Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Everything pales in contrast to the Supreme Court killing Roe v. Wade. Thankfully, Delaware enacted legislation retaining all the protections of Roe v. Wade in the event that this day would ever come. I believe that the ‘gentlemanly’ Orrin Hatch helped put Alito on the Court. As did Tom Carper, who voted against filibustering Alito. ‘Hail, comity! Malign malevolence’. Carper and Coons must go.
But, I digress. I have an unpaid job to do.
And there’s an important bill on today’s House Agenda. HB 244 (Lynn) significantly reduces financial burdens inflicted on poor defendants through debtors’ prisons:
This Act does all of the following: (1) Prohibits a court from imposing a fine, fee, cost, or assessment on children without the means to pay them. (2) Provides the courts with the discretion to waive, modify, or suspend any fine, fee, cost, or assessment. (3) Prohibits a court or the Department of Transportation from suspending a driver’s license for nonpayment of a fine, fee cost, assessment, or restitution and from charging a penalty, assessment, or fee to a defendant for the cancellation of a warrant issued due to the defendant’s nonpayment of a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution. (4) Prohibits a court from imposing an additional fee on a defendant for payments that are made at designated periodic intervals or late, or when probation is ordered to supervise a defendant’s payment…(5) Requires the Judiciary and the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System to report on the sum collected from fines, fees, costs, assessments, and restitution and make a public report of these totals. (6) Eliminates the Public Defender fee and the Probation Supervision fee. The collections from these fees currently go to the General Fund. (7) Creates the Criminal Legal System Imposed Debt Study Group to review the impact that court imposed financial obligations have on defendants and victims and make recommendations to promote access, fairness, and transparency in the imposition and collection of court imposed financial obligations.
That’s a good bill right there. If your representative is not on the bill as one of the sponsors, please contact them and urge them to vote for it.
The Dave McBride Residency Act is also on the Agenda. HB 183 (Hensley) ‘require(s) all candidates for State or county elected offices and incumbent elected officials to have their primary residential address in the area or district they represent or seek to represent’. Hey, at least Dave can still run in the Lewes area…
Today’s Senate Agenda features SS1/SB 240(Sturgeon), which goes after landlords who knowingly rent out bedbug-infested dwellings. Also SB 253 (S. McBride), which enables nursing and assisted living facilities to require that prospective employees have undergone flu shots as an employment precondition.
Only one Senate Committee meeting today, this one.
Bigger doings in today’s House Committee meetings. Highlights:
HB 371 (Osienski) ‘removes all penalties for possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana, except for those who are under 21 years of age.’ This bill only requires a simple majority in each chamber to pass. Health & Human Development.
HB 385 (Bolden) ‘allows any municipality with a population of 50,000 or more to establish by ordinance rules for the location of liquor stores that are more restrictive than state law, and requires the Alcohol Commissioner to refuse a license for any new establishment that does not comply with those rules.’ So, Wilmington City Council, Delaware’s most dysfunctional political body, will arbitrarily determine who gets a license and who doesn’t. What could possibly go wrong? Business Lapdog Committee.
Hoo-boy. I live for bills like HB 152 (Smyk). Current law prohibits someone from impersonating a ‘real person’, meaning someone who is alive. This bill extends such prohibition to fictitious persons. You know, like Harry Potter. Is this bill designed to kill Halloween? Won’t somebody think of the poor children?? Judiciary.
HB 235 (Lynn) is a real bill, and a good one:
This Act is the Bill of Rights for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness to ensure that all individuals, regardless of housing status, have equal opportunity to live in decent, safe, sanitary, and healthful accommodations and enjoy equality of opportunities. To that end, this Act sets forth the rights of individuals experiencing homelessness and creates a process by which the State Human Relations Commission and the Division of Human Relations may accept and investigate complaints of discriminatory treatment, attempt conciliation, and refer enforcement actions to the Department of Justice where necessary.
I’m concerned that there aren’t more sponsors on the bill, but here’s hoping. Judiciary.
Back tomorrow.
