Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Let’s see…I’ve got my cold-brewed coffee w/oat milk at the ready, facing at least two hours of cogent analysis and unrelenting snark…let’s DO this!

The Bill Mill is grinding overtime today, with multiple agendas in each chamber, and multiple consent agendas (meaning one yes vote can pass multiple bills).

Of major note: The Bond Bill has been laid on the table in the Senate. It’s second on today’s Senate Agenda. What will the Rethugs do to demonstrate that they still have even a scintilla of relevance in Dover?  Truth be told, they only have the power to unite and vote no on stuff.  Here’s what I don’t think will happen: I don’t think that Speaker Pete will, or can, sell his own caucus down the river like he did a couple of years ago in order to curry favor from the Mike Ramones of this world.  While progressives don’t control that caucus, they now have more than enough members to reign in Schwartzkopf’s worst impulses.

While there are still a few straggling House bills to be considered in the House, for the most part, the Senate will consider House bills and the House will consider Senate bills today.  BTW, two of those ‘straggling’ House bills are ‘Special License Plate’ bills, both sponsored by the as-yet unsanctioned Rep. Steve Smyk.  One is a special plate for ‘Combat Veterans’.  Hello-o-o-o, we already have special license plates for veterans of every war imaginable.  Somebody help me out here–can you have two special license plates on your car now?  Idiocy.

There are some excellent House bills in Senate committees today.  Of note:

HB 180 (Wilson-Anton), which adds ‘disclosure requirements to the right of first offer process when the community owner decides to sell, transfer, or convey all or part of the community’.  Stephanie Bolden voted against that one, too. (Housing).

HB 123 (Griffith), which ‘supports children who spent part or all of their teen years in the State’s foster care system to access higher education by providing a tuition waiver program to cover the cost of tuition, fees, and (where offered) room and board at a public Delaware college or university’. (Education).

HB 145 (Griffith), which ‘will allow Delaware residents two new deductions from personal income tax. The first is a deduction from taxable income of up to $1,000 for contributions to an account in a Delaware-sponsored qualified tuition program’,…or provides a ‘deduction from taxable income of up to $5,000 for contributions to an account in a Delaware-sponsored ABLE program, as that term is defined under 26 U.S.C. § 529A (a “529A” Savings Account – a special account for meeting the needs of certain individuals with disabilities).  (Education).  BTW, let me say this: Rep. Griffith has sponsored some excellent bills this session. So, her hesitancy on the minimum wage bill (which she ultimately supported), must be weighed along with her legislative accomplishments.

SB 195 (S. McBride), which ‘requires the Department of Education to develop and maintain evidence-based media literacy standards for use by school districts and charter schools serving students in grades kindergarten through 12.  This strikes me as being easier said than done.  I hope I get the chance to talk to Sen. McBride over the break to see how she envisions the implementation of this.  After all, I totally support the concept.  (Education).

HB 122 (Heffernan), which ‘requires that authorization to pay individuals with disabilities less than the minimum wage required to be paid to other employees will be phased out by July 1, 2023’. Labor.

I fully hope and expect that all of the House bills referenced here will be considered by the entire Senate today or tomorrow.

Time to pick out the highlights from today’s many House Agendas:

SB 2 (Hansen):

In order to lower the cost of energy and accelerate the adoption of community-based solar photovoltaic systems in the State, this bill eliminates current barriers to such systems and sets up a regulatory process to be implemented by the Public Service Commission with consumer protection provided by the Department of Justice.

Everybody, and I mean everybody, who I’ve talked to has praised Sen. Hansen’s work on sustainable and renewable energy.

SS1/SB 93 (Poore) closes a loophole that caused consumers to get ripped off through ‘automatic renewal provisions’.

SB 98, SB 105, and SB 161. All from Sen. Pinkney.  Each one of these bills addresses a specific issue that otherwise would be overlooked, if not for Marie’s social work background.  Each bill, although seemingly incremental, creates practical solutions to the specific issues.  My point being that Sen. Pinkney has already established herself as a necessary presence in Dover.  All of us who worked on her campaign already knew that she was an extraordinary person with great empathy.  But it’s rare for a legislator to be this effective from Day One.  It often takes some time for even the best legislators.  But she’s seriously good. And effective.

Which brings me to SB 147 and SB 148, both sponsored by Sen. Pinkney.  Both bills increase police accountability. Both passed the Senate on straight party line votes, 14-7.  We now have three amendments that have been placed with SB 147.  I’m not sure whether HA 3, sponsored by Rep. Dorsey Walker, is designed to clarify the concerns raised in the first two House amendments.  If so, look for the first two amendments to be stricken, and the bill to be passed with HA 3.

SB 111 and SB 112 (Brown) make the process for expungement of juvenile and criminal records much easier.

It seems I’ve only scratched the surface.  Just scroll through the various agendas, and I’m sure you’ll find something else to like.

Lots of goodies on today’s Senate Agendas.  I commend to you the following, in particular:

HB 243 (Cooke) prohibits ‘law-enforcement agencies from releasing or publishing or causing to be released or published the name of any juvenile’ under most circumstances.

HB 212 (Brady) ‘provides a phased in approach to further the reduction of single-use plastic bags’.

HB 136 (Lynn) establishes procedures designed to serve the needs of a child during litigation involving custody or visitation.

HB 215 (Minor-Brown) requires the recording of electronic police interrogations under most circumstances.

In addition, the Grants-In-Aid Bill has been introduced in the House and could be considered under Rules Suspension as early as today.  Don’t look for any no votes on that one, unless a legislator wants to piss off voluntary fire companies, senior citizen centers, and the like.

We’ll find out pretty early today whether the Rethugs intend to toss sand into the gears of government by not voting for the Bond Bill.  If they do,  we’re gonna have a game of chicken. I’d love to know what they’d demand in exchange for their votes.

We shouldn’t have to wait long.