General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thursday, March 20, 2025

Let’s address the two big issues that surfaced yesterday.

The Musk-Pass corporate law bill made it through the House Judiciary Committee yesterday.  As Xerxes Wilson pointed out in this comprehensive piece,

Wednesday’s three-hour hearing in the House Judiciary Committee was the first time full-throated opposition was raised in Legislative Hall. Dozens of attorneys, as well as academics representing regular investors and billion-dollar institutional investors, asked the committee not to rush the changes and consider alternatives.

Wilson does an excellent job of portraying the positions of both sides on this bill.  To me, if the amendment proposed by Rep. Sophie Phillips becomes part of the bill, it makes the bill fairer and more palatable.  I am encouraged that the Speaker did not place SS1/SB 1 on today’s House Agenda.  It shows that the House will not unduly rush the bill through, as happened in the Senate.

We also learned that Rep. Parker Selby has not attended a single session day this year.  She represents the 20th RD in Sussex County.  She is not the first legislator to have an extended absence from Leg Hall due to illness, an illness that was acknowledged by Rep. Bolden on the first day of session this year.  I guess the question, which is not for me to answer, is whether she can reasonably be expected to return to work at some point.  Unlike Beau Biden, who hid his illness from the public and had people cover up for him, Selby is one of 41 House members, not a statewide elected official.  That’s about all I can muster.

Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report.  Pretty much all the ‘good stuff’ I referenced yesterday made it out of committee, pretty much all of the ‘bad stuff’ didn’t.  You don’t get this kind of deep-dive analysis from any other Delaware political blog.

A solid Senate Agenda today, including a three-bill package sponsored by Sen. Hansen designed to address high utility costs and to permit more oversight of proposed rate increases.  I especially like SB 59, which changes the ‘business judgment rule’ (aka almost unfettered ability to raise rates at will) to the ‘prudence standard’,  which better enables the Public Advocate to challenge proposed rate increases.  Delaware is only one of two states that allow utilities to set their own rates with little to no challenge.  This bill will change that.  The entire package is worth passing, and I suspect that all three bills will pass unanimously.

I also like SB 46 (Mantzavinos), which ‘prohibits any autonomous vehicle that requires a Class A commercial driver license without an O restriction from being operated on a Delaware highway for testing purposes, transporting goods, or transporting passengers without a human safety operator being physically present within the autonomous vehicle.’  I guess support for Elon Musk has its limits.

The House Agenda is pretty tame.  I’m not complaining.  HB 21 (K. Willliams):

…bans the sale of Tianeptine in the State by identifying it as a Schedule I controlled substance. Tianeptine, also known as “gas station heroin,” is an antidepressant drug that is not approved by the FDA and is being sold as a dietary supplement in gas stations and other shops.

That”s about all that floats my boat.  Gonna start a new feature tomorrow–“Legislator Of The Week”.  May be a permanent feature, may be a one-off, who knows?