Legislative Report: Week of 3/27/2023
Cannabis legalization is up for a final vote in the Senate today; the bills were reintroduced this year after Governor Carney vetoed them last year. HB 1 & HB 2 passed the House in early March; 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.
SB 1 (renter right to representation in eviction and other landlord-tenant actions) is also on the Senate floor today, This is an important bill that housing advocates are pushing hard for after it passed the Senate but failed in the House last year.
Both House and Senate committees will meet this week, with several impactful bills on the agendas
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SB 63 | Lawson | Changes the forestry/ag/horticultural land use criteria from all to at least one of the criteria. Passed Senate unanimously, but mixed opinions on whether this would help small farmers or largely benefit large landowners. | House Agriculture | Tuesday, 3/28/23 | 11:00 AM |
| HB 67 | Shupe | Exempts the realty transfer tax if you buy a second house in less than a year. | House Revenue & Finance | Tuesday, 3/28/23 | 12:00 PM |
| HB 89 | Baumbach | Increases the standard deduction for personal income taxes and the earned income tax credit. | House Revenue & Finance | Tuesday, 3/28/23 | 12:00 PM |
| HB 114 | Harris | Recovery residence reform bill. Institutes a voluntary certification process for recovery residences and establishes residents' rights of a recovery residence and protects residents against unreasonable and unfair practices in setting and collecting fees and other residence payments. Good to establish rights for residents, but concerns over a section that would allow residents to be immediately evicted for a violation. | House Health | Wednesday, 3/29/23 | 11:00 AM |
| SB 32 | Poore | Adds visual impairments including blindness to the list of special education programs to be conducted on a 12-month schedule. SA 1 limits the number of teacher work days for Division of Visually Impaired teachers to not more than 226 days. | House Education | Wednesday, 3/29/23 | 3:00 PM |
| SB 60 | Sturgeon | Allows teachers and other school employees paid absences for jury duty or if they are subpoenaed. | House Education | Wednesday 3/29/23 | 3:00 PM |
| SB 52 | Pinkney | Updates 2006 needle/syringe exchange law to eliminate the 1-for-1 exchange under this DHSS program; instead, participants in the program would now be able to receive sterile needles and syringes based on need and usage. Program participants may return used needles/syringes at any program site | Senate Health | Wednesday, 3/29/23 | 10:00 AM |
| SB 45 | Brown | Expands the rights of workers to collect unemployment in a lockout if the boss was responsible for breaking an agreement or hires replacements. | Senate Labor | Wednesday, 3/29/23 | 12:00 PM |
| SB 57 | Gay | Allows Delaware to prevent faithless electors in presidential elections | Senate Elections | Wednesday, 2/29/23 | 3:00 PM |
New Bills Introduced
| Bill # | Sponsor | Summary/Description |
|---|---|---|
| SS1/SB1 | Townsend | Right to representation for renters facing eviction substitute bill. Main change is that family income is included in calculation for full-time students with cosigners on a lease. |
| HB 91 | Bush | Creates a new offense of Aggravated Criminal Mischief with enhanced penalties (class D felony) applicable when an individual knowingly damages or tampers with critical utility infrastructure intending to disrupt utility services |
| HB 90 | K. Williams | Requires large health-care facilities to provide information to uninsured patients regarding eligibility and the application process for medical assistance. Information must be provided at the time of service or prior to discharge, and again with each billing statement. When patients receive emergency care, information must be provided within 5 days of discharge. |
| HS1/HB55 | Lynn | Bill of rights for individuals experiencing homelessness; allows the Human and Civil Rights Commission to investigate discrimination against homeless people and provide fines for discrimination. Improvement on last year's version, which centered a cause of civil action |
| HB 82 | Griffth | Requires the Department of Elections to send out information to voters every two years on the status of their registration and on dates for upcoming elections |
| HB 83 | K. Williams | Requires oral health screenings to be provided for kindergarten students who have not had one |
| SB 65 | Buckson | Adds workforce and affordable housing programs to the current list of realty transfer tax eligible expenditures for New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties. Counties are currently limited in what they can spend realty transfer tax funds on and therefore have surpluses, this bill enables the counties to use those funds for affordable housing |
| SB 66 | Buckson | Adds the Senate and House Minority Leaders to the state Public Health Emergency Planning Commission |
| SB 8 | Mantzavinos | Limits medical debt collection and reforms practices to protect consumers |