Marriage Equality Bill Unveiled Today

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A news conference unveiling the Marriage Equality bill is scheduled for 2:30 this afternoon at Wilmington’s Freedom Plaza. Rep. Melanie George Smith will sponsor the bill that will legalize marriages between same sex partners, just as she sponsored and worked the Civil Unions bill last session.

John Sigler: Lawbreaker? Probably…Creep? Certainly

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What if we told you that Delaware's (and one of the nation's) most prominent advocates for 'law abiding citizens' may well be both a lawbreaker and an inhumane killer? And what if I told you that this upstanding citizen is the head of the Delaware Republican Party? Ladies and gentlemen, Delaware's Mr. NRA #1, John Sigler....

QOTD — A Modest Proposal on Legislator Pay

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I saw this proposal on Facebook the other night and -- frankly -- this makes sense to me. If we are focused like a laser beam on compensating teachers for effectiveness (and for effectiveness over factors they can't always control), why not compensate legislators the same way? What do you think?

Hillary Makes a Speech On the Unfinished Business of the 21st Century

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It's Hillary Clinton Day here at DL! Last Friday, Hillary Clinton took the stage at the Women in the World Summit in New York to make the case for women's rights. Global women's rights. (Am I the only one who really would have liked to have gone to this event?) Calling women's rights the unfinished business of the century, she reminds us of how much women contribute to their places and how much even first world places like the US still have to go to achieve real equality. The Daily Beast was apparently a sponsor of this event, and there is plenty of coverage there. This speech (and another upcoming this Tuesday, I believe) are why there is such a big slug of Hillary news and speculation over the last few days. She didn't really touch on her future plans, except to say,“I look forward to being your partner in all the days and years ahead.” You can see the entire speech (approx 33 minutes, including Tina Brown intro) below.

The PDD-DL Vote Tracker for April 6, 2013

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The General Assembly is in recess until April 16. But since our last Vote Tracker update on March 22, there has been some action on our bills of interest. Namely, the Hazel Plant Felon Vote Restoration Act has made it out of the Senate Executive Committee and will likely be voted on by the Senate after the recess. The three Revenue bills (HB 50, 51, and 52) that made permanent the tax raises from 2009 passed along party lines in the House and Senate and were signed by Governor Markell on March 28. SB 19, the Death Penalty Repeal, passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 11-10. Check out who voted yes and no on the chart below, it is quite surprising. On April 3, HB 58, the Large Magazine Ban component of the Gun Control package, was tabled in the House Administration Committee for further review. Meanwhile, Senator Marshall didn't do his homework and had a first draft of SB 37 filed without proofing it. It seems it had a provision in there that could be read to establish a gun registration by requiring owners of assault weapons purchased before the effective date of the legislation to provide proof of ownership to the Delaware State Police within 120 days of the effective date of the act. The bill was immediately stricken before the NRA outrage machine could be brought to bear. Here is the thing about banning assault weapons. When you ban them, you ban them. You don't let people keep them through a grandfather clause. So if you want to ban these assault weapons because no one should own them, then no one should own them. Make it a crime to possess them. If you do that, you don't get in trouble with clauses that might or might not establish a gun registration.