Governor Carney gave a speech. Said we needed to live within our means. Same governor who fought legalized pot and the revenues it would bring. Same governor who opposed adding tax brackets for Delaware’s wealthiest. Same governor who arranged for tens of million of taxpayers’ dollars to go to businesses that didn’t need them while ensuring that the prying eyes of said taxpayers were excluded from seeing what was going on. Same governor who pissed away millions on bullshit port deals, also free from the prying eyes of the public. Budget-smoothing will be his legacy. A failure of a governor. Knowing nothing about working a real job, he will take his ‘talents’ to the City of Wilmington. Let’s see what he exempts from FOIA first.
You just gotta love those Rethugs. After having unanimously voted against a constitutional amendment memorializing the legality of early voting, thus killing it, they’ve now introduced a constitutional amendment that would do the exact same thing. Kids, sidle up close to your screens and/or phones. The first vote is a freebee, just as it was back in the 2019/2020 legislative session. The second vote, the one that would ratify the amendment, is the key vote. Every single House Rethug voted against the amendment during the 2021/2022 session, ensuring its defeat, and sending it back to the drawing boards. They then went to court to stop any early voting and/or ‘no excuse’ absentee voting. Got themselves a Rethuglican judge from Suxco and prevailed. In the wake of public anger, they are now claiming that, gee, they were only concerned with the technicalities and that they reallyreally want early voting. They, um, don’t. They’d all happily vote for this ‘freebee’ bill so that they can get reelected, and kill the second leg next session. They know that when enough people vote, they lose. Reps. Ramone, Smith and Yearick have great opponents this year and don’t want to lose. Connect the dots.
Here’s yesterday’s Session Activity Report. One note: The Senate defeated a resolution creating a task force on school discipline sponsored by stentorian Senator Buckson. There’s a story there, but I don’t have time to pursue it today. Can anyone fill me in?
There are no Agendas in either the House or Senate today, but it’s gonna be a busy, and perhaps contentious, committee day, especially in the House.
The House Administration Committee will consider both HB 281 and HB 282. Both sponsored by Rep. Baumbach, and strongly endorsed by state retirees. There is now no doubt that the bills will pass as Our PAL Val, who was not originally a sponsor on the bills, has added her name as a co-sponsor. The question remains: Will Carney veto them–especially HB 281, since the bill ‘repeals the option of providing health care insurance to state pensioners under Medicare part C, known as a Medicare Advantage Plan’? Great bill. Shitty governor.
Other bills of interest:
HB 264 (K. Williams) ‘makes the crime of “patronizing a prostitute” a class E felony rather than a misdemeanor where the person from whom prostitution is sought is a minor’. Giving Kim Williams the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the bill is well-intended. Having said that, are johns gonna demand proof-of-age now? Because ‘I didn’t know’ isn’t listed as a defense. Judiciary.
HB 270 (K. Williams) ‘creates a civil penalty for any sale or display of ammunition that allows the ammunition to be accessible to a purchaser or transferee without the assistance of the vendor or an employee of the vendor’. We all know the origin of this bill. Raising the questions, at least for me–a ‘civil penalty’? No suspension of license? No felony charges if/when the ammo that was just sitting out there is used in a crime? Guess Kim doesn’t want to cross Cebela’s. Weak. Judiciary.
HB 125 (S. Moore) ‘would require all schools to offer all students free breakfast and lunch every school day’. This is a key legislative priority of Network Delaware, Working Families Party, and a host of progressive organizations. Yes, it’s expensive, although it is not clear how much of the projected cost would be paid by the State as opposed to the Federal government. How expensive? About $40 mill a year. But I think it’s also essential. Keep in mind that, even if it is released from the Education Committee today, it will still need to be funded in the budget. Did John Carney say anything about school meals yesterday? No, he wouldn’t.
Today’s Senate Committee highlights:
Like Senate Bill No. 169, this act does all of the following: This Act creates a process for compensating individuals who have been wrongfully convicted in the State. To obtain compensation, a petitioner must show (i) that the petitioner was pardoned, or, after the conviction was overturned, the charges were dismissed, or the petitioner was acquitted on retrial; or (ii) that the petitioner entered a Robinson plea after the conviction was overturned and that the petitioner was innocent of the crimes for which the petitioner was convicted. The prosecuting agency can prevent compensation by showing that petitioners were accomplices to the crimes at issue, or that petitioners intentionally “took the fall” for the true perpetrators.