FEATURING: NICOLE & VAL TRY TO PULL ANOTHER FAST ONE!
But first, some real good news. The Paid Family & Medical Leave Act passed the Senate yesterday. All D’s voted for it. All R’s voted against it. I confess that I don’t understand some of the dismissiveness I’ve seen here on the blog. Some people seem shocked that employees and employers will have to pay a pittance to fund this bill. 0.08% of an employee’s weekly earnings divided equally between employee and employer. A: It’s a pittance; and B: The pittance is more than worth it. True fact: You need a revenue source to generate…revenue.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.
Oh, you wanna know what ‘Our PAL’ Val Longhurst and Nicole ‘No Longer’ Poore are up to? They’re trying to railroad through a bill that will give Delaware City revenue from an RV Park that might never be built, and should never be built. Introduced on March 3 and scheduled for a committee meeting today, SB 238 (Poore):
‘amends the Delaware City Charter to provide that the Mayor and Council may impose a 3% tax on gross rental income for any lot operating a park for recreational vehicles, load or truck campers, camping trailers, travel trailers, trailers, or motorhomes, located within the boundaries of the city. The Act further amends the Delaware City Charter to provide that the Mayor and Council may impose a tax, of no more than 3%, on rents or lease payments from apartments and other leased premises that are not subject to City property taxes and that are located within the boundaries of the city.
Thanks to annexations that should never have been permitted to happen, virtually all of the proposed ‘Underground City At Ft. DuPont’ is now within Delaware City limits. Please remember that the state gave this land away. Sen. Gay should remove this bill from today’s committee agenda until and unless all those who are concerned about this project, especially the residents of Delaware City, have their concerns heard. For those of you unfamiliar with just how ethically-sleazy, environmentally-dangerous, and legally-dubious this project is, here’s some cool reading material for you:
BTW, Our PAL Val? She’s jettisoned Delaware City from her district in the latest reapportionment, but she’s still running interference for all her cronies who she’s wired into the project. Wonder how Representative-To-Be Mimi Minor-Brown feels about that.
(Deep cleansing breath.)
Other than possible consideration of a few nominations from the Governor, today is entirely devoted to committee meetings.
Jeezus.
SS1/SB 188 (Mantzavinos) ‘increases the $2,000 pension exclusion otherwise available for military pensioners under age 60 to $12,500,
providing an incentive for military retirees under age 60 to locate in Delaware. This Act is effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2022′.
Uh, why do we want to do that? We don’t have enough retirees here already? A six-fold increase in pension exclusions? What public purpose does this bill serve? We need to fill up the VFW posts and the American Legion halls? Video poker machines just sitting there idle?
Banking, Business & Insurance.
SB 218 (Lopez) ‘prohibits discrimination based on an individual’s status as a living organ or tissue donor in the offering, issuance, cancellation, coverage, price, or other condition of an insurance policy, including a life, health, disability, or long-term care insurance policy.’ Don’t know if this solves a problem, or addresses a possible problem down the road.
Health & Social Services.
Just a reminder: I don’t generally review House bills in Senate committees or Senate bills in House committees if I’ve previously reviewed them. There are, of course exceptions. Hey, it’s my column. I do what I want.
HB 317 (Griffith) ‘directs the Department of Health and Social Services to develop and operate a medical coverage program for children in Delaware who are not otherwise covered, including children who are not documented. A child resident in the state whose family income is low enough that they would qualify on that basis for Medicaid or CHIP coverage, but is not eligible for Medicaid or other federally funded coverage, is eligible for coverage and medical care under this Act’. Once fully operational, it is projected that the bill will provide coverage to about 2000 children annually. Don’t need to tell you that I think this is a
great bill.
Health & Human Development.
HB 324 (Bush). Yet another bill creating yet another protected class with longer sentences attached to it. This bill ‘further defines Assault in the Second Degree to include other health care treatment providers and employees and hospital security personnel who are injured while performing their work-related duties’. I guess it’s cyclical. A shitload of these bills get enacted, the prisons get overcrowded, some of the bills get rolled back. What a way to run a railroad.
Public Safety & Homeland Security. BTW, wouldn’t you like to see the term ‘Law Enforcement Accountability’ added to the name of that committee?
HS1/HB 144 (K. Williams) ‘increases funding for preschool children with disabilities who are not counted in either “intensive” or “complex” special education units by revising the current ratio of 12.8 students per unit to 8.4 students per unit for children 3 years of age and older enrolled in a preschool program.’
Education.
HB 238 (Kowalko) ‘repeals the ability of a charter school to give preference in student admissions to students residing within a 5-mile radius of the school’. Makes sense. Repealing what an essence is an unfair advantage that some students have. The sponsors are all education progressives, but there aren’t a lot of them. We need more progressives.
Education.
HB 300 (Longhurst) ‘establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware middle schools.’
Education.
HB 301 (Longhurst) ‘requir(es) the Department of Education, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to establish and implement statewide mental health educational programs for each grade, kindergarten through grade 12, in each school district and charter school in this State.
Education.
Back tomorrow, presumably with a couple of agendas to review.