“Work Expands To Fill Time Allotted.” This applies to the final June session-weeks every single year. It holds true this year. And certainly for today. 20 bills on today’s House Agendas, 10 bills on the Senate Agenda, plus committee meetings both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The House is exclusively working House bills today, with the exception of three Charter changes that are on the Consent Agenda. This makes sense as, the sooner the House bills get to the Senate, the more likely they are to be considered before the end of session. Highlights on today’s House Agenda include:
HB 37 (Morrison), which ‘ensures that all government services, including those provided directly by government entities and those that are government-funded or supervised, are subject to the same non-discrimination requirements as private businesses by revising the definition of “place of public accommodation”.’
HS1/HB 91 (K. Williams), which ‘further expands free breakfasts in schools participating in the federal School Breakfast Program by making them available to all students, regardless of household income, but does not expand free lunch income eligibility. The Department of Education shall reimburse a public school providing free breakfasts.’ In other words, you get a free breakfast, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Williams was dead set against the free lunch provision, and she ensured that money was not allocated in Joint Finance Committee to provide it. Better than nothing, which Williams may, or may not, be.
HB 133 (Snyder-Hall) ‘gives courts the discretion to waive fines and fees, in whole or in part, in appropriate circumstances’, and ‘also creates a presumption that fines and fees will not be imposed when a defendant shows evidence of certain conditions, including receiving a public assistance benefit (like Medicaid, SNAP, or veterans’ benefits) or being represented by the Office of Defense Services.’ Great bill.
HB 142 and HB 153 ( both sponsored by Rep. Gorman) are excellent civil liberties bills. HB 142 ‘eliminates authorization for a warrantless arrest by a private person in the case of an individual accused in the courts of another state of a felony. It also strikes a provision relating to the authority of an officer to command assistance in making arrests based on charges in another state.’ HB 153 ‘prohibits arrest or detention by any person who does not have explicit statutory authority to carry out an arrest or detention. The intent of this provision is to eliminate any doubt that a “citizen’s arrest” is not permitted in Delaware.’
All in all, a pretty interesting agenda.
I think the Senate has fewer bills to clear, so it’s a less time-intense agenda, and features several House bills. The most intriguing bill, IMO, is SS1/SB 156 (Mantzavinos), which ‘prohibits the reporting of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies and prohibits any medical debt from being included on a consumer report.’ Kinda thought there might be some R sponsors on the bill, but I still think some of them will vote for this.
OK, time to scope out today’s committee meetings. Starting with Senate committee highlights. Uh, not many, since there’s only one scheduled Senate committee meeting today. And there are no Senate bills being considered in that committee today.
Let’s mosey on over to the other side of the building and see what’s going on in today’s House committee meetings:
HB 187 (M. Smith) ‘permits wine producers holding a valid license within this State or another state to obtain a license and ship wine directly to Delaware consumers so long as it is done through a common carrier with a carrier permit.’ Bills similar to this have been introduced for at least the last 15 years. There is no overriding public safety concern in opposing this. I remember once talking to Jack Cordrey about this back when he was in control of Alcoholic Beverage Enforcement. He raised the specter of (I’m not making this up) teens ordering cases of wine from the boutique wineries that this act largely addresses. R-i-i-ght. We’re only talking producers that don’t already have access to Delaware through the normal distribution network. We’re mostly talking about people who visited a small winery somewhere, loved the wines, but found out they were not distributed in Delaware. Can’t we just pass this already?
HB 181 (Yearick) delays implementation of penalties imposed on employers who violate Delaware’s Medical And Family Leave program until 2029. If you look at both the bill as a whole and the bill’s synopsis, you will notice that the bill does not mention the current implementation date. Not an accident. Shitty bill, all Rethug sponsors. Bury it!
Well, that wrapped up quicker than I expected. See ya tomorrow.