General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, May 19, 2021
A decided mixed bag yesterday. The bad news first. HB 30 (Bolden), which would move primaries from September to April, breezed through the House with only four no votes (Bennett, Kowalko, Morrison, and Spiegelman). I’d love to know why a bill that has been bouncing around since 2007 (John Daniello was pushing for it in my last years in the House) has taken on such urgency. Why newly-elected progressive legislators would support it is beyond me. I invite any of them to come over here and explain why they voted yes. There must be a reason, other than a purported cost savings. What am I missing?
The good news? Pretty much everything else.
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’, passed the House. All D’s and two, yes, two, R’s (Hensley, Shupe) voted yes. Shupe in particular is shaping up to be my kind of R. Meaning, he’d better watch his back.
Only one R voted against the universal voter registration mandated in SB 5 (Gay). Yes, it was Suxco’s Rich Collins. The bill now heads to the Governor.
Two other bills we discussed yesterday, HB 124 (Griffith) and HB 136 (Lynn), passed the House unanimously and head to the Senate.
Here are the highlights from today’s scheduled House Committee meetings:
*The General Assembly has quietly been doing good work in protecting residents of manufactured homes communities. The House Manufactured Housing Committee considers three more worthy pieces of legislation today. This is a committee where Rep. Kowalko has taken the baton from Rep. Baumbach. Sen. Ennis, who has been a champion of these communities forever, also deserves great credit. It’s one more reason why, despite my disagreements with him on several issues, that I admire him.
*SB 111 and SB 112, both sponsored by Sen. Darius Brown, seek to reform the expungement process. Both bills passed the Senate unanimously. Judiciary.
*HB 166 (Osienski) ‘establishes the Elevate Delaware program’, which is designed to provide free training for employees of small businesses. Labor.
*HB 177 (Brady) ‘prohibits the seller of consumer goods or services from refusing to accept cash payment, except in limited circumstances. Sales covered by this Act are those made at a retail store through an in-person transaction. Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce.
Here are today’s Senate Committee highlights:
*SB 93 (Poore) ‘ provides protections for consumers in connection with contracts with automatic renewal provisions…by ‘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’. Good bill. Banking, Business & Insurance.
*HB 91 (Bentz). I won’t repeat what I wrote about this bill when it was considered in the House. Just gratified that the Senate is considering it so quickly. Banking, Business & Insurance.
*SB 18 (Hocker). Should Suxco be governed by rules that are different than the other two counties? This bill ‘allows retail dealers in Sussex County to sell gasoline that does not contain ethanol if the gasoline is being used in watercraft’. To me, the issue isn’t the relative merit of the bill since I consider ethanol to be largely a sop to the corn growers. The issue is, why Suxco and not the other two counties? Environment & Energy.
*HB 88 (K. Williams). The Senate is en fuego. They’re wasting no time in considering the elimination of the training minimum wage and youth minimum wage. Labor.
*SB 127 (Walsh). Sigh. Here we go again. In the name of ‘economic development’, we’re gonna give the ‘non-governmental’ Council On Development Finance yet more keys to the ol’ coffers. To (half-) wit:
The purpose of this legislation is to promote sustained economic growth and stability by establishing a fund to provide grants, loans or other economic assistance to businesses or public entities that invest in constructing, renovating or improving infrastructure for sites that will attract new businesses or expand existing businesses within the State to initiate economic development opportunities that will create a significant number of direct, permanent, quality, full-time jobs. There is intense competition between the states to attract and to keep vital businesses that create and maintain these direct, quality employment opportunities. Therefore, it is critical to expand and sustain economic growth within the State to consistently maintain readily available commercial, industrial sites to attract new business, or expand existing businesses…(t)he site readiness fund will provide economic assistance to qualified businesses or public entities to renovate, construct, or improve commercial, industrial sites that are readily available to new businesses, established businesses that are considering moving to the State or existing businesses within the State that need additional sites to remain or expand within the State.
Call it bribery, call it extortion, we’re headed down the same zero-sum rabbit hole. No budget smoothing for this initiative. Elections & Governmental Affairs.
Wow. Talk about special interest legislation. SB 131 (Sturgeon):
…lowers the tax rate for premium cigars from 30% to 15% of the wholesale price so that Delaware’s tax rate is consistent with the tax rates for premium cigars in surrounding states. The tax rate in Maryland is 15% and there is no tax on premium cigars in Pennsylvania. Under this Act, a premium cigar means any roll for smoking that is all of the following: 1. Made entirely of tobacco, including the wrapper, binder, and filler. 2. Hand rolled. 3. Contains no filter, tip, or any mouthpiece consisting of material other than tobacco, or any additional flavoring.
In other words, we have to reduce this tax b/c the high rollers, those most able to afford to pay this tax, are heading across state lines to get their primo smokes. The Great Unwashed, who are smoking inferior product, get no such break. The Delaware Way. Executive. It should stay there.
*SS1/SB 132 (B. Ennis). More solid manufactured home community legislation from Sen. Ennis and a group of like-minded legislators. Housing.
Here is today’s Senate Agenda. You will note that SB 127 (‘call it bribery, call it extortion’) has already been fast-tracked to tomorrow’s Agenda. The Delaware Way at its worst. In those rare instances when John Carney wants something, he gets it. When John Carney doesn’t want something, you know, like a $15 minimum wage, he goes to great lengths to make sure he doesn’t get it. It’s hard to choose between Carney and Minner as the Worst Governor Ever. Minner was more corrupt. Carney is less of a big D Democrat than Minner. As rock critic Robert Christgau once put it: “Distinctions not cost-effective.”
Incumbents vote for incumbent protection bill – seems easy enough to understand.
For newly elected progressives who voted Yes, perhaps the fear of a primary is greater than the desire for a larger progressive caucus. Sort of pulling up the ladder behind them. Although case-by-case, I’m not sure who would actually be worried about a primary. Perhaps there is some entirely different calculus at play. Or maybe the Speaker pulled some strings or cut some deals.
I’ve been shouted down before, but I’m a glutton for punishment…
I argue that having 8 weeks between a primary and the general is entirely too short, especially for insurgent campaigns that defeat an incumbent in the primary. Dems, in particular, have caught their Republican opponents flat-footed in the past few cycles. Sometimes the R’s have had no candidate or just a tomato can. But that won’t last. The winner of the primary will have to reach out to voters across the spectrum and 2 months simply isn’t enough time.
Having the election in the summer is somewhat problematic since, in normal times, people are out of town or otherwise busy. This would probably depress turn-out.
I could see May as a decent time, but then you are up against the school board elections which I know some are reservations about combining them.
For me, the primary should be earlier. How much earlier is negotiable, But April-July is the range.
I also don’t get the “incumbency protection” idea. Today, most candidates announce their candidacy in January. Move that back to September and you’re probably fine. Campaign through the fall and winter (when incumbents have to be in session/committee hearings).
As it stands, only MA will have a later primary date than us.
So, we have to pass this in 2021, even though the proposal has been around since 2007 or so, b/c Rethugs at some point MIGHT get their shit together?
You WILL admit that it’s easier to run in a primary when you can actually get out and meet the voters, right? Spring and summer strike me as being more hospitable than late fall and winter.
Here’s my question, and maybe you have some insight. This proposal has been around for several sessions of the GA. Why did it receive so much more support THIS time? I don’t know the answer, but something must have changed. Is it simply that Erik is no longer State Chair?
In fairness, I think that we could go with an early June (before school is out) primary. There would be plenty of time for in-person campaigning, and more time for incumbents to decide whether they’re running or not. That’s a compromise that I think would be fairer than an April primary with a February filing date. But you just know that the members of the General Assembly wouldn’t want a primary then, which is likely the fatal drawback.
“Having the election in the summer is somewhat problematic since, in normal times, people are out of town or otherwise busy. This would probably depress turn-out.”
Which is why most states have something called an “absentee ballot.” Really, this isn’t a valid point at all. The percentage of people who are away on vacation during any given week is, pretty obviously, a small subset of voters.
If we shouldn’t give rich people a tax break on expensive cigars I see no reason to upend the entire election schedule because they rent beach houses.
It ain’t broke, so why are we fixing it? I’ve never heard a normal person voice any opinion on this either way. So if you think it’s to benefit anyone but the people doing the voting, I admire your sweet, trusting nature.
Do you relocate the manufactured home for summer?
This is so lame. Didn’t the kids who bullied you teach you any decent insults?
One reason is that primaries have gained importance. Off the top of my head, I’d say that there have been more primaries in the past 2 cycles than there were in the previous decade in the GA. There are a lot of legislators down there now that have first-hand experience with that short runway to the general.
And from a party-involvement point of view, there has been a huge push to keep the [Democratic] party out of primaries. This is all well and good, except that the short runway impacts their ability to get involved in the general. This may not be a flaw for those that eschew party politics, but I’ll just point out that Republicans don’t have any problem getting involved in their primaries.
And if you think that Eric, Madinah, Marie and Larry would have been deterred from knocking on doors in January and February, you weren’t paying attention.
As far as I know Erik has never expressed an opinion on the subject, so I don’t believe that his influence has anything to do with the current push.
“… there has been a huge push to keep the [Democratic] party out of primaries.”
The outgoing leadership made it so in the face of a lot of pushback by incumbents. Have rules been changed? Seems like the incoming could easily revert to the bad old days.
That does remain to be seen, but it’s not like the outgoing folks have disappeared. Plus, the ultimate success speaks for itself. We flooded the zone and changed the conversation from Left v. Right to versions of the left facing off.
Now I’m worried. Who knows how someone like Pete or BHL interprets the recent results?
Wait, I know how they’d interpret them.
I would have been amenable to a mid-June date and said so in caucus. As it stands an April date will force legitimate challengers to door knock in the dark and in mostly inclement (cold/Snow etc.) weather putting them at a huge disadvantage to name-recognized incumbents who also have the financial capabilities to stay home by the fireplace and send out mass mailers cementing their name recognition. September is too late and compressed with the general election but April is a concession to incumbency and its advantages. I have also considered the willingness of a defeated candidate as of April to continue his/her efforts on behalf of the public. The answer given to me by some individual is that they are honor-bound to meet their obligations. You can judge that statement on its own. I do know of recently defeated incumbents whose absence was palpable after a September defeat. Put those same shoes on someone seeing the inevitable loss of their position in April (two and a half months before session concludes) and use your own imagination as to what “honor-bound” would mean. Would their efforts be obstructive, damaging, vengeful, special interest focused (maybe their next job) or honestly conducted on behalf of the public interest (the same public that just fired them). Just curious that’s all.
Representative John Kowalko
Retirement date set?
Whose?
Rep. Kowalko
Please up your game. It’s kind of embarrassing for us to have such lame trolls.
Darius Brown is in trouble apparently https://twitter.com/MatthewCBittle/status/1395076184950591490
I THOUGHT something was wrong. He was absent for yesterday’s virtual session. And he cast a couple of strange votes last week.
Over 23 election cycles since the primary was set in September, the short sprint to the General Election has not proven to be a structural defect. Strong candidates with the ability to consolidate support have a path to victory over the two months.
A primary after 6/30 ensures accountability. Last-minute Leg Hall actions are subject to the judgment of the public. Dave McBride was elected to the General Assembly in a September primary [over Bobby Byrd] and was ousted in a September primary by Marie Pinkney. In each case, the challenger was able to campaign with the incumbent’s full record on display, and could draw on volunteers during warm-weather months.