Thursday Open Thread [3.26.15]

Thursday Open Thread [3.26.15]

5 Comments
A new CNN/ORC poll "finds 53% saying things are going well, 46% badly. That's the highest share saying things are going well that CNN/ORC polls have found during Obama's time in office...Assessing Obama's presidency overall, 50% consider his time in office a success, 47% a failure. And for those who say his time in office has been a failure, 37% say that's been because of his own actions, while just 9% attribute it to Congress blocking the President from action...Nearly two-thirds (63%) disapprove of the Democratic leaders in Congress, while 74% disapprove of the Republican leadership. That's worse than in March 2011, when 64% said they disapproved of GOP leadership a few months after the party took control of the U.S. House of Representatives."
Vote Tracker Update: Death Penalty Repeal Clears Committee, and some good Republican Bills.

Vote Tracker Update: Death Penalty Repeal Clears Committee, and some good Republican Bills.

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Well that was quick. The Senate Judiciary Committee held its hearing on SB 40, the Death Penalty Repeal bill, yesterday, and has already voted the bill out of committee for consideration by the full Senate. I suppose the fast action should not be surprising, since passage by the Senate may be a foregone conclusion since it passed 11-10 last year. Once and a while the Republicans in the General Assembly introduce legislation that is actually good, even though their Republican sponsorship is often times cynical and an attempt to bait or embarrass the Democratic Leadership. But hey, one of the complaints of the GOP is that their bills never get a hearing or a vote on the floor. Rep. Deborah Hudson's HB 61 requires that all public meetings of the boards of education of public school districts, vo-tech school districts, and public meetings of charter schools’ boards of directors be digitally recorded and made available to the public on the districts’ and charter schools’ websites within seven business days. That is open government transparency, and a no brainer for Democrats to get behind. Speaker Schwartzkopf, let's get this bill on the floor. Rep. Dukes' HB 67 requires all statewide and other candidates that may appear on the general election ballot to disclose whether or not all their State and Federal personal income tax returns are filed and any tax due has been paid and whether or not all their real property taxes have been paid. Sure, this bill is making a political point, but I think it is still good policy nonetheless. Placing this bill in the House Administrative Committee, with is Speaker Schwartzkopf's version of a desk drawer veto, is only giving the Republicans the issue and more time to harp on it. It is self defeating. Finally, SB 38. This is intriguing. This bill is sponsored by Senator Colin Bonini, and allows a terminally ill patient, and his or her treating physician, to decide if they will pursue treatment with an investigational drug, biological product or device, which has successfully completed Phase One of a clinical trial. That is downright compassionate, one or two steps away from Death with Dignity, and it comes from a Republican. Shame on Democrats for not introducing this bill themselves.
Vote Tracker Update: Finally Some Action

Vote Tracker Update: Finally Some Action

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Well, would you look at that. The Delaware General Assembly has gone and updated their webpage with a sleeker design and easier navigation. I'm still figuring it out, but the one bug I see right away is that when you click on a particular piece of legislation, you are not taken to that legislation's URL landing page, but instead you view it in window on the main page. Now, individual URLs for specific legislation are still available and are provided as a link in the Vote Tracker below. You simply click on the Bill number and your browser will take you to that page. We have finally the first voting action on one of the bills we are following. The Senate unanimously passed Senator Sokola's Senate Bill 31 to continue to enable Teach for America to recruit and train teachers to teach in Delaware. It moves over to the House. Senator Poore's SB 33 was voted out of the Senate Education Committee on its merits, and then laid on the table in the Senate yesterday, March 24. Laying on the table does not necessarily kill a bill, but it suspends or postpones consideration of it. So I guess we need to know why, since the Bill would have implemented one of the many task forces' we turn to in this state whenever we have a problem. And the problem here was reforming the individualized education program (IEP) process, which is the way educational programs and services for students with diagnosed disabilities in Delaware public schools are determined. I have seen no explanation yet in the media as to why we are postponing considering this bill. Sen. Robert Marshall (D) has introduced legislation that will increase the minimum wage up to where it should be: $10.25 an hour. The bill calls for 50-cent, per-hour increases over the next four years until minimum wage hits $10.25 an hour by June of 2019. I'd prefer we just increase it straight away to $10, whatever games we have to play to get legislators onboard, let's play them. Most importantly, Senator Marshall has introduced SB 39 to increase the minimum wage to $10.25; and Senator Peterson has introduced SB 40, the repeal of the Death Penalty in Delaware.
Wednesday Open Thread [3.25.15]

Wednesday Open Thread [3.25.15]

3 Comments
Bill Boyarsky at TruthDig writes that the GOP is planning to use a desired War with Iran as a campaign strategy for 2016:
The Republicans want to frighten the voters into believing that the Democrats will sell out Israel and the United States. Selling this phony message is tremendously important to them as they get ready for the 2016 election. Domestically, their arguments against the Democrats are vanishing. Obamacare is increasingly popular as signups become more efficient. The deficit—the Holy Grail for Republicans—is shrinking. Unemployment is declining. All they can do is complain that Obama and the Democrats are surrendering to Islam.

Tuesday Open Thread [3.24.15]

16 Comments
“I wish Reagan would rise from the dead and come back.” — Pat Robertson, on his television show The 700 Club, while noting President Obama “does not believe in America” and was mentored by “leftists who don’t really love this country.” Ah yes, Pat Robertson, who runs the Christian "700 Club" that of course believes in a wonderous heavenly after life, endorsing the return of Zombie Reagan, which seems somewhat blasphemous to me. Once again, our real headlines have become the Onion. Here is a segment the Onion did a number of years ago.
Redrawing School District Lines

Redrawing School District Lines

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I have been on record saying that Delaware has too many school districts. 19 public/Vo-Tech school districts and 18 (and counting) charter districts. Each charter school is its own district. To me, that's simply too much administrative overhead. Which brings us to the plan of reducing the number of districts in the city of Wilmington. Something I support, but know that the devil's in the details. When the Wilmington Education Advisory Committee (WEAC) submitted its report to the Governor, one of its suggestions was removing Christina and Colonial School Districts from the city and having the only two districts (Red Clay and Brandywine) serve the city. As a city resident the idea of fewer school districts sounds wonderful. Having four districts fractured the city's voice. It was hard to organize and advocate for city kids since school districts would only listen to people who lived in their district about concerns with their district. I do understand that, but it was extremely frustrating. Especially since 99% of our concerns applied to every district. But those district lines sent us off in four different directions, with less people, and were easily ignored. And, make no mistake, we were ignored. The districts' go-to solution was always to form a committee to study the problem. Where all those committee reports ended up... I have no idea. And it was infuriating to keep bringing up the same concerns year after year only to have district administrators feign surprise and call for a new committee. So, most city residents would be happy with fewer school districts - if it's handled correctly.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Week of March 24-26, 1015

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Week of March 24-26, 1015

7 Comments
Yet another sneaky maneuver from Markell's Merciless Minions in their ongoing war on state employees. After agreeing to postpone their plan to screw state employees and retirees by shifting more health costs onto them, Ann Visalli and her henchpersons nevertheless convened a meeting of the ironically-named State Employee Benefits Commission to 'temporarily' increase premiums. In other words, shifting more costs onto the workers. And going back on their public promises. When it comes to state employees, Markell is taking his cues from Scott Walker. Or perhaps vice versa.  From Day One, Markell has done little to hide his disdain for the worker bees. Guess he admires smooth-talking used car salesmen like himself much more.  Right back at'cha, Jack.  Glibness made you rich and made you governor.  Hey, maybe that's why Jack looks down on state employees...not glib enough for him and, of course, not wealthy enough for him. Memo to the General Assembly: We're watching. It's time to tax Jack's pals. They collected all the spoils of the so-called economic recovery.  Stop Markell's transfer of more wealth to the wealthy.  This. Is. Unconscionable. The Delaware General Assembly has a new easy-to-navigate website.  It's really really good, but does not lend itself to linking as well as the previous website. Rather than doing a cut-and-paste of huge swaths of text, I'll post highlights and encourage you to check out the site.  It's definitely much easier to access and search than it used to be, which makes me even less essential (I know, I know).
Our Choices for Raising New Revenue

Our Choices for Raising New Revenue

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Last week, the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council or DEFAC released its latest revenue projections, reporting a $45 million dollar loss in revenue. Last Friday, the News Journal had a story on the Structural Revenue Review Committee and what they see as the reason for the revenue drop:
As the legal or corporate home for hundreds of thousands of businesses, Delaware is allowed to take intangible assets such as dormant checking and savings accounts, uncashed checks and unclaimed dividends and stocks after a certain number of years if the owners can’t be found. [...] But corporations that are required to turn over their unclaimed property have challenged Delaware’s enforcement methods, including estimating the amounts due when no actual records can be found. Meanwhile, only a fraction of companies subject to the escheat laws are complying with the reporting requirements. [Secretary of State] Bullock noted that while increased compliance might bring in more abandoned property revenue, technology has made it easier for companies to track ownership of the assets, meaning there likely will be less for the state to claim in the future. Meanwhile, the state also faces challenges when it comes to gambling revenue, as newer and bigger casinos in neighboring states continue to draw gamblers who used to come to Delaware’s three casinos, panel members were told. Lottery and gambling revenues contributed about $215 million to the general fund in fiscal 2014 but have declined steadily in recent years, with even more competition from other states on the horizon.
So the budget gimmickry that has allowed Delaware to operate on a half-flat income tax structure for decades is coming to an end. So what are our options?