Some tidbits from yesterday’s Session:
Only Claire Snyder-Hall voted against Rep. Bolden’s incumbency protection bill. It’s never passed the Senate, but with Cruce and Seigfried replacing no votes from McBride and Gay, who knows?
Here is (a) how you turn a good bill into a far-less good bill and (b) how lobbyists earn their money. The bill in question is HS 1/HB 62 (Ross Levin), which purports to protect residents from having their utility service cut off. Which is what the bill did. Now just check out the sponsor’s amendment and the ways that it eviscerated the bill’s stated intent:
This Amendment makes the following changes to HS 1 to HB 62: 1. Requires the utility company to measure the daily temperature from an airport in the same county as the subject dwelling, rather than a location within 50 miles of the subject dwelling; 2. Requires the electric company to make 2, rather than 3, documented attempts to contact the account holder prior to termination of services during the heating season; 3. Changes the term “adult occupant of the dwelling unit” to the “account holder”; 4. Increases the Heat Index (determining when electric utilities may be shut off) from 90 degrees to 95 degrees; 5. Removes the requirement that written notice during the heating or cooling season be sent via First Class mail; 6. Changes the Act’s effective date from 60 to 90 days after its enactment into law; and 7. Authorizes a utility company to shut off utility services on a weekend if the utility company provides facilities for payment and restoration of services on weekends.
In other words, an amendment written by the utility lobbyists and passed in the (by now) disgraced tradition of Delaware Way compromise. Didn’t stop 12 Rethugs from voting against it. Won’t stop the lobbyists from trying to further weaken the bill in the Senate.
For reasons that they probably even can’t explain, Reps. Morris and Vanderwende cast the only no votes against ‘requir(ing) that school board meetings have a means for the public to view and provide comment remotely’. I’d like to see a cost/benefit analysis to determine whether drone legislators can be replaced by robots. At least the robots wouldn’t get pensions.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. Sen. Darius Brown is now the designated floor manager for all the annual corporate law legislation in the Senate.
It’s committee day in the House, so no Agenda. Here’s today’s committee schedule:
…limits circumstances in which personal identifiable information about applicants or holders of driving privilege cards may be released to those instances where the Delaware Attorney General gives specific approval or where the request for information is in a valid court order. It also amends existing provisions relating to disclosure of driver and motor vehicle information to limit the disclosure or re-disclosure of citizenship or immigration status information and related sensitive personal information. Judiciary.
HB 91 (K. Williams) ‘makes a student who is ineligible for a free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch under federal law due to household income eligible for a free school breakfast and lunch if that student’s household income is at or below 225% of the federal poverty level.’ The current Delaware standard permits the free meals if the household income is at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. Education.
HB 95 (Lynn) ‘prohibits the Department of Education, public schools, and operators of companies that hold digital student data from sharing student information with immigration enforcement agencies without permission from the DE AG. Education.
Today’s Senate Agenda is short and non-controversial.
The End-Of-Life Options Bill will be considered in today’s Senate Executive Committee meeting. Barring any defections, which I don’t expect, the bill will pass in the Senate over the next two weeks and will be signed into law by Gov. Meyer.
Other Senate committee highlights include:
SB 91 (Sturgeon) ‘requires schools that receive federal funding ensure students, staff, and faculty are protected from sex-based discrimination and sex-based harassment. The Act further requires schools to communicate to students, through their website, the existence of Title IX administrators as required by federal law’. Assuming, of course, that Trump doesn’t unilaterally do away with Title IX. Education.
SB 78 (Sturgeon) basically consolidates all anti-discrimination education statutes under one catch-all statute. Education.
Last, but certainly not least, is SB 75 (Paradee), which ‘limits the restrictions a county may impose on the operation of marijuana establishments’, and then enumerates the restrictions which cannot be imposed. In other words, it tries to eliminate a lot of the gimmicks that counties and municipalities are using to essentially kill the industry before it’s born. Great bill. Elections & Government Affairs.
That’s a wrap.