General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., April 17, 2024
OK, I lied. And/or was misinformed.
Turns out that House committees don’t have to consider bills within 12 legislative days of being assigned to committee. I don’t know whether this is a change in House rules or whether it has ever been thus. Allow me to quote from the House rules (HR 5):
(b) All bills and resolutions shall be acted upon by the appropriate committee within twelve (12) legislative days after being assigned to that committee and the House Prime Sponsor requests that the bill or resolution is acted upon. All bills and resolutions not acted upon by the appropriate committee within twelve (12) legislative days after being assigned to that committee and a request has been made by the House Prime Sponsor for the bill or resolution to be acted upon can be petitioned out of committee pursuant to Rule 25.
So. Let’s take a hypothetical example that is not hypothetical. The House Administration Committee currently has 33, count ’em, 33 pieces of legislation sitting in committee. Only two or three of which were brought up in committee and tabled. 14 of which were introduced last year. So, for example, if Bryan Shupe doesn’t request that HB 341 be considered in committee, Val and her PALs will keep it buried. What does HB 341 do, you might ask?:
This Act prohibits the following: (1) An appropriation for a grant-in-aid to a nongovernmental entity that employs a member of the Joint Finance Committee, as the Joint Finance Committee is charged with preparing the annual grants-in-aid act. (2) An appropriation for funding under the annual capital improvement act to a nongovernmental entity that employs a member of the Joint Committee on Capital Improvement, as the Joint Committee on Capital Improvement is charged with preparing the annual capital improvement act.
Nicole Poore is a member of the Joint Capital Improvement Committee. Meaning, her bogus Jobs For Delaware Graduates wouldn’t get any funds for capital improvements as long as she was on the committee. Not to mention the phony baloney Underwater City At Fort DuPont. If anything, the bill doesn’t go far enough. Because the bill wouldn’t stop Our PAL Val from sending beaucoups bucks to Hockessin on behalf of her phony baloney Delaware Police Athletic League job (6 figure salary, if you must know). As an aside, if you were to rank areas based on need for something like a Police Athletic League, where would you rank Hockessin? Not near the top, I daresay. But that’s where Tom Gordon lived, so the rest is history.
Unless Rep. Shupe asks that the bill be considered, it will remain dead in committee. It shouldn’t.
But I digress.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. No surprises or outrages.
There are a couple of interesting bills on today’s Senate Agenda.
…establishes employment protections for certain service employees during changes of ownership by requiring all of the following: 1. Notice to affected service employees at covered locations at least 15 days before a service contract is terminated, services are contracted out, or the property where they are employed is sold or transferred. This notice must state the event triggering the notice, information about the new awardee, purchaser, or transferee, and the service employee’s rights under this Act. 2. The successor employer must retain all affected service employees at a covered location for a 90-day transition period.
SB 244 (Huxtable) ‘allows a county that imposes a lodging tax to spend money from that tax on workforce and affordable housing programs’.
Oh, there’s also a bill to name something or other after Tom Carper. Time for a Very Rare DL Contest. They named a prison after Jim Vaughn (appropriate). They named a Suxco Rest Stop after Dave McBride (very appropriate). What edifice/entity should they attach Tom Carper’s name to?
Ho-kay. Most of today’s action takes place in committee meetings. (Goes and gets another cold brewed coffee…)
Starting with Senate Committee highlights:
SB 256 (Gay) ‘clarifies the Attorney General’s existing authority to enforce the State’s consumer protection laws, specifically the Attorney General’s ability to pursue non-penalty civil remedies, such as damages and restitution, without having to show that a person’s violation of a law or regulation enforced by the Department of Justice’s Division of Consumer Protection was wilful’. Judiciary.
More foolishness from Dave Lawson. SB 228 ‘changes the definition of “copycat weapon” so that small caliber rimfire pistols which are primarily or solely used in competitive target shooting are not made unlawful. to purchase, own, possess, or transfer.’ Judiciary.
The new Inspector General bill–SS1/SB 21. It’s a good bill. I support it. Yes, there are political appointees on the selection committee, but there are also good government groups. Please just explain to me why the President of the Delaware Association of Chiefs of Police is on there. Seriously, why? Executive.
Today’s House Committee highlights (as usual, the House is not running an agenda today):
HB 204 (K. Johnson) ‘grants authority to the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to adopt regulations related to the operation of temporary staffing agencies that staff temporary nurses and other staff positions in long-term care facilities in the State and assigns oversight within DHSS to the Division of Health Care Quality.’ Real good bill. However, it’s not clear to me whether the bill addresses a classic scam cooked up by some in the industry–turns out that some of the providers also run temp agencies that supply personnel to the facilities that they run. Meaning, they can skim a percentage off the top for the ‘placement’ of someone who they refer their own facilities. I hope that the committee asks about that. Otherwise, great work Rep. Johnson and Sen. Mantzavinos. Health & Human Development.
The fact that these bills are being considered in the House Appropriations Committee tells me that the Joint Finance Committee has already approved, or will approve, the expenditures these bills require.
HB 290 (Morrison) ‘removes a barrier to higher education by allowing a student who has been convicted of a violent felony to qualify for or maintain eligibility for a SEED scholarship if other eligibility criteria are met.’ Education.
Back tomorrow–hopefully with some good stuff on the agendas. And/or some movement to stop the retired legislators’ windfall.
A) why wouldnt a bills sponsor/author request a bill be heard?
B) the tom carper please touch museum
A good question, and a good answer.
In the case of this bill, this legislator, and this committee, you cross Our PAL Val at your own risk. She can and does make it difficult for legislators who don’t kowtow to her. And going after her (current? former?) drinkin’ buddy Nicole Poore is a risky venture.
As to an appropriate edifice with which to honor Carper? How about the rest rooms at our non-National Park National Park? You know, the one with something like seventeen different non-adjacent locations that has been nonetheless named a national park because Carper thought that Delaware NEEDS a national park.
For Carper, I nominate the roundabout on the west side of Alapocas Run State Park. Part of the roadwork associated with his AstraZeneca giveaway. Oh, AZ is barely there anymore, so the mini-traffic circle reminds us all that what goes around comes around.
Where’s that Like Button?
Always a spot on our writing team for you.
Did someone suggest the Thomas R. Carper Anger Management Center?
Why, yes, that’d be me.
I’m glad all the poor kids in Hockessin have a PAL Center to attend. When a grocery store closed in Claymont many moons ago, I contacted someone with New Castle County and suggested it would be a great location for another PAL Center. The response was something along the lines of, “Where the hell are we supposed to get funds for that?” I know Total Wine is pretty impressive, but Claymont could have used that facility more than the free lunch recipients in Hockessin.
Going out on a limb. A whole helluva lot more ex-cops live in Hockessin than Claymont.
The fact that Gordon put the PAL in Hockessin is a bleeping joke. Almost as much of one as handing the profoundly-unqualified Longhurst the job by cops and ex-cops, including current and former state legislators.
HB 55, the Homeless Bill of Rights, was pulled from today’s committee agenda. I have no idea why, does anyone else?
From the committee notice:
“Please note HS 2 for HB 55 was removed from the committee agenda at the request of the sponsor.”
I don’t know why Rep. Phillips made that request, although I’ll point out that this is the third incarnation of this bill. A challenging bill for anybody to work, much less someone in their first term.
The first committee hearing for this bill was brutal. I was very surprised that the most cutting criticisms of the bill came from Franklin Cooke, while the Rs mired the committee down with logistical questions.
FWIW, the only meat in the bill had to do with discrimination while seeking employment. Nothing in the bill mitigated the housing crisis or the homeless crisis.
The state has no controlling authority when it comes to homelessness. They throw just enough money to shelters to keep their doors open through grants. Delaware needs one department within one agency that serves as the central hub for homelessness. I bet that department would cost a fraction of what we’re going to pay for a marijuana commission that should have simply been rolled into whatever organization regulates alcohol and tobacco.
A simplistic view, yes, but sometimes simplicity works.
Franklin Cooke–another Democrat that needs to be challenged.
Think he’ll be the Last Cop Standing once Pete retires–unless somebody steps up to challenge him.
BPG surrogates were ginning up opposition among the young Wilmington business community. folks in my business put well shot Instagram ant Tik Tok videos laden with disinformation and provocative clips of tent camps in places like San Francisco. The most frustrating years of my career was my time spent working from a shelter at 8th and West and publishing a Homeless focused newspaper sold on the streets of Wilmington. The goal then and the goal now is to suppress, hide and punish those experiencing homelessness.. Soghie and the advocates have a heavy lift. I wish them well.
It’s no coincidence that those actively engaged in gentrification are the most opposed to rights for the homeless.