General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 22, 2023

The headlines:

House To Consider Budget, LEOBOR, and Plastic Disposables Today.

We Have Our Pot Czar:

“I know there are people who, when they saw someone who had a very strong law enforcement background was nominated for this position, kind of made certain thoughts and jumped to certain conclusions. I don’t know … if anyone who’s had those conclusions actually knows you,” Sen. Townsend said.

“I wholeheartedly support your nomination … and look forward very much to someone with your very impressive background figuring out this complicated issue and (getting) this up and running ASAP.”

Sen. Sokola’s Charter Schools Bill On Today’s Agenda.

Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.

Of note, HB 10(Heffernan), which facilitates the purchase of EV school buses, passed.  No Rethug voted for it.  All D’s, except one, voted for it.  The one? Sean Matthews, with yet another inscrutable vote.  The least one could hope for from a rep, especially one who represents a district that could well have the highest percentage of EV’s in the state, is that said rep be a dependable D vote on issues like this.  If you have the time, look at the bills he’s sponsored.  There are virtually none, and there are none of note.  What, exactly, is he doing down there?  He seems disengaged.  Anyone up for a primary? Besides Dennis E. Williams, I mean?  On a related note, both Ramone and M. Smith voted no.  Lotsa EV’s in their respective districts.  Add this one to the list of votes for their opponents’ lit pieces.

OK, time to once again vamp until the Legislative Information System is back up and running.  Did the one fucking rubber band holding it together break again?  Ah, gives me an idea for a musical interlude:

Whoa! All downhill from there!  No lip-synching!  Great performance!

But, I digress. We must return to the mundane, but occasionally necessary.

OK, it’s working again.  Don’t know for how long, so I’d better hurry.

The School Charter bill is the most notable on today’s Senate Agenda.  I’ll be interested to see how some of the strongest public education legislators address it.

The House is where almost all of the action is today.  The Agenda includes the following:

The Budget Bill:  Presumably under a Motion To Suspend Rules, since the Appropriations Committee, where the bill currently resides, has not posted a meeting notice.  Has anyone looked at the Epilog language yet?  I confess I haven’t.

So-called LEOBOR Reform.  A substitute bill, no less. I’ve been told some pretty good improvement, some minor weakening.  Here are the changes from the original police-authored bill:

This Substitute differs from the original House Bill No. 205 as follows: 1. It adds sustained findings that a law-enforcement officer engaged in sexual harassment to the required public disclosures. 2. It broadens the requirement for public disclosures relating to sustained findings of dishonesty. 3. It limits the requirement for public disclosures relating to the discharge of a firearm to those instances where the firearm is discharged at a person (uh, why?). 4. It clarifies that the required disclosures apply to chiefs of police and other high ranking officials. 5. It moves all of the disclosures into a single section (§ 9210). 6. It requires, instead of permitting, that the victim or complainant with respect to misconduct must be told of the conclusion of the inquiry. 7. It clarifies that the public detailed narratives required for certain incidents is a prospective requirement, while disclosures in a criminal or delinquency matter pertain to all relevant existing records. 8. It requires additional disclosures to the defendant of investigations into dishonesty-related misconduct that occurred in the course of the investigation of the pending matter; requires law-enforcement agencies to disclose to the Department of Justice such records; and provides if the investigation finds the allegation unsubstantiated it may not be used in any criminal or delinquency proceeding. 9. Reinforces the duty of the State to preserve and disclose records underlying misconduct dealt with in this chapter. 10. Reverts references to the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission to Council on Police Training. 11. Sets a timeline for the preparation and posting of required public disclosures.

To me, that looks like fairly major progress.  Probably the best we can hope for until police influence in Dover is weakened.  Might as well pass it.

SB 51(Paradee):  Hey, it’s finally scheduled for a House vote today.  There are three House amendments, all that appear to be friendly amendments.  The bill ‘prohibits food establishments from providing consumers with ready-to-eat food or beverages in polystyrene foam containers or with single-service plastic coffee stirrers, cocktail picks, or sandwich picks. It also prohibits food establishments from providing single-service plastic straws, unless requested by a consumer.’  It remains to be seen whether Our PAL Val, who has a manufacturer of these polluting items in her district, will try to waylay it again this year.

I’m also a big fan of HB 80(Minor-Brown), which requires Medicaid coverage of doula services.

The General Assembly is scheduled to be in Session on Tues., Weds, Thurs. and Friday next week, with Friday being the last regularly-scheduled session day for the year.  At which point, presumably the process for choosing the next House Speaker begins.  It may not be pretty.