General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., January 22, 2025
The Big News: Senate Executive Committee Starts Three Days Of Hearings On Gov. Meyer’s Nominees. I’ll link to the schedules for the nominees later in this article.
But, first, yesterday’s Session Activity Report. SB 11 (Townsend), the second leg of a Constitutional Amendment addressing bail reform, unanimously passed in the Senate. I’ve listened to the Senate debate two years running, and I’m convinced that it makes genuine progress on the road to restorative justice. I did not know until yesterday that this had been part of the restorative justice package that former Rep. J. J. Johnson crafted before he retired from the General Assembly. The final piece, as it took several years to get where we are today. I cannot state this strongly enough: Were there a Delaware Hall Of Fame for legislators who successfully passed progressive legislation, Rep. Johnson would be an absolute first ballot inductee. I am in awe of what he was able to get done in a less progressive General Assembly than we have now. Ban The Box? Yep, that was one of his as well. And he did it without ever calling attention to himself.
Pretty sure the bill will sail through the House before next week’s adjournment for the Joint Finance Committee hearings.
Neither the House nor Senate will be in session today as we have the start of the session’s committee meetings. I promised you the Senate Executive schedule for nominations, and here it is:
A marathon Senate voting session on the nominees will assuredly follow, perhaps as early as the 28th. Gotta say, if you value diversity (I do), that’s quite the diverse group of nominees. And well-qualified. One more note since I had been critical of the nomination of Greg Patterson as DNREC Secretary. I bumped into one of my favorite environmental leaders at (where else?) Trader Joe’s, and he was enthusiastic about the nomination. (OK, enough self-flagellation for one day although it can be an enjoyable experience…)
Here is the full Senate Committee schedule. Little else of consequence.
Here is today’s House Committee schedule. Two bills of interest (at least to me), only one of which I support.
That bill is HB 6 (Osienski), which:
…allows the Auditor of Accounts to issue subpoenas directly, removing a requirement that the Auditor first file a praecipe with the Superior Court prothonotary. It also allows the Auditor to effect service of such a subpoena, and to apply for a court order if a recipient fails to respond to a subpoena. Failure to comply with such a court order may be punished as contempt of court.
My only question is why no State Auditor prior to Lydia York sought this authority. The question is rhetorical, of course. It’s because York’s predecessors were part of the Delaware Way good ol’ boys system of hiding the truth from the public. (House Administration)
I am not a fan of HB 32 (Shupe), which:
…establishes school officer units to fund school resource officers or constables in all Delaware public schools. Specifically, this Act funds at least 1 school officer in each school in a school district and in each charter school, regardless of enrollment, and provides for additional school officers for schools with over 1,000 students.
Three sponsors, all R’s including an ex-cop. The Fiscal Note projects the cost to around $24 mill a year. The bill can’t realistically go anywhere until/unless the Joint Finance Committee funds it. I, for one, don’t want any bill tying the hands of the new Governor. (Education)
Most of the other bills either correct some inadvertent language errors, extend deadlines for task forces, or are charter changes. Let me know if you think I’ve overlooked something important.
Me? I’ve overlooked breakfast. But not for much longer.
I’m sure if scheduled in committee, HB 9 will be discussed here at length… but in the event that it is not, the bill would require elected/appointed officials to report dual state/subdivision employment to the Public Integrity Commission in order to assist them and the Auditor in reviewing coincident income. It prescribes in detail how time records are to be kept and verification is to occur as pay is prorated. I think the appointed official component might get confusing based on how the state describes people (IE. Is this applicable to Deputy Secretaries, any employee in an exempt role, etc?). Surprising that Osienski is on the bill as a co-sponsor in his new leadership role. Minority leadership in the House and Majority leadership in the Senate is on the bill (though Senators may feel comfortable that the bill perhaps isn’t likely to crossover)