General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 20, 2024
Pretty productive day in Dover. Stuff I noticed:
SB 232 (Gay), which ‘expands the contraceptive coverage laws to include over-the-counter non-emergency contraceptive pills’, passed in the Senate unanimously. Surprised, for once, at the lack of knee-jerk Rethug opposition.
Sarah McBride’s bill, which may yield $100 mill in additional healthcare for Medicaid recipients, was introduced. Would it be snarky of me to point out that McBride succeeded where two governors either failed (Markell) or couldn’t be bothered to try (Carney)?
Man, the prospect of the Senate losing both Kyle Evans Gay and Sarah McBride kinda depresses me. Although–I think Kyle will be Governor someday (if you don’t know her, try to make her acquaintance), and Sarah will at least be a US Senator. But, I digress.
Those anti-marijuana legislators just won’t give up. Rep. Osienski ran a bill yesterday largely dealing with ironing out the details of implementing the pot legalization bills. 10 Rethug House members voted against it. Have I already used the phrase ‘knee-jerk’ in this post? Using it again.
Other than that, no surprises. Everything passed that we discussed yesterday.
Hence, no ‘Big Story’ today. Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report for you completists out there.
Today’s Senate Agenda features SS1/SB 212, which ‘codifies the Bureau of Health Equity (BHE) in the Division of Public Health, which includes the Office of Minority Health and the Office of Women’s Health. The purpose of the BHE is to ensure that everyone in Delaware will achieve their full health potential by eliminating health disparities, particularly among all racial and ethnic minority groups.’ I read that to mean that BHE exists, but hasn’t yet been brought under the umbrella of the Division of Public Health.
There is no House Agenda today since Wednesday is exclusively reserved for committee meetings in terms of substantive business. Today’s House Committee highlights:
OK, wait, I’m officially confused (insert joke here). HB 70 (Lynn) ‘eliminates the death penalty in Delaware’. It’s on the House Judiciary Committee’s agenda for today. However, Lynn has also introduced HB 301, which appears to do the same thing, only via Constitutional Amendment. My question: Is it either, or, or both? Can a distinguished barrister answer the question? Or, at least a legislator or their aide?
Two bad Rethug money bills in Revenue & Finance today:
HS1/HB 149 (Collins) ‘requires personal income tax brackets to be annually adjusted for cost-of-living increases.’ Collins is trying to sell this bill as helping out those plucky Horatio Algeresque types who, by dint of hard work, are moving up in the world. However, there is no means-testing in the bill, so those making the most money who subsequently make even more money will be the principal beneficiaries of the bill. Just as Collins intends it.
HB 343 (Yearick) seeks to roll back the state’s realty transfer tax to 2017 levels. No explanation as to why. Except we know it’s to starve government.
Oh, HB 301? It’s on today’s House Administration schedule, which doesn’t make me less confused. Except to point out that it’s up to Our PAL Val and her henchpersons to decide whether the entire House of Representatives can vote on this bill. If the bill doesn’t make it out of committee, we’ll know why.
Please excuse me while I get some more coffee…aaah! Now where was I? Oh, yes.
Today’s Senate Committee highlights:
SB 239 (Walsh) ‘removes the 5-year term limit imposed upon hearing officers appointed by the Secretary of Labor. It also removes the political party affiliation rule when considering new candidates for the hearing officer position.’ Good. When one party has become a tool of insurrectionists, it shouldn’t be guaranteed public positions to carry out an insurrection. (Perhaps I’m overstating it. Then again, perhaps not. Which reminds me, can we get rid of that requirement that Rethugs automatically get a significant number of judicial appointments? It only guarantees that we either get members of the Insurrectionist Party on the bench, or we get Democrats registered as Rethugs.) Labor.
SB 238 (Gay) ‘adds “victim of kidnapping” to the definition section of the Address Confidentiality Act, allowing for kidnapping victims to become eligible for the protections offered by the Address Confidentiality Program.’ Judiciary.
Hey, man, I can only work with the raw materials available to me. One of which is caffeine. See you tomorrow.
“ChristianaCare CEO Janice Nevin says McBride’s willingness to collaborate with state healthcare leaders made the difference this time.”
I am ready to put my party hat on, but first I wish I understood: What exactly does one have to do to be more collaborative with wealthy establishment corporations than Markell or Carney?
Talk to them.
Yep. And do the work.
Remember how Sarah went up and down the state to get buy-in on paid Family and Medical Leave? Even then, as she pointed out in her speech on the Senate floor, the bill would have been even better if Carney hadn’t drawn the line on certain items that would ‘force’ him to veto the bill.
Not only is he mule-stubborn, he’s lazy.
“the bill would have been even better if Carney hadn’t drawn the line on certain items…”
Ah… Perhaps McBride’s agreeing to withdraw these items is the collaboration the CEO was talking about? That would be consistent with CEO-speak.
I didn’t follow the draft or the floor debate, so I guess I’ll just let it go for now.
I think Janice Nevin’s quote is about McBride’s work on the recently introduced Medicaid bill, not paid leave. McBride strikes me as a legislator who knows that Delaware is so averse to change, you have to build an unstoppable army in order to make the kind of change she fights for. At least so long as the chamber has lackeys in office.
I know that. Was just highlighting how much hard work has gone into some of her legislative initiatives.
W.R.T. the death penalty bills, if I remember correctly, we have a de facto ban since our laws don’t pass Supreme Court muster. There was a move to “fix” the law to make it compliant a few years ago, but it didn’t make it to the floor.
But my guess is that banning it by law would insulate us for the time being if the Supreme Court were to flop on their ruling.
Banning it in the Constitution will take longer, but will be more durable.
Might I point out that we wouldn’t have to worry about that if Carney wasn’t so obsessed with naming R’s to the courts?
Just name I’s, or D’s masquerading as R’s.
And, once we get that super-majority, which I think is coming in November, introduce a constitutional amendment getting rid of the quota.
The Republican Party is not a political party any more. It’s a bunch of insurrectionists.
I believe party balance in the courts is a constitutional mandate.
I thought the Court said it wasn’t but Carney kept it up bc he was pissy about it?
Carney just endorsed Eugene Young, or so my text messages say.
No offense to Eugene, who I like.
But that just shows how out of touch Carney is.
Although–he probably HATES that paid family and medical leave got shoved down his throat, AND that McBride found $100 mill in Medicaid funding while he was deciding which pair of khakis to wear to the Delaware State Fair.
Outrageous that Carney endorsed Young. I like Mr. Young. He’s a great speaker and appears very compassionate and knowledgeable about STATE ISSUES. I have heard him speak twice. Each time he talked about county areas of concern in Delaware. He was asked questions about what he considered important COUNTRY wide issues and did not respond with specificity
Sarah is transgender. It is simple as that. Carney, no doubt, views the existence of transgender Americans as somewhat icky. Similar to his take on bebop jazz, beat poetry and cannabis.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Carney is in another century and, in this race, is almost all alone (save for some randos). I’m sure he genuinely likes Eugene, but his clear discomfort with Sarah’s gender blinds him to her dominance in quality as both a candidate and a potential Congressperson.
I think it’s much simpler than that. As was speculated here months ago, Carney needs Young’s endorsement in his mayoral race.
Maybe. But Sarah has a bleepload of supporters in the City. Most of her Senatorial District is there. Could be a double-edged sword.
How so? Carney is already counting on the white vote, why alienate the black vote by snubbing Young and giving blacks a reason to vote for Velda?
Because the white vote he’s been counting on, at least a lot of it, will be pissed off by this. Granted, perhaps not enough to support Velda…man, I wish a genuine progressive alternative was in the wings.
You really think people give a shit who John Carney endorses? You really think McBride supporters are that vindictive? Please.
I think Alby is right. I know I’m in the minority but I’m still not sure Carney is going to win. I don’t think this helps him. I actually think the voter base he was counting on to win (middle class whites) are more aligned with Sarah in a Dem primary than Eugene. I think carney pissed off a lot of people who are happy to vote against him now. Does it makes a difference? Probably not. But do I think John carney is going to have less votes than he did before? I do.
Most of those people might hate Carney but they’re not going to vote for Velda. That’s cutting off their nose to spite their face. They didn’t like Mayor Mike but they still voted for him.
Who gives a shit who John Carney endorses? There are no coattails on a jerkin.