Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, January 28, 2026

(Author’s Note: I originally wrote the first part of this on Monday evening. I’ve saved it for posterity because, well, I’m lazy.)

I’m writing this under the assumption that the General Assembly will actually meet today.

Were Terry Spence still the Speaker Of The House, session would already be canceled.  Terry was legendary for calling off session at the slightest hint of flurries.  So much so that he inspired my 20-plus year run of dressing for Halloween as a ‘Non-Essential State Employee’, because ‘all non-essential state employees’ were ordered to stay home.  (There’s more than a hint of the truth in that statement, but I digress.)

Annnd…here we have it.  With no advanced notice, the ‘mini-Bond’ Bill,  which reallocates certain capital dollars previously authorized in past Bond bills, has appeared and is on today’s House Agenda. If you’re not armed with certain inside information (which I am not), you would have no idea what they’re doing.  Oh, and though this bill purportedly repurposes already-approved funds, look what else it proposes to do:  “…amend Delaware Code to require the Diamond State Port Corporation Executive Director to be selected by majority vote of the Board.”  Is that a function currently carried out by the Governor?  Or assigned to the Secretary of State?  If so, um, you see what they’re doing here?  Gee, I wonder if we’d have this change if Meyer had nominated Jeff Bullock to stay in this role.  Don’t know if this is a ‘gotcha’ or not.  But, there’s not much harm if the Governor vetoes this bill.  They can simply pass it, without the offending add-on, when they return in March.  If it is an offending add-on.

This Agenda surfaced late on Monday afternoon.  Because, unlike  Sen. Sokola, whose Senate Agendas are posted early on Fridays,  Speaker of the House Mimi Minor-Brown does not deign to provide sufficient notice.  This, in fact, is a weekly occurrence with her.

Of the items on that House Agenda, I especially like HB 151(Gorman).  Why?  Because we’ve seen how so-called privatized prisons nationwide skimp on providing contracted services so that they can wring more profit out of the government contracts they’ve received.  Just like ‘privatized’ nursing homes, except for prisoners. (And, just like that, this bill has been removed from Wednesday’s Agenda.)

(Author’s note: Here comes the new stuff):

Here’s today’s Senate Agenda.  Make of it what you will (did I mention I’m lazy?). Time for an appropriate musical interlude from an artist I brought to the Gild Hall:

BTW, Cat is the daughter of Luis Russell, who was Louis Armstrong’s bandleader.  She’s a regular on the Donald Fagen Steely Dan tours and sang backup on tour with David Bowie.  If you ever get the chance…

OK, back to reality.

Highlights from today’s scheduled House Committee Meetings:

HB 236 (Wilson-Anton) ‘allows a paid emergency medical technician working for a participating employer to be eligible for the County Municipal Police/Firefighter Pension Plan…(i)n addition, this Act will exclude firefighters and EMTs hired after the effective date of this Act from participating in the County and Municipal Employees’ Fund, in order to ensure the State’s pension plans comply with federal tax and pension law. Going forward, employees who work as paid firefighters, EMTs, or both will be eligible only for the Police/Firefighter Pension Fund. Judiciary.

HB 252 (Morrison) ‘makes use or consumption of a personal use quantity of a controlled substance or counterfeit controlled substance (products containing marijuana or tetrohydrocannabinols) in an area accessible to the public or in a moving vehicle a civil violation rather than a misdemeanor and changes the potential penalties for this offense to a fine of up to $50 for a first offense and up to $100 for subsequent offenses.  Health & Human Development.

HB 251 (Morrison) ‘allows the members of the (New Castle County) Council to elect a president from among themselves. To do so, this Act increases the number of councilmanic districts from 12 to 13 following the 2030 decennial census, effective with the general election following the redistricting, and removes provisions allowing for the election of a president from the county at-large. Elections & Government Affairs.

HB 233 (Burns): ‘requires regulated utilities to establish a separate rate for large energy-use facilities that mitigates the risk of costs associated with expanding infrastructure and maintaining reliability in the face of growing demand from being shifted to residential, small business, and other electric customers. Natural Resources & Energy.

Today’s Senate Committee Highlights:

SB 214 (Hoffner) ‘ requires the State to preserve all biological evidence in its custody that is secured in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a crime, for the period of time that the crime remains unsolved or the period of time that a person convicted of the crime remains in custody, regardless of whether the person pleaded guilty.’ Corrections & Public Safety.

SB 194 (Poore) ‘establishes worker protections for employees who work in a warehouse distribution center.  This Act requires employers to provide each employee with a written description of any quota the employee may be subject to during their scope of employment. This Act prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to meet a quota that would prevent the employee from being able to have meal and rest periods as required by Department of Labor standards.’ Labor.

SB 215 (Richardson) ‘generally requires a student athlete to compete for athletic teams or in sports associated with the student athlete’s biological sex, as determined at or near birth and based on the student athlete’s birth certificate or other government record if a birth certificate is unobtainable’.  A brochure bill to take idiot MAGAts’ alleged minds off of the stuff that really matters. Not going anywhere.  Education.

All of this supposes that there will be a session today.  If not, look for the exact same post tomorrow, with a date change.  You know why…