Life is cheaper in Delaware

Two bills that worsen the situation at both ends have advanced.

Photo by Julia Kadel on Unsplash

I told you awhile back that the assisted suicide bill would be returning for another bite of the apple, as the governor who vetoed it last time has moved on and new Governor Matt Meyer has signaled his support.

Unfortunately, our best chance at defeating HB140 came and went in the House, where it passed 21-17, getting just enough support to make it through to the Senate. (The two Republicans and one Democrat absent would likely have made it 22-19 or 21-20, but still enough.) In the Senate there are more than enough Democrats to make this a reality, as we would have to peel five of them (a full third of their delegation) away to stop the bill.

On the other side, the bill codifying abortion in the state Constitution has passed as expected, SB5 winning in a Senate party line vote 15-6. As I mentioned in Odds and ends 128, the bill is in the first of its two required legs, meaning the state Constitution could not add this until at least 2027.

But there has been a development on the House front that could affect its chances. I noted Stell Parker Selby as a Democrat who wasn’t a bill sponsor, but as of this writing she hadn’t even been sworn in for this term yet (she finally was on Monday) because of undisclosed health issues. Assuming she’s not back before this bill comes to a vote, this will be a more difficult deal for the Democrats to close.

Of course, with Democrats in charge, they will maximize their opportunity to pass these pet issues, so Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown will simply wait until Parker Selby is back. The bill doesn’t have to pass until the end of the 2026 portion of the session, although that sort of hot-button issue is more likely to get through in a non-election year.

One final bill that’s not a life-related bill but would affect the political world is HB65, which would uproot the traditional September state primary and move it to April.

I have hated every bill to move the primary up because I think the election schedule should be compressed, not expanded. It’s understandable that we have an April presidential primary, even though I dream of a Presidential calendar that begins in the summer prior to the election. (This was a subject I tackled years ago.)

I think I have a better idea then this. Of course, Presidential politics are dictated by the party conventions that generally take place in July and August. The first step is to move those to a mid-September timeframe, right after Labor Day when people begin to pay attention to the campaigns anyway. One can start the Monday after Labor Day and the other the following Monday, alternating between cycles.

(…)

So now we work backwards from that point. What I’ve always thought would be a good idea would be to have a series of regional primaries held on consecutive weeks. Six regions of eight states each (more or less, depending on population) would hold primaries, starting the Tuesday after July 4th and ending in August. And to assure each area would get the “prime” first spot once every six cycles, the regions would run elections in a particular order, the first one in a cycle sliding back to last in the next cycle. Thus, the idea Maryland was trying to promote of having a “regional” primary date with Delaware and Virginia would be realized, only on a slightly larger scale. For example, (Maryland) could be teamed up with Delaware, Virginia, DC, West Virginia, the Carolinas, and Pennsylvania with our regional primary. Iowa and New Hampshire would be exempt and continue with their influential first caucus and primary, but could be moved back into June.

So instead of having this process last almost a year, I’m compressing it into five months.

Delaware is one of the few states who do it right with their September primary and filing deadline that comes right after the General Assembly session ends. Let’s keep it that way.

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