General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., April 2, 2014
Not a whole lot of controversy in yesterday’s session. Only one bill engendered any opposition whatsoever. That bill is HB 246(Paradee) which, according to the not particularly instructive synopsis, “substitutes the term “payment card” for the term “credit card” for purposes of title 11 to broaden the scope of the term to include debit cards and other forms of cards that are not “credit” cards, but are used in a manner similar to “credit” cards.” Reps. Kowalko and Potter voted no, Rep. Baumbach went not voting. Could one of them let us know what concerned them?
Today’s Senate Agenda seems pretty non-controversial. The House does not work an agenda on Wednesdays, rather devotes the day to committee meetings.
Senate Committee highlights today:
The Corrections Committee considers legislation to recognize tobacco and nicotine products as contraband in correctional facilities. This wasn’t done already?
Yet another check-mark-on-your-tax-return bill. This one to earmark $$’s for the ‘Protecting Delaware’s Children Fund’ on your state tax form. Time for some enterprising high school genius to figure out how much the added ink expenses of these check-offs are costing the state. It’s getting as prevalent as the vanity plates bills, except those make the state money. In the Senate Community/County Affairs Committee.
Looks like KWS will have one less responsibility (for the uninitiated, ‘KWS’ refers to Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart, who has brought historic ineptitude to the office) should SB 278(Peterson) pass. The bill transfers responsibility for administering the state’s defensive driving courses from the Insurance Commissioner’s office to the Division of Motor Vehicles. Which would make sense even if KWS wasn’t IC. In today’s Senate Highways & Transportation Committee.
Three recommendations of the Blue Collar Task Force, chaired by Sen. Marshall, will be considered in today’s Senate Labor & Industrial Relations Committee. All are in the form of Joint Resolutions, which have the force of law and are subject to signature from the Governor. All also require certain follow-up from cabinet level agencies. Since five cabinet secretaries were among the Task Force membership, I assume that the Governor has signed off on these recommendations.
HB’s 106 and 107, two solid bills from Rep. Baumbach that incrementally benefit residents of manufactured homes communities, will be considered in the Senate Small Business Committee today. Both passed the House with no dissenting votes.
Today’s House Committee highlights:
The Big Damn Chicken Truck bill is unlikely to ruffle many feathers in the House Agriculture Committee.
HB 263(Jaques) seeks to ‘ensure that every public school in the State of Delaware has a nurse. This bill provides a mechanism to allow public schools that currently do not have a school nurse to receive state funds. The bill also allows for a match tax to assist those school districts that acquire a nurse as a result of this bill to pay for the local share of that nurse.’ Bill would cost between $5-6 hundred thousand annually. In the House Education Committee. I suspect HB 263 will also go to the House Appropriations Committee following clearing the Education Committee to await a completed budget.
The House Judiciary Committee considers HB 211(Scott), which ‘expressly brings text messages within the meaning of electronic communication so as to ensure that text messages get the protections presently afforded to other voice and electronic communications’.
The House Manufactured Housing Committee considers HB 262(Baumbach), which will enable the AG’s office to establish a ‘pattern or practice’ of violations against serial violators among manufactured community owners. In other words, it seeks to give more prosecutorial heft to go after the worst of the worst. Good bill, betcha this one doesn’t pass unanimously.
One less chance to outsmart the gendarmes should HB 280(Mitchell) pass. The bill makes talking on a cellphone, and not wearing your seatbelt, primary offenses, ‘along with speeding and red light violations as offenses where an arrest is permissible when an observing officer relays the violation information to another officer and is in a position to verify that the appropriate vehicle was stopped.’ At least nosepicking is still protected…I think. In the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee.
Well, that’s it for today. Please join me for a rare Wednesday appearance on the Al Mascitti show, 10 am to noon, WDEL 1150 Newsradio. You can click on the link right here. Among other things, we’ll be talking about the Beaudhisattva and His Cone of Silence and state giveaways to business.
Forgot to mention that the $51 mill in corporate tax hikes wasn’t worked yesterday. John Viola was absent, and the D’s need all hands on deck to attain a super-majority. I guess they’ll try again on Thursday.
From Baumbach’s FB:
“This article covers a bill for which I “went not voting,” an action which I believe is well deserved in several situations. Here I felt that the bill’s intent was very important, however I felt that one piece of it has unnecessary/undesired consequences. I do not go not voting lightly–I felt it appropriate here.”
Delaware Alliance for Community Advancement, with the Same Day Registration Coalition, is having a press conference today at Legislative Hall 1:15pm with Senator Margaret Rose Henry. They will then deliver petitions from over 1500 Delawareans asking legislators to pass SDR for DE’s primary and general elections.
Ezra: I figured there was an element in the bill that Paul found unnecessary/undesirable. Just wanted to know what it is/was.
Fair question.
HB 246 adds EBT abuse to a list of felony punishable misuses to Title 11 Sec: 904, 903A 905, 911, 915, and 854 although EBT abuse and fraud is currently punishable under existing law Title 31 Chapter 6. Thereby it adds the possibility of being charged, prosecuted and/or penalized for EBT abuse or fraud for one offense in two separate spots in criminal code. It does not move credit card fraud, theft, abuse, misuse into similar circumstances. Since it (EBT) is already covered under Title 31 for remedy and punishment for fraud and other abuses it suggests or might be interpreted as saying we’re going to go after those poor people living high on the hog and not allow such criminal activity to go unpunished so much so that we need specifically two sections of code that can used to charge abusers (even simultaneously for the same offense).
John K.