Wow, a good day! Much of it memorialized in the press, which always makes my job easier.
SS1/SB 101 (Townsend), which provides legal assistance to renters in landlord-tenant disputes, cleared the House Housing And Community Affairs Committee. Huge shout-outs not only to Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, Rep. Bud Freel, and committee chair Kendra Johnson, but also to the legislators and stakeholders who worked to make the bill more workable without sacrificing the bill’s legislative intent. The amendment hasn’t been introduced yet, but look for it soon. Great legislating all around. Here is the WDEL story. Here is by far my favorite line from the story:
Rep. Stephanie Bolden (D-Wilmington) said she was never informed during the bill’s hold of meetings taking place with either side’s stakeholders.
Why should she have been? She single-handedly scuttled consideration of the bill for 9 months. Although, it also speaks to how out-of-touch she is. Didn’t know what was going on behind her back? Primary her. Y’know, I think that Haneef Salaam from Delaware ACLU does live in her district. Hint, hint…
BTW, this Jeff Spiegelman character:
“Let me tell you what’s going to happen with this bill, because I already know, I’ve already seen it. I actually lost constituents to this bill. They moved away,” he said. “I very much feel for the people that you’re trying to help. Representative. I really do. And there are people out there who need help, which is why the advocate idea works. But for the sake of $3.6 million to provide a lawyer to one side of this in order to push out the other side that very practical application. That’s seriously troublesome.”
Hello? Is this mic on? The other side already has lawyers. This bill helps level the playing field. I mean, really. Are heartless landlords fleeing his district? Good. Hope they flee Delaware as well.
The Charter School Moratorium also cleared committee. Looks like a rocky road ahead.
Rethugs’ Attack On Trans Athletes Failed In Committee. Of course, their only intent is/was to build it into another red flag for the intolerant. Mission accomplished. The only time these assholes give two shits about women’s sports is when they’re trying to portray trans athletes as freaks.
Here is yesterday’s Legislative Activity Report.
Today’s Senate Agenda features SB 231 (Gay), which ‘prohibits the use of gender, gender identity, or sex as a rating factor in personal automobile insurance policies.’ I confess, this surprised me:
The Gender Disparities in Auto Insurance Pricing Report issued by the Delaware Department of Insurance and Consumer Federation of America shows that many insured Delaware women are charged more than men even when all other factors, including drivers’ history, are the same.
My admittedly-anecdotal experience has long made me consider women to be safer drivers. Good bill.
Although the unintelligible synopsis doesn’t say it, SB 246 (Mantzavinos) appears to improve FOIA accessibility to Insurance Department documents. I renew my plea to bill drafters: Try to make synopses clear enough so that the average person can understand it. Unless, of course, you’re trying to hide the bill’s true intentions.
Today’s House Agenda features two interesting House bills.
HB 259 (Lambert) ‘requires Delaware to use the Wireless Emergency Alert (“WEA”) system to notify the public of emergency alerts and requires that the emergency alert system be used when a catastrophic release occurs. A catastrophic release is a major uncontrolled emission, fire, or explosion that presents an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health. This Act also requires that emergency alerts be broadcast in Spanish, in addition to English, when possible.’ The bill will be amended to address some logistical concerns raised in committee, but the amendment does not weaken the bill. BTW, whoever wrote the committee report for this bill deserves a shout-out. Legislative staff rarely receive kudos for doing their jobs in exemplary fashion. This report is an example of quality staff work.
HB 320 (Heffernan) permits ‘physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses to prescribe medication for the termination of pregnancy including Mifeprex, Mifepristone, and Misoprostol.’ Physicians may already prescribe these medications. Wonder if any R’s will vote for the bill…
The General Assembly will be out of session next week for Capital Improvements (Bond Bill) Committee meetings. You might want to keep a close eye on how many $$’s Senate Vice-Chair Nicole Poore tries to funnel to her pet Ft. DuPont project.