General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., Apr. 7, 2011
Today could be the day.
Sen. Dave Sokola has placed SB 30, which legalizes civil unions, on today’s Senate agenda. That likely means that he has the votes for SB 30 to pass. Sen. Bob Venables (D-Mars) has introduced two last-ditch amendments to try to stop the inevitable march of history. One would require a statewide referendum. They ain’t going anywhere. Assuming Cathy Cloutier is present for today’s session, I count at least 12 Y’s, with at least 4 more in play. I think the bill gets something like 15 Y’s.
Since we can’t count on Tony DeLuca to post the actual yeas and nays, would one of our intrepid readers going to the Hall today please do so for us?
I’m getting ahead of myself, though.
The Senate passed both SB 12 (Henry), which “removes the prohibition against persons convicted of any drug felony from receiving federal food benefit assistance”; and SB 13 (Henry), which “continues, without sunsetting, the needle exchange program.” Each bill passed by an identical 15 Y, 5 N, 1A vote. However, once again, the Diminutive Despot, Tony DeLuca, decided that YOU DON’T DESERVE TO KNOW how each Senator voted. Memo to the Senate Democratic Caucus members: Is this policy OK with you? If so, be prepared to defend your hostility to open government in 2012. If not, force DeLuca to change the policy. In 2011, it is beyond pathetic that this Senate practice is allowed to continue.
The Senate also passed a resolution proclaiming April 6, 2011 as National Tartan Day, to honor the contribution of those thrifty Scots. Broke out my original cast recording of ‘Brigadoon’ last night to celebrate.Why April 6?:
April 6 commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, which asserted Scotland’s sovereignty over English territorial claims, and which was a significant influence on the American Declaration of Independence.
Been dying to work a Declaration of Arbroath reference into my work. Now I’ve done it. Fare thee well, me bonnie Declaration of Arbroath.
Other than civil unions, not much else on today’s Senate Agenda.
Before I get to today’s House Agenda, I’ve got to give a big shout-out to the News-Journal. The Leg Hall reporters have really upped their game when it comes to reporting on legislation. In today’s edition alone we have this (Gerald Brady embracing Orwell); this (state employee benefits reduction); this (redistricting, including praise for DeLuca’s PR gimmick bill); this (Vo-Tech consolidation; and this (opponents rally against civil unions). And that doesn’t even include reports on bills that passed yesterday.
I originally began this column b/c I felt that the doings in Dover were not being covered adequately. I think that the News-Journal editors may have reached the same conclusion. Keep it up!
Today’s House Agenda features 16 bills, but there is no way that the House will work 16 bills today. Those that are not worked generally move up the ladder on the subsequent agenda. We’ll see the final disposition of HB 19 (George), which revises Delaware’s drug sentencing laws. The bill passed the Senate, but with a Senate amendment, which is why an additional pro-forma vote is required in the House. It should be on the way to the Governor no later than 5 p.m. today.
The House will also consider HB 81 (Longhurst), which makes extensive changes (aka ‘cuts’) to state employee health and pension plans. However, it’s expected to ‘save the taxpayers’ close to $490 million over the next 15 years, and it sure beats taxing the Billionaires on the Hill. Of course, many of the ‘taxpayers’ who supposedly will save money are the same state employees losing health and pension benefits, but who gives a bleep about them?
Other notable bills on the agenda include HB 41 (Scott), which establishes uniform discipline policies for public and charter schools; and the three bills I’ve previously discussed that will do nothing, but will look good on election brochures. HB’s 45, 67 and 68 revoke the licenses of anyone convicted of a sexual felony felony, and require licensees to report professional misconduct, in the fields of nursing, mental health and chemical dependency professionals, and clinical social workers respectively. A fourth bill, HB 63, would prohibit the sexual abuse of patients in certain facilities.
All four of these bills are part of the package created by AG Beau Biden following the revelations concerning Dr. Earl Bradley. They are all basically redundant, since such curbs are in place now. It’ll make the legislators who vote for them feel good, and they’ll look great in brochures, but the laws were in place to prevent the Bradley scandal from happening, it’s just that everybody, everybody, the police, the AG’s office, the professional licensing boards, the professional associations, failed to carry out their obligations.
At least in the House the ‘glory’ has been divvied up among several sponsors. In the Senate, Patti Blevins has chosen to horde most of the ‘glory’ for herself, as she is sponsoring most of Biden’s bills there. Leadership at its finest.
I’ve saved some final space for my Favorite Bill of the Day. Sponsored by my friend and his, Rep. John Atkins. And, yes, it’s an economic development bill. On today’s agenda. HB 71 (Atkins) would:
…permit licensed commercial game preserves to operate on Sundays. The bill limits Sunday operations to commercial facilities only within the seasons established by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. This bill does not allow for Sunday hunting of wild game or put-and-take hunting by entities other than commercially-operated facilities.
This bill is necessary for commercial game preserves to compete with similar operations in adjoining States, where Sunday operations are allowed.
Hmmm, ‘commercial game preserves’. You know, like where Dick Cheney went to shoot fattened doves in a barrel. Although he shot another fattened creature along the way. And didn’t report it.
But we’ve gotta do it because other states allow ‘commercial game preserves’ to operate on Sundays. I understand many of them have churches already on the premises for the purposes of ‘one-stop shopping’, though church attendees are strictly off-limits. (Sample prayer: “Dear Jesus, please help me kill some defenseless creatures today.”) Heathens, BTW, are considered fair game, and normally defenseless.
This is my kind of special interest legislation. No day of rest for the prey to pray. And the state’s coffers will bulge as commercial game preserves rack up dollars and create numerous jobs as a result of HB 71. In other words, blood money. And, a ‘win-win’.
As soon until ‘commercial game preserves’ need “video lottery” to compete with adjoining states?
As an American of Scottish decent, all I can add to that resolution is, “If it is no’ Scottish, IT’S CRAP!!”
Should read: “How soon until…
I was in the Senate yesterday. The 5 nay for SB12 were the GOP backrow trio of Booth, Bonini and Lawson and I think Simpson and probably Venebles but can’t be sure since I was distracted. The 5 nay for SB13 was again the backrow plus Simpson and Bunting who wanted to see a fiscal note.
I agree that the WNJ has stepped up coverage even though I heard yesterday that J.L. Miller is out sick fighting cancer.
“Gerald Brady embracing Orwell”
Yeah, we need to protect the the privacy rights of license plates. Nothing is more totalitarian than putting up devices that deter would-be speeding drivers from mowing down children near school zones.
Brady’s bill reads like a tax without calling it a tax.
Workzones? It is a roving tax/fine collection bonanza. All of a sudden I’m in a 30 mph zone..and CHA CHING!!!
If the goal is to reduce speeding, then deploy the automated signs that simply display your speed to remind you to slow down.
On the other hand if you don’t care about speeding and are simply into the Orwell thing (or you just want the money), let the cars speed through and have a private company collect secret data and mail you a ticket, while secretly letting other speeders off the hook.
“then deploy the automated signs that simply display your speed to remind you to slow down”
A proposal likely not to be very effective.
“and have a private company collect secret data and mail you a ticket, while secretly letting other speeders off the hook”
That’s paranoia.
“Workzones?”
Yeah, workzones. You know, where people are working on a highway–open and exposed to oncoming traffic. These people deserve protection from harm.
That’s paranoia.
No, that’s a description of video ticketing programs. None of them are open to public scrutiny and accountibility.
I get that Dana. I’m all for safety and respecting the difficult job that these people have, it is just that this seems like a cash grab. If we need to raise revenue let’s just tax the under taxed wealthy who are getting a free ride, and not disguise taxes as fines.
or just put the video radar in Greenville 🙂
I second that.. All in favor?
A proposal likely not to be very effective.
Wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_speed_sign#Effectiveness
Yea to Greenville location.
And if they put it in the right of way we can rip it down with a backhoe, right?
First of all, paranoia my butt. Ever been pulled over in, say, Kenton, where, w/o warning the speed limit drops from 45 to 25? I have. Same thing, no points, just $75 bucks I don’t have. And it wasn’t any bleeping zone of any kind, although it was a zone set up perfectly for a cop with time and a radar gun on and in his hands.
Once this technology is pervasive, to what other uses will it be applied? And before we implement this, shouldn’t those supporting it have to show that there’s a real problem that needs solving, not a hypothetical one?
The output of publicly funded cameras in public places should be public record.
“Ever been pulled over in, say, Kenton, where, w/o warning the speed limit drops from 45 to 25? I have.”
Me too, Hartly also runs a similar speed trap
The paranoia being pointed out here is in the idea that some people would get tickets from the secret cameras and others would not. If this is being operated by a private company, their revenues depend upon sending out as many tickets as possible. Picking and choosing who gets tickets means that the municipality should have just kept their own enforcement.
The work zone thing is what doesn’t pass the smell test as an excuse. Guys in hardhats working in the street deserve to be safe and everyone should slow down in a work zone. The damage you and your car can do to people working in the street is huge. But the City’s resources aren’t being stretched by monitoring these work zones. Because they don’t do it.
This past winter I think every water main in the city broke — and not one of those repair sites had a WPD officer enforcing a slow zone. There is a street project going on a couple f blocks down the street from me and there is no enforced slow zone. So it isn’t as though the WPD is actively monitoring these work zones. And the way this works in lots of other places (I don’t know about Wilmington or DE) is that construction companies who want active PD monitoring of a work zone have to *pay* for that presence.
So Brady is making stuff up about WPD resources being stretched thin for any monitoring of workzones. I don’t know if they do any monitoring of schools, but others who live closer to school zones can weigh in.
As I search my memory, the only place I recall seeing an actively monitored work zone is on an interstate highway.
“Once this technology is pervasive, to what other uses will it be applied?”
Slippery slope fallacy.
This is really a simple matter, one I find surprising that liberals here are balking at. Is it a legitimate function of government to protect vulnerable populations (like schoolchildren) or not? I come from a tradition of liberalism that says yes.
Red light photos are reviewed by civilian police employees; do you think they give tickets to their employer’s friends and family? Maybe, I don’t know. There is no audit I know of.
Brady’s speed bill gets around this problem by not requiring any review at all. You just get a ticket issued directly by a private company. Who knows what their criteria are, apart from the profit motive. The bill does not authorize any audit to find out.
I support the speed cameras bill.
Think of it as an “Idiot Tax”. If you don’t want to pay it, don’t be an idiot.
Before any ticket is issued, it must be reviewed and approved by a police officer in Delaware, so there is a check on the actions of the private company.
This will help keep the speeds down in towns , and also in work zones. Residents want something to be done about speeders in their neighborhoods, but law enforcement are stretched very thin.
As for work zones, people are hurt and killed in work zones far too often.
But I’m still unclear about which roads are eligible to have these cameras. There are streets within municipalities that are maintained by the state, and not the city. Could those streets have the camera? For example, Route 13 in Greenwood goes right past a school. That road is state maintained, but within city limits.
Would these cameras be permanently installed?
By the way, this is just my opinion as Jim from Greenwood–not necessarily the position of DelDOT.
Before any ticket is issued, it must be reviewed and approved by a police officer in Delaware, so there is a check on the actions of the private company.
Didn’t see that in the bill. See post above yours.
As far as actually succeeding in slowing people down, I don’t see any advantage over the speed radar signboards, other than revenue.
“If this is being operated by a private company, their revenues depend upon sending out as many tickets as possible.”
How do you know this? Is there some protocol given to these companies from the government that indicates this?
“But the City’s resources aren’t being stretched by monitoring these work zones”
Again, you don’t know this. This is just a bald assertion. What’s the proof?
I think it is easy to suspect the use of new technology by government simply because it is new. That fear–called misoneism–deserves to be questioned. If technology can be used to free up human resources for other uses, why not?
Isn’t it funny how many laws are made and enforced by people who are literally or effectively immune to them.
The City of Wilmington’s red light contractor gets 37% of each ticket they write. They certainly aren’t writing all of these tickets out of the goodness of their hearts.
I know that the City’s resources aren’t being stretched because I live in the City. I’ve NEVER gone past a city workszone that has extra WPD enforcement. On my own street — with is a State Highway — there are never WPD or anyone else dealing with traffic at those workzones.
I also know this because I just called a (senior uniformed) friend in the WPD who confirmed this.
It’s actually 37.5% of every ticket they write.
If a ticket is issued by a private company, am I required to pay it, especially if it has not been reviewed by law enforcement?
BMiller57 is tweeting about SB30 Senate hearing
SB30 passes state Senate, with 13 Yeas!
So much for Jack standing up to the NRA. Both his gun bills were pulled from the House agenda after the NRA said “whoa Jack”. Word is the Gov. is now wanting to meet with them over the weekend to amend both bills to pass and save face?