The final days of the 2025 legislative session get back underway on Tuesday with a busy schedule of committee hearings and floor votes. For a reminder on how a bill becomes law, check out our Delaware Explained story from earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the state’s approval of an offshore wind project will be heard this week on an administrative appeal by opponents of the project and the Indian River Board of Education will meet for the first time since voters rejected its second attempt to pass a new funding referendum.

A busy legislative week

Legislators return to Dover for the first time since before Memorial Day, and they will consider a busy schedule of bills relating to immigration enforcement, taxes and marijuana, among other issues.

  • Immigration Enforcement: The legislature will hear three bills this week in committee, which allows for public comment.
    • House Bill 94: Prohibits local law enforcement from assisting in federal immigration enforcement operations at churches or schools. To be heard at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee. Click here to watch & comment.
    • House Bill 196: Requires the reason for traffic stops to be entered into a database in order to dissuade stops on the basis of  immigration concerns. To be heard at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee. Click here to watch & comment.
    • House Bill 93: Requires school resource officers and constables to receive permission from the Delaware Attorney General to participate in federal immigration enforcement. To be heard at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in the House Judiciary Committee. Click here to watch & comment.
  • Taxes: The legislature will hear two bills this week in committee, which allows for public comment.
  • Marijuana: The legislature will hear one bill this week in committee, which allows for public comment.
    • Senate Bill 75: Supersedes county regulations on where marijuana businesses can locate and reducing the statewide buffer between shops and places of concern to 500 feet. To be heard at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the House Administration Committee. Click here to watch & comment.

Appeal to be heard on offshore wind

The Delaware Environmental Appeals Board will meet Tuesday to hear an appeal related to the US Wind offshore wind farm.

While the State Senate is preparing to vote on a bill Tuesday overturning the Sussex County Council’s rejection of an electric substation necessary for the development of the wind farm off Delaware’s coast, an administrative board will rule on whether the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control defied its own regulations in approving the project.

An appeal filed by the Caesar Rodney Institute, the Town of Fenwick Island and the Tower Shore Beach Association, among others, seeks to have permits that would allow the laying of underwater cables from the wind farm to the substation overturned.

The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the DNREC Auditorium in the Richardson & Robbins Building, located at 89 Kings Highway in Dover. To watch remotely, click here.

Indian River to meet after failed referendum

The Indian River School District’s Board of Education will meet tonight for the first time since a referendum request to raise $22.5 million was rejected by more than half of voters.

The meeting at Indian River High School, located at 29772 Armory Road in Dagsboro, will begin with an executive session at 7 p.m. that is not open to the public. At approximately 8:30 p.m., the board will reconvene in a public session, where public comment will be taken.

Superintendent Jay Owens warned after the failed vote that Indian River will “face some difficult decisions in the coming months.” That could include position or program losses. 

Riverfront Corp. to hold quarterly meeting

The Riverfront Development Corp., which oversees the development of both the Riverfront in Wilmington and the future Riverfront East project, will hold its quarterly meeting on Friday.

The meeting, held in person only at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, begins at 8:30 a.m. 

Among the agenda items is a new partnership agreement with the Delaware Nature Society.

Jacob Owens has more than 15 years of experience in reporting, editing and managing newsrooms in Delaware and Maryland, producing state, regional and national award-winning stories, editorials and publications....