BREAKING NEWS: Parties Try Last-Minute Cash Grab in General Assembly!

BREAKING NEWS: Parties Try Last-Minute Cash Grab in General Assembly!

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The D's and R's have finally found something they can both agree on.  I had previously written about HS 1 to HB 128,  a candidate and party cash grab which was removed from the House Agenda once it was exposed. Guess what? They've got another bill they plan to work under the cover of darkness of June 30 and July 1.  And, while they won't fund $$'s for road building, 'leadership', including 'mortal enemies' Greg Lavelle and Patti Blevins, are united in crushing any insurgent candidacies under something called a 'Party Building Fund'. No, it's not for buildings. Ladeez and gentlemen, let me introduce to you SB 155, which is sort-of a Delaware version of Citizens United. The bill creates a new fund for political parties.  Here's the key sentence:
No political party may make any expenditure from its building fund except for the costs of telephone and other communications services and the rental or purchase of equipment, office supplies, or an office or building.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 24, 2015

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 24, 2015

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The Del-Tech stench grows fouler by the hour.  Despite the fact that no public notice was given, as required by Senate rules, the Senate Finance Commitee (illegally) met today and voted the Del-Tech Relief Act out of committee.  It's on today's agenda, just as it was on yesterday's agenda.  The difference being that only one Senate rule was violated instead of the two rules that were violated in order for it to be placed on yesterday's agenda. Make no mistake. The committee met because of what we wrote here yesterday.  They're gonna try to railroad this bill through, and every homeowner will pay w/o having any say over the so-called 'Community College Infrastructure Fund'. As Al Mascitti pointed out yesterday, this is not the first time this exact same scheme has been proposed by Del-Tech. When Lonnie George did it, he at least announced the legislation in January, which gave legislators and the public enough (or, for those of you supported it, too much) time to reject it for the blatant rip-off it was.  It's no coincidence that Mark Brainard and the bill's supporters waited until June 11 to introduce the bill and try to sneak it through w/o any public input. The bill still sucks. As Al also pointed out, tuition at Del-Tech is far below the national average, and a very modest increase in that tuition would pay for this scheme w/o bilking homeowners who have no interest in Del-Tech and have no idea they're about to be bilked. I call on many of the fine legislators who inexplicably have signed onto this bill to put the brakes on this cynical maneuver.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 23, 2015

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 23, 2015

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Sen. Patti Blevins: 1  NRA Lobbyist: 0. That's the result of one of the more unusual confrontations in recent Delaware legislative history. Unusual because it's so not 'Delaware Way'. And unusual because someone called out the NRA for lying. Also unusual because both Blevins and the lobbyist in question, Rich Armitage, do not generally court controversy. And most unusual in that the President Pro-Tem stated that Armitage "could have faced felony charges for his allegedly false testimony about closed door negotiations involving the gun rights group and the Attorney General's office over language regarding the marketing of firearm safety programs."
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 17, 2015

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 17, 2015

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My, how times have changed. So much so that HB 115(J. Johnson), which 'permits individuals subject to the supervision of the Delaware Department of Correction to effect a name change based on a sincerely held gender-related identity', passed the Senate and goes to the Governor. Two R's, Cloutier and Lopez, voted for the bill, leaving only the Rethug Haters to either vote no or go not voting. Rep. Kowalko has introduced two bills providing for higher tax brackets for those making over $125K per year.  HB 181  and HB 196.  While HB 181 is a straightforward addition of two upper income brackets, HB 196 'lowers the current tax rates by .05% for each bracket. The bill also creates a new tax bracket at $125,000 with a rate of 7.05%, and an additional bracket at $250,000 with a rate of 7.80%. The bill also provides a tiered reduction of the otherwise available itemized deduction based upon the individual’s taxable income'. I hope that legislators consider these proposals this year. Otherwise, next year's fiscal picture will make this year's look tame by comparison. And, uh, next year is an Election Year.
Delaware General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up & Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 16, 2015

Delaware General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up & Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 16, 2015

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Miracle of miracles. The Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council DEFAC), which provides the official estimate of state revenues, has upped its revenue projection by $33 mill, which makes balancing the FY '16 budget easier. Funny how often that happens. Some claim that it's BS, or DEFACating. But, it's OFFICIAL BS.  This comes as some of Delaware's most progressive legislators propose higher income brackets for Delaware's wealthiest. Now, here's the problem.  The budget deficit for the following fiscal year is projected to be steep. Next year also just happens to be an election year. If the General Assembly is going to pass a more equitable income tax bill and create more revenue, it will have to be this year, not next year.  Will the General Assembly finally restore some equity to the tax code, or will it wait and find itself in an almost impossible fiscal position next year?  As usual, what I think will happen and what I hope will happen are the diametric opposites of each other. An increase in taxes on the wealthy provides a sustainable stream of revenue.  Using one-times and combining them with rosy DEFAC projections simply kicks the can down the road.  In this case, the road does not go on forever. Act now. Because it ain't happenin' in an Election Year.
General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 9, 2015

General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 9, 2015

The Biden viewing in Legislative Hall resulted in the cancellation of Thursday's legislation session. In fact, it's likely that legislative leaders spent much of Wednesday recalibrating scheduling plans for the rest of the month, due to the imminent loss of that Thursday session. This has thrown off the normal cicadian rhythms of session. And played with my head. Come inside to see what's on the agenda for today in the General Assembly, and you can catch me on today's Al Show from 10-12, where we'll no doubt toss around Delaware Dem's 2016 scenarios,  and lots more.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up & Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, June 3, 2015

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up & Pre-Game Show: Wednesday, June 3, 2015

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The big news: Legislation decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use passed the House Tuesday. Despite an amendment that weakened the bill, not a single 'small government' Rethug voted for the bill. BTW, the amendment sucks.  I can only guess that it was required to secure a sufficient number of votes to pass the bill.  Otherwise, it should not have seen the light of day.
Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, June 2, 2015

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Let's not mince words. Not since 2009 has the General Assembly entered June with so much uncertainty and so much unfinished business.  I'd argue that it will even be a more difficult June than June of 2009. Back then, everyone recognized that Delaware, like virtually every other state, was suffering from an economic downturn.  The newly-minted governor was able to work with the General Assembly to craft a series of 'revenue-enhancers' to address the budget shortfall.  R's released just enough yes votes to enable bills to pass, in exchange for provisions sunsetting the revenue enhancers. Fast-forward six years.  This governor has lost a huge amount of political influence. So much so that his press flak has said that he'll watch what the General Assembly does, and not actively broker any settlements. He has, in particular, lost a lot of leverage with Democrats.  Some of this is inevitable.  Lame ducks almost never have much political capital to spend by Year 7.  Markell has also wasted political capital in ways that have earned him the enmity and distrust of D's in particular.  Whether it's the disaster of Race To the Top, his attempt to bypass the General Assembly while looking to get rid of the Port of Wilmington, his sabotage of a meaningful minimum wage bill, his inability to rally support for his gas tax increase, his cheerleading for charter schools, his refusal to consider any tax increase on his wealthy pals, and so much more, he is as close to feckless as any governor facing a budget shortfall can be. Except...he HAS, by Executive Order, created a panel to look at long-term changes to how Delaware funds government.  Unfortunately, Markell has chosen to place a vast majority of DINO's and Rethugs on the panel, ensuring that any recommendations it might make would not in any way address inequities in who pays what.  The good news: the ideas that are being put forward by this group are likely to be DOA. I mean, eliminate the estate tax? Really? These are not serious proposals except in a world where ALEC is king.
News Journal Finally Reports Walker Job…Leaves A Few Key Things Out.

News Journal Finally Reports Walker Job…Leaves A Few Key Things Out.

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Well, the story was broken here at DL, and it will remain an open question as to whether the so-called 'paper of record' would have even covered it if we hadn't. At least, they finally have covered it. The story, which is a good one, raises as many questions as it answers. Oh, and it leaves out one of the key elements of the whole stinkin' mess: Walker getting the job with an agency under the purview of the state police after carrying the cops' water in burying the death penalty bill in her committee. Under the approving eye of former state cop and current Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf. The questions revolve around how she got the job.  First, read these excerpts from the News-Journal article...
JFC Cuts Markell’s Bloated Education Budget for Bureaucrats

JFC Cuts Markell’s Bloated Education Budget for Bureaucrats

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Some real good news to start the Memorial Day weekend. Some of the cuts were to positions that had previously been funded by Race To The Top but are now transitioning to the state. They actually cut $3.75 mill in bloat:
The Joint Finance Committee voted to eliminate 10 controversial, high-paid positions in the Department of Education to find more than $1.5 million in savings as they continued to mark up Markell's $3.9 billion budget proposal. Lawmakers on the budget-writing committee also reduced funding for additional education initiatives, including teacher preparation programs, data analysis and recruitment efforts.
They almost did even more, as a proposal to cut an additional $2 mill in "additional funding related to Race to the Top failed by a 7-5 vote."
BREAKING: Ex-Legislator Rewarded For Burying Death Penalty Repeal Bill

BREAKING: Ex-Legislator Rewarded For Burying Death Penalty Repeal Bill

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Remember Rebecca Walker? She's the former chair of the House Judiciary Committee who buried the death penalty repeal bill in her committee for most of 2013 and all of 2014. Remember Rebecca Walker? She's the former legislator who claimed she was running for reelection in 2014, had actually filed, waited until after the filing deadline, then withdrew her name, thus denying the Democratic voters in her district the right to choose her successor via primary. Remember why Rebecca Walker claimed she withdrew? She said that her work would not enable her to continue to serve. As if she just found that out right after the filing deadline. Well, guess what 'good fortune' has been bestowed upon former State Rep. Rebecca Walker? If you guessed a $96K state job that required no public posting and which reunites her with her police pals with whom she scuttled death penalty repeal, you would be correct.