Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, May 14, 2024

The Big News: Compromise, Compromise.  Apparently, compromises have been reached on both the Hospital Cost Review Board and the Wilmington towing scam bill.  Of the two, I’m most skeptical of the towing bill, which had been held up by city officials who had expressed concerns about the bill.  Well, it was, after all, their scam.  Wonder if Carney weighed in, wonder if he even had a clue what was going on.

You know, now that I overthink this, I wonder how much influence Carney will have in Dover if he becomes mayor.  If he has less influence than he has now, he’ll have zero influence.  But, I digress.

The soon-to-be-amended towing bill leads off today’s House Agenda.  The rest of the agenda is pretty insubstantial, although I do like the narrowly-focused HB 363 (Morrison), which ‘requires a landlord who provides a dwelling place to a person as part of their employment compensation to provide them with a disclosure form advising them of the conditions and requirements for occupancy and vacancy of the premises once they are no longer employed for the landlord.’

Today’s Senate Agenda features some inside baseball which is worthy inside baseball.  SB 15 and SB 16 (both sponsored by Sen. Sokola) seek to strengthen the Senate’s role in the advise-and-consent confirmation process.  SB 15, which is the first leg of a Constitutional Amendment, ‘…require(s) each holdover member of the Governor’s cabinet to be reconfirmed by the Senate at the beginning of each term of the Governor.

SB 16:

…implements the process of aligning the end of the term of each of the members of the Governor’s cabinet with the end of the Governor’s term by designating the principal officer of each executive department who is subject to the amendments to § 10 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution proposed by Senate Bill No. 15. The General Assembly’s intent in making this change is to require each member of the Governor’s cabinet to be reconfirmed by the Senate at the beginning of each term of a Governor.

Good news, bad news on the House Committee front today.  One of the absolutely best bills this session will be considered today.  HB 280 (K. Williams):

…makes several changes to the civil asset forfeiture proceedings of this state. It repeals the legal presumption that money, negotiable instruments or securities found in close proximity to controlled substances or records or with trace amounts of controlled substances are forfeitable. Such evidence is still admissible and may be considered by the Court in a forfeiture proceeding. It puts the burden of proof on the State to prove all elements of a forfeiture case by a preponderance of the evidence. Under the existing statute, it is the burden of an innocent owner to prove that they did not have knowledge of or consent to the use of their property in an unlawful act. It prohibits the forfeiture of currency less than $500. It prohibits forfeiture unless a criminal charge is brought. It requires the person holding seized property to be financially responsible for all fees associated therewith in the event the property is ordered by the Court to be returned. It allows a claimant property owner who substantially prevails in a forfeiture proceeding to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

A great bill that could put an end to the current practice of cops just stealing stuff.  Oh, the bad news?  It’s in a committee that has been stacked in favor of the cops who steal stuff.  The House Public Safety And Homeland Security Committee.  5 D’s, three R’s.  Problem is, if the R’s stick together, it all comes down to whether both Bill Bush and Franklin Cooke vote to release the bill from committee.  Cooke, in particular, essentially has veto-power over the bill.  An ex-cop.  Oh, did I mention that the stuff the cops steal goes into a slush fund for, you know, cop stuff?  A fund exempt from FOIA? Just so happens I wrote about it awhile back. I don’t need the page views, but read this article if you’re unfamiliar with the issue.  The Speaker (Longhurst, as this bill was recently introduced) chose to place it in this committee.  Should the bill get buried there, you all know who to blame.   Longhurst.  Cooke. Perhaps Bush.

Yet another excellent bill–this one from Rep. K. Johnson–HB 248, which ‘establishes a pre-permit community outreach process for any qualified project, as defined in DNREC Regulations, that wishes to apply for a permit within 3 months, in an underserved community.’  This sure beats Carney just dumping shit into Southbridge because so much shit has already been dumped into Southbridge.  Gotta say, Rep. Kendra Johnson has come into her own this session.  It’s in the House Natural Resources & Energy Committee, so it should make it to the floor.

Wow. Another great bill.  HB 383 (Harris)  ‘prohibits discrimination against 340B drug distribution by manufacturers, repackagers, third-party logistics providers, and wholesalers.’  What are 340B drugs, you (and everyone else) may ask?:

Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act requires pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in Medicaid to sell outpatient drugs at discounted prices to health care organizations that care for many uninsured and low-income patients.

It’s in the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce Committee, which is less of a business lapdog than it used to be.  Should make it to the floor.

Only one Senate Committee meeting today, but it’s an important one.  SB 11 (Townsend) ‘is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to modernize the bail provisions within the Delaware Constitution and clarify the power of the General Assembly to enumerate certain felony offenses for which, or circumstances under which, pretrial release on bail may not be allowed.’  SB 12 (Townsend) appears to make the requisite legislative changes should SB 11 be enacted as part of the Delaware Constitution.  People who are much more learned in the law than I am have been debating the issues addressed in these two bills for at least the last two legislative sessions.  I defer to them, and to you, to discuss in the comments section.

Ohhh, man, tomorrow looks like a super-busy committee day, with some great bills being considered in the Senate.  Might have to start writing it up later today in order to meet deadline.