Legislative Report: Week of 3/13/2023

Delaware’s House passed cannabis legalization for the second time last week; the bills were reintroduced this year after Governor Carney vetoed them last year. HB 1 & HB 2 passed the House last week, and are in Senate Health Committee this week. Assuming they pass the Senate, they will then be sent to Governor Carney to decide if he will sign them into law or veto them for a second time. If he decides to veto again, it will take a three-fifths vote (25 in the House and 13 in the Senate) to override the veto.

Two important housing justice bills are in committee this week: SB 1 (right to representation in court for renters facing eviction) and HB 37 (allowing renters to pay rent into court escrow if a landlord fails to fix dangerous or defective conditions).

• SB 1 is an important bill that housing advocates are pushing hard for after it passed the Senate but failed in the House last year. This bill has gone through a lot of amendments and compromises already, so the most important thing is to ask that it be passed as-is and not watered down further. The HOMES campaign is having a public comment training Tuesday 3/14 at 6pm on Zoom.

• HB 37 was introduced in response to last year’s situation where Adams Street properties were declared unsafe, displacing residents and exposing the landlord’s history of failing to fix dangerous conditions. 

HB 53, a bill to remove the Delaware residency requirement for Department of Justice Division heads, assistant heads, and chief prosecutors, is up for a House vote on Tuesday. This bill was fairly controversial in committee, and had to be walked after the committee hearing to get enough votes to release it. Concerns were raised about existing diversity challenges at the Department of Justice and that those leading an agency and prosecuting Delawareans should have to live in Delaware.

Bills In Committee This Week

For the sake of length and clarity, we will only be sharing notable bills in these reports. Click on the committee name under the Committee Meeting Info column for a link to the meeting agenda, in-person or virtual public comment info, and livestream link.

You can also check here for the full list of committee meetings and click “view” next to each meeting for the full agenda and additional information.

Bill #	Sponsor	Summary/Description	Committee Meeting Info	Date	Time
HB 73	Osienski	Removes the statute of limitations for the state to seek overpayment of unemployment benefits. This Act will not apply to overpayment debts that accrue 3 years or more prior to the date of enactment. This seems concerning because it would extend the time that workers could be liable for overpayment claims which they did not know about and were not their fault, but caused by systemic error on the agency side.	House Labor Committee	Tuesday, 3/14/23	12pm
HB 80	Minor Brown	Requires Medicaid to cover birth doulas. This is a follow up bill from last year’s Momnibus package, and is an important step towards getting more equity and support for maternal healthcare, especially Black maternal healthcare.	House Health & Human Development Committee	Wednesday, 3/15/23	11am
HB 79	Chukwuocha	Following a 2022 law prohibiting the criminal prosecution of children under 12, this bill clarifies that children under 12 may not be arrested or detained pending adjudication either (unless accused of murder, rape, or commission of a crime with a firearm).	House Judiciary Committee	Wednesday, 3/15/23	1pm
HB 1	Osienski	Legalizes recreational cannabis by removing all penalties for use or possession of a personal use quantity of marijuana and marijuana accessories for those 21 and older.	Senate Health and Social Service Committee	Wednesday, 3/15/23	10am
HB 2 w/ HA1, HA2	Osienski	Regulates and taxes recreational cannabis.	Senate Health and Social Service Committee	Wednesday, 3/15/23	10am
SB 1	Townsend	Creates a right to representation in court for renters facing eviction or other landlord-tenant actions. This is a priority bill for housing advocates and organizations to get passed this year after it failed last year. The HOMES campaign is having a public comment training Tuesday 3/14 at 6pm on Zoom.	Senate Housing Committee	Wednesday, 3/15/23	1pm

New Bills Introduced

Bill #	Sponsor	Summary/Description
HB 77	Baumbach	Second leg of constitutional amendment requiring legislators to remain domiciled in their senatorial/representative district for the entirety of their term. (Inapplicable to legislators who move to remain in their district when the district lines are changed). Basically, legislators have to live in the districts they represent the whole time they represent said district, not just on a part time basis.
HB 78	Morrison	Defines a catalytic converter and creates new rules for their purchase/sale, as well as new rules for scrap metal processors
SB 60	Sturgeon	Ensures that teachers and other school employees that they will not be docked their pay if they miss hours to testify as a witness at trial or to report to serve on a jury.
SB 61	Sturgeon	Provides new rules for teachers' and school employees' paid time off: the one PTO day for a loved one's funeral may be taken on the day before/after the funeral; increases the total number of annual PTO days from 3 to 5; and school employees need not provide a reason for taking a PTO day.
HB 81	K. Williams	Clarifies that a school district may reject a charter school's request that the district transport the charter's "in-district" students (and in the event of a rejection, the State pays the charter 70% of the district's average transportation cost per student).
SB 3	Brown	1st leg of a constitutional amendment to require all absentee ballots to include an oath or affirmation that the qualified voter’s vote is free from improper influence. This oath or affirmation is in lieu of the oath or affirmation required under Section 3 of Article V of the Delaware Constitution. Effectively this would change the constitution to allow for no-excuse absentee ballots.