General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 7, 2023

Guess we still have to take the bad with the good.  The good?  HB 99 (Heffernan) passed the House, so addressing the climate change crisis in Delaware moves forward.  The ‘Chamber’ amendment was not so bad, and the ‘bad’ amendment, sponsored by Rep. Collins, was defeated.  Props to Rep. Heffernan, this is an important bill.  The bad?  HB 104 (Bush), which is nothing more than a gift to developers, passed the Senate and goes to the Governor.  Three senators voted against this gift–Hansen, Huxtable, and Pinkney.  Theirs were the correct votes.

Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.  If you’re keeping score, you will note the troglodytes who voted against a resolution recognizing June 2023 as ‘LGBTQ+ Pride Month In Delaware’.  Just click on the roll calls.  There will be no surprises.

The Senate is acting as a clearinghouse for Senate bills during the next two days.  Which makes sense, as this gives those bills enough time to be considered in the House before the end of session.  Today’s Senate Agenda also provides a list of bills that will be considered tomorrow.  Nothing on today’s agenda strikes my fancy.  Perhaps tomorrow.

It’s exclusively a committee day in the House, and there are some doozies up for consideration.  Per usual, I will mostly consider bills that have not passed the other chamber, unless I haven’t previously discussed them.  Today’s committee, well, highlights may not be the operative word, so let’s use notables instead:

HB 186 (Romer) ‘makes changes to the requirements for placement on the sex offender registry of individuals who are adjudicated delinquent of certain offenses. First, it reduces the number of offenses for which placement on the sex offender registry is mandatory and the Family Court has no discretion to relieve a person adjudicated delinquent from the requirement or to reduce the tier assigned’.  Obviously, if one was adjudicated for rape, they won’t get relief in this bill.  Rep. Romer is on the right track here.  A bill like this is notoriously difficult to craft, so we’ll see how it progresses.  Judiciary.

HB 151 (Morrison) ‘expressly adds the intentional restriction of another adult’s access to economic resources resulting in a loss of financial autonomy to the definition of abuse for protection from abuse proceedings.’  This happens a lot in elder abuse situations.  Judiciary.  A comment:  Rep. Morrison has sponsored and worked some well-thought-out bills.  He’s becoming one of the progressive voices’ most effective legislators.

HB 183 (Griffith) ‘revises the existing crime of endangering the welfare of a child by providing or permitting a child to consume or inhale unprescribed controlled substances in the following ways: 1. Prohibits a person from intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly making controlled substances or prescription drugs available to a child through exposure, consumption, or inhalation. 2. Creates new penalties for endangering the welfare of a child through exposure, consumption, or inhalation of drugs’.  I’m not sure what precipitated this bill, seems like a solution in search of a problem, plus it’s yet another charge-stacker.  Judiciary.

HB 201 (Schwartzkopf)  ‘establishes the crime of Possession of a firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone as a class E felony.’  It’s nothing but yet another ‘charge-stacker’.  Oh, the exceptions?:

The bill also exempts holders of a valid license to carry concealed weapons but only if the firearm is in a vehicle. The possession of a firearm under this bill does not apply if (1) the person is on private property which is not part of school grounds; (2) the firearm is in a locked container or locked firearms rack that is on or in a motor vehicle; or (3) when engaged in lawful hunting, firearms instruction, or firearm-related sports on public lands not belonging to a school.

It’s in House Administration, so it’s coming out.  Betcha it’s on tomorrow’s House Agenda.

What is it with this Rethug obsession against EV’s?  It’s infected suburban MAGAt Mike Ramone, who adds yet another piece of stoopidity to his lengthy resume.  HB 123 ‘require(s) the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to obtain the consent of the General Assembly before promulgating any regulations restricting the sale of fuel-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs in Delaware’.  Natural Resources & Energy.

The two so-called LEOBOR Reform bills are in the Kop Kabal Kommittee.  HB 206 (K. Johnson) establishes the ‘Police Officer Standards and Training Commission’, formerly the Council On Police Training. While providing a bit more transparency, the bill, along with HB 205 (Minor-Brown), grants extraordinary power to, let’s call it POST. The Commission will remain dominated by cops, which is why HB 205, in particular, can hardly be labeled as reform.  HB 205 was deliberately kept away from scrutiny by those who have led the call for police reform.  If form holds true, testimony in opposition will be limited to one minute per speaker.  This entire process was a disgrace.  Public Safety & Homeland Security.

You may think, there can’t possibly be any bills worse than the ones we’ve already discussed.  You would be wrong.  Kids, check out HB 167 (Shupe).  Yep, it’s the ‘at least one cop in every school’ bill.  Although the bill euphemistically calls them ‘school resource officers’. They’re cops.  Don’t believe me?  OK, here:

(3) “School resource officer” means a contractor, subcontractor, or employee of a school district or charter school who is a sworn law enforcement officer as defined in § 9200(b) of Title 11.

Here’s why the bill is, well, batshit-crazy.  Click on the bill’s Fiscal Note.  Got that? First-year cost?  $68,751,588.  After that?  About $45 mill a year. Kim Williams is a sponsor on this bill.  Someone should ask the self-described educational advocate what the fuck she would cut to fund this.

Hey, I know I’m running late.  Sorry, had a haircut scheduled this morning.  Sure, I’m old, short, a few pounds north of where I should be (although most of the pounds are south).  However, I bet you wish you had my hair.

But, I digress.  Let’s look at today’s Senate Committee highlights:

Sen. Mantzavinos is sponsoring SB 123 and SB 152.  I like them both.  While they’re incremental, they both move the needle in the right direction when it comes to residents in long-term care, and other similar, facilities.  Health & Social Services.

SB 145 (Sturgeon) ‘increases the limits on the dollar amount of awards of compensatory or punitive damages, or both, in cases of employment discrimination, establishing specific caps based on the number of the respondent’s employees.’ Labor.

SB 151 (Mantzavinos) ‘requires that all long-term care facilities that advertise, market, or otherwise promote that the facility provides dementia care services must complete a written notice on a form prepared by the Department of Health and Social Services. Violations of this Act are Consumer Fraud violations.’  Good as far as it goes.  However, the rubber’s really gonna meet the road when assisted living facilities are held accountable for failure to even come close to providing adequate care for people with dementia.  They are not defined as long-term care facilities and, as such, are not required to have minimum staffing levels.  Which is precisely why you’re seeing dementia patients in these facilities wandering off the premises, probably because they don’t belong in assisted living in the first place. Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology.

For reasons that escape me and common sense, Sen. Pettyjohn has introduced the exact same bill that Mike Ramone introduced in the House.  HB 123, discussed above.

SB 158 (Gay) ‘permits an individual who is a reproductive health care services provider or employee to apply for participation in Delaware’s Address Confidentiality Program, which allows participants to keep their actual address confidential by applying to the Department of Justice for a substitute address to which all mail will be delivered.’  It’s a shame that we have come to this, but we have.  Judiciary.

I could have gone on.  But, I’m tasked with dog-sitting our daughter’s canine companion for the next two days, and I need to work out logistics between our dog, our two cats, and our houseguest.  I’m, uh, not looking forward to it…