The Big News: BHL Took A Walk.
Why? Because there was a distinct possibility that the vote on Paul Baumbach’s HB 140 would have been a 10-10 tie–said tie then to be broken by the Lieutenant Governor. It’s one of the very few duties of the office, and one that rarely happens. I remember the Senators, back when I worked there, deliberately ginning up a 10-10 vote so that then-Lt. Gov. S. B. Woo would have to break the tie, which he did. Because he showed up.
She’ll almost certainly be back on the podium today, preening, ever chipper, likely telling a Girl Scout troop how she loved talking to them about the evils of drug use before session started. It’s what she does. What she didn’t do?: Her job, in the one rare moment when she might well have been required to do so. Leadership? I report, you decide.
The Other Big News: Rep. Wilson-Anton’s Reverse Keyword Search Bill Wasn’t Worked. With the current composition of the House, and with the Speaker of the House owing her job to the police, police opposition inevitably killed the bill. The Kop Kabal still runs the place. But barely. The bill would have curbed excesses by law enforcement. Oh, did I mention that perhaps the greatest recruiting failure of the cycle was the failure to find an opponent to run against ex-cop Franklin Cooke?
The Other Big News: HB 140 passed, with Sen. Hoffner providing the eleventh vote. Who knows what John Carney, who seems to be under the thrall of the conservative wing of the Catholic Church, will do?
Which reminds me, Carney’s veto message on HB 282 reads like his house of worship is the Church Of The Budget-Smoothers. As in, if the Governor doesn’t get to appoint a majority of green-eyeshade types to the SEBC, appointees supporting retirees will run amok. An instructive excerpt, or two:
During my nearly eight years as Governor, I have focused intently on fiscal responsibility, and on protecting the long-term interests of every Delaware taxpayer. It is in this context that I consider HB 282.
HB 282 would change who sits on the State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC) and how the committee operates. For example, it would remove two members with relevant expertise and a mandate to control costs and replace them with individuals lacking such expertise and having an acknowledged conflict of interest.
Unlike the State leaders that would be removed from the SEBC under this bill, even a-well-intended appointee under HB 282 would have no obligation to protect and secure the State’s overall fiscal health. In fact, they would have every incentive to oppose any proposal that might negatively impact their personal interests.
Translation: ‘If I can’t have the likes of Claire DeMatteis and Rick Geisenberger there to throw sand in the gears of protecting state retirees, I’ve got to veto the bill.’
And so on. Worst. Governor. Ever. Will the General Assembly attempt to override the veto? They can, if they so choose. Beginning today.
Ho-kay. Other than that, it was a pretty productive day in Dover on Tuesday. Here is the Session Activity Report. Props to Sen. Kyle Evans Gay who, upon having her last nerve frayed, called out the putative ‘Christian’ Rethug bloc in the Senate for using their Stone Age biblical views to justify preventing women from having rights when it comes to bodily autonomy. I’ve known Kyle since her first campaign. I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard her legitimately angry. The bill in question was HS 2/HB 110 (Minor-Brown). It passed in the Senate on a straight party-line vote. Could have passed an hour earlier were it not for phony piety. I mean, if G-d didn’t want this bill to pass, couldn’t he have ordered up a flood or something?
Today’s House Agenda leads off with the Bond Bill. It requires a 3/4ths majority of all members. In other words, there’s enough stuff in the bill to please, or at least mollify, everybody. Barring another Skittles shortage, perhaps even Mike Ramone will vote for it. You will notice that House bills that returned from the Senate with Senate amendments attached are also at the top of the Agenda. That’s standard practice in both Houses as the bills have already been discussed and voted upon. Quick roll calls almost invariably follow.
It’s no big deal, but HS 1/HB 389 (Bush) has caught my eye. I mean, who conducts ‘up to 20 raffle events each year’? Fire companies? Just curious.
Today’s Senate Agenda is comprised almost exclusively of House bills. The lead-off bill is a real good one. HS1/HB 191 (Dorsey Walker):
…provides more clarity on the process by which a tenant may file an action in the Justice of the Peace Court to withhold rent payments in escrow. Specifically, the bill provides what the tenant must file in order to bring such action and how such actions proceed in court. This substitute bill also provides the remedy of termination of lease when the conditions of the rental unit threatens the life, health, or safety of the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household. This substitute bill also clarifies the appeal process for actions to withhold rent payments in escrow. This substitute bill also provides a tenant the right to raise as an affirmative defense to an action for summary possession filed by the landlord that a condition exists that threatens the life, health, or safety of the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household if the tenant satisfies specific requirements. If the Court determines that the tenant has satisfied those requirements, the Court may order that in lieu of summary possession, the tenant pay all base monthly rent owed to the landlord to an escrow account established by the Court. The Court may order the landlord to remedy the conditions alleged by a specific date. If both the landlord and tenant comply with the Court’s order, the amount held in escrow will be paid to the landlord within 30 days, and no judgment for possession shall be entered. Finally, this substitute bill provides that the Act will take effect 180 days after its enactment into law in order to provide the Justice of the Peace Court sufficient time to enact rules to implement the Act.
This bill had perhaps the most unusual roll call in the House: 22Y; 1 No (Carson); 2 Not Voting (Bolden, Parker Selby); oh, and 16 absent. . We know why Bolden was a no (*cough*Buccini Pollin*cough). We can guess why Ol’ Lump was a no–Trey Paradee’s pals the Kidners lobbied against the bill and, perhaps coincidentally, Lumpy was a beneficiary at the Kidners’ recent Bundling Party. Rep. Parker Selby? You’ll have to ask her.
The absences? It was during the Great Ramone Seaford/Skittles Walkout of 2023.
I’ll be listening to the Senate debate on this one. I think it will pass relatively easily. But you never know.
Hey, if any of Our Spies hear anything about a veto override, clue us in. Might have to dip into our newly-created Tipline Contingency Fund to pry the information out of you…otherwise, I could well go back to tipping my baristas again.