Legislative Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show-Wed., March 24, 2010

Filed in Delaware, National by on March 24, 2010

Looks like they must’ve installed some new, even more compelling, solitaire games on the Legislative Council computers. How else can you explain that yesterday’s session report cites activity going back to at least June of 2009 as new action effective yesterday? Perhaps the porn filter was on the fritz?

With that caveat, here is yesterday’s session report. Based on this report, Deborah Hudson (Capano)’s HB 3 passed the Senate for the third consecutive day. Granted, the bill is still horrible, but it passed last Thursday. Hello-o-o-o, anybody actually working down there? Not to mention bills previously released from committee being released from the same committees again. Were I a conspiracy theorist, I would, um, theorize, that Legislative Council is being directed to do this on purpose so that people won’t read what’s going on.

Lotsa new bills introduced, including one that will forever label a dog who goes after a cat as a dangerous animal. Now, I’m sure that many of you own both cats and dogs. We do. Seriously, how often does a cat provoke a dog? How many times a day? Sen. Simpson would blame the victim, i.e. the poor unsuspecting dog who was just minding his/her own business when ‘Precious’ raked its eyes. Oh, the canine calamity! Seriously, I know it’s a slow year, but do we really need a silly bill like this? For blogging purposes, the answer is ‘yes’. Keep bringin’ teh stupid, guys & gals!

As predicted yesterday, Rep. J.J. Johnson’s HB 284 passed the Senate unanimously. Since a Senate amendment was added, it will go back to House for final passage, likely on Thursday.

Sen. Bethany Hall-Long’s bill defining ‘title nurse’ and permitted practices passed the House unanimously, and now goes to the Governor’s office.

One interesting bill on today’s Senate agenda (out of two):

SB 157 (Peterson)-“Consistent with federal law, this bill protects up to $125,000 of a debtor’s equity in their principal residential home in a bankruptcy proceeding.”

Both the House and Senate have numerous precious few committee hearings scheduled for today.

HOUSE COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE-As always, click on the individual committees to get today’s agendas. Here are some of the highlights, according to moi:

House Administration Committee-HB 357 (Atkins)This is John “Law-Abiding Citizen Since 2007” Atkins’ bill seeking to turn Delaware into an armed camp. No doubt, he’ll have an amendment or two limiting the carnage to housing authorities and other preferred spots, but this is the NRA’s attempt to use courts currently clogged with right-wing ideologues to forever change gun restrictions in Delaware. BTW, since Atkins often refers to protecting the rights of ‘law-abiding’ citizens, which is standard NRA boilerplate, would he be eligible to carry a gun under this bill? Perhaps he or *coughcough* anon with a period will drop by to explain. In the meantime, this bill should be buried in committee by leadership.

House Judiciary Committee-HB 336 (Barbieri)-Rep. Barbieri who, I believe, is a social worker, is sponsoring this bill that would give Family Court enhanced ability to extend ‘no contact’ orders in order to forestall and/or prevent domestic violence and abuse. Looks like a real good bill to me.

SENATE COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE-What a joke. One committee meeting w/no posted agenda; an Executive Committee hearing to consider ‘appointments’, once again with no names listed; and two joint House/Senate Committee hearings. Here’s what we know: Delaware State University President Dr. Harry Williams will address the Joint Education Committee. That’s it.

Oh, we also know that Sen. DeLuca continues to mock FOIA by not even posting the list of nominees being considered by the Senate Executive Committee. If any committee member or staffer would care to shed some light on the names, feel free to post here or to contact DL via the Tipline. And look on the bright side–it’ll drive DeLuca crazy!

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  1. aqc says:

    Barbieri is a social worker.