m a fan of HB 26 (Heffernan),  which ‘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.’  This is the type of bill that Sen. McDowell used to champion, and I’m gratified to see his successor Sen. Sarah McBride on the bill as a sponsor.  The bill passed the House on largely a party line vote.

The Senate Education Committee also meets today, and there are a couple of notable bills scheduled:

SB 82 (Lockman) ‘codifies the Department of Education’s (“Department”) current efforts to establish a uniform public school registration process and requires that, beginning with the 2023 through 2024 school year, all public schools shall use the uniform public school registration process. This registration process will simplify the process for families, enable public schools to engage with families and plan in advance of the school year, and integrate data systems to eliminate duplication of effort.’

HB 198 ( Dorsey Walker) ‘requires each school district and charter school to establish and implement a curriculum on Black History for students in grades K through 12. This Act incorporates contemporary events into discussions of Black History and the tools of experience.’  The bill passed the House 33-7. It could become law as early as the end of this week. Here’s hoping…

Back tomorrow, with committee previews and a Senate Agenda.