42 more Stooges

I was made aware of several pending bills that would affect our state Constitution.

The Delaware State Capitol: a place where bad ideas seem to be hatched.

There are a few of these I’ve already covered, but social media has made me aware of the top 10 bad bills circulating in the Delaware General Assembly. They are:

• Remove Gender from DE Constitution (HB10)

• Right to Private Sexual Conduct (HB14)

• Remove Death Penalty (HB35)

• Same Day Voter Registration (HB88)

• Medical Assisted Suicide (HB140)

• Early Voting (SB2)

• No Excuse Absentee Voting (SB3)

• Abortion as a Right (SB5)

• Protection from "Sex-based" Discrimination/Harassment in Public Schools (SB91)

• Remove Gender from Marriage (SB100)

I already covered HB140 and SB5 in a previous piece.

The “42 stooges” in question are the Democrats who make up the majority in the Delaware General Assembly - 27 of 41 in the House and 15 of 21 in the Senate. And the question is: what are we doing about the other eight bad bills? In some cases, nothing.

HB10 is in its second leg of being added to the Delaware Constitution, but it’s not so much an addition as it is an editing, with a specific aim of “gender silent drafting.” As explained by the legislative drafters:

Gender silent drafting techniques include substituting the noun for which the masculine or feminine pronoun refers. Thus, instead of drafting a law to say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if he or she deems him or her qualified”, following gender silent techniques the law would say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if the Governor deems the individual qualified.”

It passed without objection both last session and this year, so the hay is in the barn with this one. The only one who said no to its related SB97 last year was my Senator, Bryant Richardson. (But he was part of the unanimous Senate to pass the overall amendment.)

The phony Constitutional “right to privacy” is the subject of HB14, where the handful of sponsors use the same bromides that supported Roe v. Wade to argue for this one.

It would add this section to the state Constitution: “The right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and may not be infringed without a showing of a compelling state interest.”

The General Assembly proposes the enactment of this constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right of individual privacy to secure for Delawareans the rights the U.S. Supreme Court has previously found emanate from the federal constitution in the face of concerns regarding the continued effect of these U.S. Supreme Court precedents.

This would be the first leg of the Constitutional change if passed, but so far it has only been reported out of committee with 3 advancing “on its merits” and one opposed. None of the five members of the Administration committee (Democrat representatives Keri Evelyn Harris, Edward Osienski, and Melissa Minor-Brown, and Republicans Timothy Dukes and Jeff Spiegelman) voted in favor of the bill. If I were a betting man, I would peg Dukes (my representative) as the “no” vote. (Committee votes are not tallied by name in Delaware.)

While Delaware hasn’t used the death penalty in quite some time and outlawed it legislatively last year with HB70, HB35 would be the first leg of putting its prohibition into the state Constitution.

Like HB14, this passed with three on its merits and no other recorded votes - but that’s enough to push it onward for consideration. It’s worth noting that the legislative death penalty ban passed last session with enough votes in House and Senate to succeed as a Constitutional amendment (33-8 and 14-7, respectively) so come 2027 we may lose that deterrent tool for good unless reinforcements are placed in the General Assembly.

Voting is the subject of three bills: HB88, SB2, and SB3, which try to enshrine same-day registration, early voting, and at-will absentee voting, respectively, into our Constitution. The reason HB88 has to be there is that the Delaware Supreme Court ruled against a legislative solution back in 2022, stating they ran afoul of the plain language that dictates how registration shall be conducted. SB2 and SB3 would eliminate common-sense restrictions, the latter of which is also in the Constitution.

Of the trio of bills, HB88 has only made it out of committee, while the Senate is working more quickly on SB2 and SB3. Disappointingly, no one in the Senate objected to the passage of SB2 - which has bipartisan support thanks to the sponsorships of Senators Eric Buckson and Gerald Hocker - but five of the six GOP Senate members objected to SB3. Still, the 16-5 vote was sufficient for passage. (Buckson, who was the one GOP member voting for the bill, seems to have taken over the mantle of squishiest Republican in the Senate. Pity because he replaced a more conservative bulldog in Colin Bonini back in 2022, pulling the upset in the primary and running in the general uncontested.) All these are first leg proposals meaning even if they pass, they have to come back in 2027.

SB91 is not a Constitutional amendment, but it is one which promises more red tape.

This Act requires schools that receive federal funding ensure students, staff, and faculty are protected from sex-based discrimination and sex-based harassment. The Act further requires schools to communicate to students, through their website, the existence of Title IX administrators as required by federal law.

Just another argument to homeschool as aggrieved “victims” get another reason to sue the schools. It passed out of the Education Committee with five (presumably all the five Democrats) on its merits.

Last, but certainly not least, is SB100, which is the way far-leftists are trying to enshrine gay marriage in our Constitution.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution establishing that the right to marry is a fundamental right and that Delaware and its political subdivisions shall recognize marriages and issue marriage licenses to couples regardless of gender.

Sponsored by Senator Russ Huxtable - who really needs to be ousted from the Senate at the next opportunity given he represents a portion of Sussex County - this bill was just introduced earlier this month, thus hasn’t been to committee yet. My prediction is the bill will make it out of committee (a no-brainer as all five Democrats on the Executive Committee are sponsoring the bill in some manner) but the question is whether Senators Hocker and Brian Pettyjohn will object at all.

(Speaking of HB140, in looking to see if SB100 was on that agenda - which it was not - I noticed that the assisted suicide bill went through the Senate Executive Committee earlier this week and passed with three in favor and two “on its merits.”)

It looks like another long session for Delawareans who love liberty and traditional values.

In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now.