Odds and ends number 144
Since I'm using the concept from monoblogue, I'm keeping the numbering system, too. Here are thinner slices of bloggy goodness.
As always on the last Saturday of the month, I have the interesting stuff that stuck around in my inbox and bookmarks - anywhere from a few sentences to a handful of paragraphs, but not long enough to stand alone as a post.
Delaware schools could be even more expensive
What is it about the hold Big Labor has on the Democrat party? Every session I see some bill or other that’s sure to benefit the 10% of contractors who are unionized at the expense of the 90% who are merit shops. So it is with SB272, which, according to its synopsis:
requires that if public works project is for a school district and has an aggregate cost of $1 million or more, a contract relating to that public works project, advertised after December 31, 2026, must include a project labor agreement with the Delaware Building and Construction Trades Council unless there was only 1 bid for the craft under the contract. A project labor agreement is a type of collective bargaining agreement in the construction industry that is generally negotiated before construction begins. Project labor agreements are intended to provide a legally binding and enforceable contract primarily related to labor conditions and labor-management relations.
The House Republican Caucus, however, contends such a bill will significantly drive up costs. Testifying on the bill was state OMB director Brian Maxwell:
“Mandating a PLA introduces additional preconditions that may discourage otherwise qualified contractors and subcontractors from participating,” he said.
Mr. Maxwell also indicated that adding requirements to the state procurement process would pose a significant risk for increasing project costs. “Based on the research that I’ve seen, economic analyses have found the cost per square foot for school construction projects is approximately 30% higher for PLA projects.”
Of course, unions don’t care because it’s the rest of us suckers who pay. But schools and other public building often come with an unnecessary premium because of laws like these as well as so-called “prevailing wage” laws and onerous regulations such as mandating LEED Silver construction or equivalent. While I’m good with energy efficiency and can see the thought behind local sourcing, to me those should be “nice to haves” rather than mandates.
It’s worth noticing to me that SB272 only advanced “on its merits” as even Democrats were afraid to support it. All but one committee vote advanced the bill that way, but it advanced. We’ll see if they find a minute or two to advance it in the House, since it passed the Senate 15-5. You may see it on the Delaware Accountability Project later this summer.
Housing as an issue in Delaware
I almost promoted this one but decided to keep it short because I’ve talked about what I would do.
But a survey commissioned by the state of Delaware and released earlier this month shows two main findings, according to the Delaware Live website:
73% say communities have not invested enough in affordable housing
66% say helping first-time homebuyers should be a priority
It’s worth pointing out before I continue that the state hasn’t paid a lot of attention to this since its previous report came out in late 2023. In the interim, both the state and national governments have changed leadership, with the federal side recently passing legislation to address some of these housing issues as well.
If they really want to help out, though, perhaps the best way is to create the conditions for younger buyers to get into the market. I will cheerfully admit I wasn’t a younger buyer but had been out of the game long enough to be considered once again a first-time homebuyer - thank you Great Recession and its long-term demise of the building industry.
Unfortunately, government seems to take the myopic view that younger people wish to rent in multi-family complexes when instead they want the same setup their parents craved: a single-family house. (Even the idea of rent-to-own doesn’t seem to resonate with them.) The problem is that right now the market is such that builders are slapping up Hyundai houses and charging a Cadillac price for them. Either that cost has to come down somehow or they need a little help like we had with an FHA loan and modest down-payment requirement. (That includes excellent credit, too - which takes discipline younger buyers need to develop.)
But as Delaware Live opined:
Both conservatives and progressives can agree that Delaware needs more housing supply. Both can agree that young people, seniors and working families are being squeezed. Both can agree that first-time homebuyers need a better path into the market.
The disagreement is likely to come over how much of the solution should come from government spending, how much should come from zoning and regulatory reform, and how much authority state officials should have over local land-use decisions.
I guess I’ll have to ask Greg Layton about that one. But whatever is done it should be limited and local, which is why my December suggestion was conceived with local government in mind.
Proper civics education
Given that the Convention of States is all about using the Constitution to fix the Constitution, this is an event right up their alley: on September 17, which is Constitution Day, their foundation’s goal (along with the 917 Society) is to give every eighth-grader in America a pocket copy of the Constitution, probably not unlike the one which is in the stand beside me as I write this.
It’s a great idea and worth participating in, as September 17 falls on a Thursday this year. Our church school has only six eighth-graders, so we’ll see how it goes.
As the CoS announcement notes on why eighth grade matters:
As you may well remember, eighth grade can be a significant turning point. Students are old enough to ask serious questions, but young enough that their views of the world are still taking shape. Many are starting civics or U.S. history classes. They are forming opinions about fairness, justice, and right and wrong, and they are beginning to notice how government decisions affect their daily lives – what they can say, where they can go, and how their communities work.
Placing a pocket Constitution in their hands at this age sends a powerful message: “This is yours.” Not just the booklet, but the system it describes. It says, “You are not just spectators. You are future stewards of this republic.” Instead of treating the Constitution as something distant and dusty, this project invites young people to hold it, read it, form questions, and see it as a living guide that they can use all their lives.
I seem to remember that was the time I started getting into history, so this is important.
Ditching the uniparty
You likely know by now that I’m in neither the Republican nor Democrat party. Instead, I’ve cast my lot with the Constitution Party which means they want a pox on both their houses. This was a resolution passed at their recent Spring meeting I had to miss.
Resolution to Separate from the Tyranny of the Democratic and
Republican PartiesWhereas the Democratic and Republican parties have manipulated the political systems in the United States and created a UNIPARTY to gain and maintain power and control over the rights of Citizens to further their own agenda.
Whereas the UNIPARTY has pitted Citizens against each other for the purposes of fundraising and political theater, disturbing the domestic tranquility of the nation;
Whereas, the UNIPARTY has consistently put the interests of corporate entities before the rights of the Citizens;
Whereas the UNIPARTY has made claims of owning our votes and has used psyops to indoctrinate the public into believing that voting for someone not approved by the UNIPARTY is wrong and harmful.
Whereas the UNIPARTY no longer represents We the People, nor protects our rights;
Be it Resolved, That we Citizens and Voters are, and have a right to be, free and independent in our voting, that we are absolved from all allegiance to the UNIPARTY, and that all political connection between them and the Citizens and Voters of these united States is, and ought to be, totally dissolved to maintain our constitutional governance.
Therefore, the Constitution Party calls on We the People to declare their
independence by renouncing their loyalty to the UNIPARTY.
I wonder what Jack Sotallaro thinks about that?
It’s been awhile since I told the story about what made me leave the Republican Party, so perhaps I will save it for an upcoming Monday memory since the tenth (!) anniversary of my resignation from party office is about a month away. Having studied the initial grassroots efforts of the TEA Party, though, I think they were taken advantage of by the GOP, who gladly took their money and their votes but only served as loyal opposition instead of overturning tables - that induced chaos seemed to be the department of one Donald Trump, as I found out over time.
Fortunately for the Republicans, they have gamed the system enough (and the Democrats are batshit crazy enough) that they have the upper hand. But they can’t ignore the push from the Left, which is something to be concerned about as it will push the Overton window of the uniparty that way too.
I’m all for slamming the sucker shut on their left hand.
So that’s enough for now. We’ll see what I come up with next month.
Until my next edition of odds and ends, you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.