Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. Year Two of the 152nd General Assembly. Here are some questions I have:
How will Our PAL Val Longhurst fare as Speaker? How will her two cronies perform in leadership?
Will Val face any sanctions for using her official office and the state e-mail system to promote the candidacy of Bethany Hall-Long?
Will the RISE-supported bills to protect state retirees’ benefits be worked, or will Val bury them at the behest of John Carney? If the bills pass, what will Carney do?
Will Bethany Hall-Long serve out her term as Lt. Governor, and will she preside over the Senate if/when her campaign for governor implodes?
What wacky stunt will the House Rethugs pull next? Walk out over Electric Vehicle mandates? Common-sense gun laws? Welp, they’re already engaging in new Stoopid Republican Trix:
“The Republican members of the Delaware General Assembly have lent their names to a lawsuit against Governor John Carney that is currently under appeal.
The twenty-one GOP state lawmakers signed a friend of the court brief in conjunction with a lawsuit originally filed in December, 2021, with the Court of Chancery.
“Dealing with an emergency, especially in the unique circumstances we faced during the pandemic, is undeniably difficult,” said State Rep. Tim Dukes (R-Laurel) in a released statement.
“However, protecting the public’s welfare also means defending their constitutional right to worship, to maintain their relationship with God, and to receive the emotional, psychological, and spiritual support of their church community and their clergy. These activities are fundamental to all aspects of our well-being,” said Dukes, who is also a practicing pastor.”
Apparently the mouth-breathers in Suxco haven’t yet recovered from the trauma of having missed church back in 2021. Sheer idiocy. Carney should have just let them go to church and die of Covid. But I digress.
Will anybody listen to Pistol Pete ever again now that he’s been down-graded to Pop-Gun Pete?
Just a few storylines to start the session. Oh, the two RISE bills?:
HB 281 (Baumbach): “Repeals the option of providing health care insurance to state pensioners under Medicare part C, known as a Medicare Advantage Plan.”
HB 282 (Baumbach): “Adds procedural requirements to meetings of the State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC), revises the membership of the SEBC, and requires that the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources inform State employees and retired State employees (eligible pensioners) about changes in benefits coverages affecting eligible pensioners who are receiving or eligible to receive retirement benefits under the state employees’ pension plan, including proposed changes.” It also removes the Governor’s authority to appoint 1 state retiree to SEBC, and instead “adds 2 members who are Delaware residents eligible to receive health care insurance under Chapter 52 of Title 29 under a pension or retirement plan. The President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives each appoint 1 of these members.”
Both bills have been assigned to the House Administration Committee, meaning, what Val says, goes. Especially since neither Val, sellout Kerri Evelyn Harris, or Lyndon Yearick are on the bills as sponsors. They comprise three of the five members of the House Administration Committee.
But, that’s for later. The House will convene today pretty much only for the ceremonial swearing-in of Valerie Jones Giltner as the new State Rep. for RD 37, succeeding Ruth Briggs King, who has moved out of the district. No committee meetings until Wednesday.
The Senate has an Agenda, including a sop to Total Wines, no doubt courtesy of campaign checks from their lobbyist, Roger Roy. But first, a couple of education bills, both sponsored by Sen. Sturgeon. SB 188:
‘enacts the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (ITMC). The Council of State Governments partnered with the Department of Defense and the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) to support the mobility of licensed teachers through the development of this new interstate compact. The ITMC will create reciprocity among participant states and reduce barriers to license portability and employment.’
‘ensures that educators hired after the effective date of this Act, who earned graduate degrees prior to becoming educators, receive credit on the salary schedule for those degrees regardless of the specific subject area of those degrees. Once an individual is employed as an educator, in order to receive credit for any graduate degrees earned after that time, such degree must be in the subject area in which the educator is employed.’
Oh, the Trone Bros. Welfare Act? HB 235 ‘changes the time a holder of a license for the sale of alcoholic liquor for on-premises consumption may sell alcohol from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.’ By my count, this is at least the third piece of special interest legislation that has sailed right through the General Assembly on behalf of pretty much only the fabulously-wealthy Trone family. It already passed unanimously in the House. It will likely do the same in the Senate today.
Which reminds me, remember the brother who literally bought himself a seat in Congress? He’s now running for US Senator from Maryland, and he’s getting mainstream D support. Why? Because he can self-finance. Lesser matters like, you know, stands on issues be damned.
We also have a resolution ‘Establishing The Aquaculture Task Force’. I, of course, was understandably concerned. Because, when I hear the term ‘aquaculture’, my brain immediately visualizes this. However, upon thorough investigation, I am now reassured that this task force will in no way ‘promulgate procedures to perpetuate the promotion of the aesthetics and sport of synchronized swimming’, so I’m a firm ‘yes’ on this one.
Might as well close with the Official National Anthem Of Synchronized Swimming:
You don’t get this with any other Delaware legislative preview! Back tomorrow.
I don’t quite understand how adding an hour of morning sales for holders of licenses for ON-PREMISE consumption of alcohol helps only two large retail liquor stores and not every restaurant and bar that chooses to open that early.
With all due respect to El Som and his abilities to expose special interest legislation, I think Hop-Frog might be write. El Som is right in that this is special interest, just a different one. The bill reads like it allows restaurants/bars — and Pete has been known to carry that industry’s special interest bills or kill bills it doesn’t like many times — to open an hour earlier. So all the beach tourists in Pete’s district can get their screwdrivers at The Starboard earlier. I don’t think it applies to liquor stores.
My G-D. You’re right! Do the beach towns really want people drinking at 8 am? Or is Pete just looking at his life as a retiree?