Why Should Delaware Care?
After years of efforts to create an office to investigate abuse in government, a bill to form a Delaware inspector general is nearing the finish line. Still, it remains unclear whether it will survive what could be difficult budget negotiations.
The Delaware Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill to establish a new state office to investigate fraud, waste, and corruption in government, but the fate of the legislation in the state’s House of Representatives remains unclear.
Senate Bill 4 would create a nonpartisan, independent Office of Inspector General, which would investigate abuse of government resources in state agencies and in the General Assembly.
The office would be able to coordinate with and make referrals to other law enforcement agencies.
Rep. Cyndie Romer, the leading Democratic sponsor of the bill in the House, said she’s confident that the legislation will pass her chamber, given the unanimous vote it received in the Senate.
“The fact that it has so much support in the Senate, I think, is a really good sign,” Romer said.
The Senate’s passage of the legislation followed 17 years of failed attempts to move similar bills forward in Delaware.
Still, uncertainty has also surrounded this year’s bill given its hefty price tag of $3.5 million over its first three years.
Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton) told Spotlight Delaware that lawmakers had previously held any bill from passage that would cost the state more than $100,000 annually. She said that informal policy ended last week after a state finance council estimated that Delaware’s government would collect nearly $100 million more in taxes next year than previously thought.
Separately, Gov. Matt Meyer in March did not include funding for the office in his fiscal year 2026 proposed budget – even as he had previously campaigned on creating a statewide inspector general’s office, and mentioned the initiative during his State of the State Address.
Romer said that she was surprised and a little disappointed that Meyer did not include the Inspector General Office in his budget, despite advocating for it on the campaign trail.
“I’m just going to give [Meyer] a little bit of grace there to know that he understands that, that if you have something in your verbal recommended budget, that you then need to put the funding behind it,” Romer said.
The Office of Inspector General would work in collaboration with other investigative and law-enforcement agencies, including the Attorney General and the Auditor of Accounts, in an effort to not duplicate efforts.
The office would also give reports to the governor, Attorney General and the General Assembly about corrective action while making referrals to other law enforcement agencies when necessary.
The reports would subsequently be made available to the public on the OIG website, according to the bill text.
The Inspector General would not be an elected official and would instead be chosen through a panel process.
A selection panel would give three names to the governor for consideration, and the governor would then select one person for appointment as Inspector General. The nominee would then be submitted for Senate confirmation and, if confirmed, would serve a single five-year term.
The General Assembly will break for Joint Finance Committee as it starts its budget bill markup for fiscal year 2026 and will return to session on June 10.
