General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., March 9, 2016

Filed in Delaware, Featured by on March 9, 2016

Not much of a game to wrap up.

Gov. Markell signed the Apology for Slavery resolution.  Lest you forget, the following legislators decided that Delaware had nothing to apologize for:  Reps. Collins and Wilson. Sens. Bonini, Hocker and Lawson.

Sen. Marshall’s bill permitting undercover officers to purchase firearms didn’t come close to passing, 6 Y, 15 N.

Other than resolutions recognizing International Women’s Day, that all she wrote.

Here are today’s scheduled Senate Committee meetings.

The Senate Executive Commitee considers a whackadoodle SCR from Sen. Lawson that would call for a Constitutional Convention of the States to address what Lawson, Bonini, and Hocker claim would address the…oh, let me just quote some excerpts:

“WHEREAS, the Founders of our Constitution empowered State Legislators to be guardians of liberty against future abuses of power by the federal government; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has created a crushing national debt through improper and imprudent spending; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has invaded the legitimate roles of the states through the manipulative process of federal mandates, most of which are unfunded to a great extent; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has ceased to live under a proper interpretation of the Constitution of the United States(?); and

WHEREAS, it is the solemn duty of the States to protect the liberty of our people— particularly for the generations to come—by proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States through a Convention of the States under Article V for the purpose of restraining these and related abuses of power…”

And people wonder why we make fun of legislators from Lower Slower.

Not that they’re the only ones worthy of ridicule. No, also in the Senate Executive Committee is yet another giveaway to business, this one the so-called (is Frank Luntz coming up with names for these bills?) “Delaware Commitment to Innovation Act”. The bill basically is yet another $10 mill or so annual giveaway to corporations in addition to all the other giveaways that have taken place in less than three months. Hey, I’ve got some time, let’s see how many of these giveaways I can list:

1. Right out of the box,  THIS bill, aka the ‘Delaware Competes Act of 2016’ was specifically designed to keep Chemours, you know, the company that DuPont spun off specifically to avoid liability for its environmental wreckage, here.  Passed and signed. Loss of revenue to state’s coffers? About $50 mill over three years, according to this fiscal note. Requirements that Chemours clean up its mess? Zero.

2. Then we’ve had the Council on Development Finance scurry to throw yet more $$’s at the new behemoth, which may well reward the CEO’s who carved out this merger dual CEO’s with an $80 mill payoff. A relatively paltry $9.6 mill of taxpayer money.

3. In the same article, we read that:

New Castle County officials are in the process of approving their own five-year, $7.5 million commitment to DuPont. The plans, which still must pass the County Council, would create a strategic economic development fund for the first time in county history and commit tax reserves to that fund.

Once again, that’s taxpayer money.

4. But that’s not enough for the would-be chemical conglom-o:

County Executive Thomas P. Gordon last month said DuPont officials also have asked him to use his authority to lower its property tax bills.

5. We’re even acting as their real estate agent. (I know I’m missing some more. Isn’t Wilmington  being extorted as well?)

6. Which brings us back to this $10 mill annual giveaway.

Practically everybody is on the bill as sponsors, so it will sail right through.  Delaware and its local governments have been reduced to paying extortion in order to salvage jobs here. We used to bribe companies (the banks) to come here by throwing people who need credit under the 18.6% bus.  We’re now reduced to paying any and all kinds of extortion to get giant corporations to stay here, at least until someone bribes them with even more.   Guess it beats providing living wages for people who live and work here.  Except, the extortion never stops, and the wages never go up. Pretty much defines ‘The Delaware Way’.

Here is today’s House Committee schedule.  Highlights include:

HB 234(Rep. K. Williams)  requires all ‘public secondary schools, including vocational-technical schools, but not including charter schools, to have a school-based health center.  Wellness centers are an important means of providing preventative and primary medical care to teens and overcoming obstacles to care such as lack of transportation and cost.’  Insurers are already required to reimburse for services provided by such centers. In the House Education Committee. BTW, as long as we’re talking about Rep. Williams, I have to say that I like her idea of getting rid of the State Board of Education, which appears to serve no purpose other than to play puppet to the Governor’s puppeteer.  We’d save ourselves some money as well.

Yet another insane bill from a demented downstater awaits consideration in today’s House Administration Committee. HB 104(Gray) would amend the State Constitution to require that, and I don’t understand it either, so I’m just gonna quote it:

…(t)he General Assembly for any succeeding fiscal year shall not enact a budget appropriation bill containing base general fund operating appropriations exceeding, in aggregate, the estimated total base general fund operating appropriations for the then-current fiscal year, adjusted by the average of the three (3) most recent fiscal years’ annual increases, if any, in the national Consumer Price Index (C.P.I.) for all urban consumers, as compiled and published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, plus the average of the three most recent calendar years’ annual increases, if any, in the population of the State, as compiled and published by the United States Department of Commerce. However, any appropriation for an emergency involving the health, safety welfare of the citizens of the State that is approved by three-fifths of the members elected to each House of the General Assembly shall not be included in these limitations on a budget appropriation bill.

Kids, here’s what you need to know.  The State of Delaware is required to pass a balanced budget and to set aside some revenue for a Rainy Day Fund.  The idiots on this bill think (and/or think their constituents think) that gummint is too damned big for its britches.  Don’t worry, the bill’s not going anywhere.

Sadly, neither is the General Assembly.

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  1. El Som, if we’re throwing tens of millions of dollars at Dow-DuPont’s offspring, that must mean no more projected budget shortfall! …….right?

  2. That would be…INCORRECT.

    We’re still gonna get the annual Wringing of the Hands in June:

    Gee, we’d LOVE to provide adequate health care to Delaware’s most indigent, we’d LOVE to provide a meaningful wage increase for state employees, but the money is just not there.

    Why? Because, at least in part, they prioritize corporate giveaways over pretty much everything else. Oh, and prioritize not raising taxes on those wealthy enough to pay more.

  3. jason330 says:

    HB 104(Gray), I think, means that he wants to budget to never grow faster than the CPI. Which, if true, would be a good way to hogtie the state economy and store it in the basement like the Gimp from ‘Pulp Fiction’

  4. I think that HB 104 is ‘model legislation’ from ALEC.

  5. Tom Kline says:

    No Business = NO JOBS & NO TAXES.

    Wakeup folks..

  6. The Corporate Extortion Act of 2016 (actually the second or third of such acts this session), aka the ‘Commitment to Innovation Act of 2016′, is on Thursday’s Senate Agenda.

    No doubt it will be headed to the Governor’s desk no later than next Thursday.

    I don’t think we need to wait ’til June to see who gets screwed b/c of all these $$’s going to huge corporations. Deep down, we already know.

  7. bamboozer says:

    Corporate Welfare alive and living in Delaware. Gee! What a shock!

  8. mouse says:

    We should just repeal child labor, min wage, safety laws and pollution standards and maybe business would come back and the republicans would be happy