Why Should Delaware Care?
Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public.
Delaware lawmakers will rush to consider dozens of pieces of legislation this week – their last in the 2025 legislative session – including the state’s massive bond bill, and its grant-in-aid bill.
The two budgetary bills have yet to be introduced, meaning the public will have little time to comment on the appropriations before the legislature adjourns on June 30.
Last year, the bond bill directed more than a billion dollars to Delaware construction projects, including more than $50 million to Wilmington alone for various public and private building renovations. The bond bill also typically establishes directives to the state about how to use certain pots of money, including one that last year allowed the governor to send about $200 million to the Port of Wilmington.
The Joint Capital Improvement Committee will meet at Legislative Hall in Dover Tuesday at 10 a.m. to draft the bond bill – a process known as the markup.
If needed, the committee will reconvene later that evening following hearings in the full House of Representatives and the full Senate. The committee may also meet again Wednesday at 10 a.m.
Click here for details on how to attend in person or virtually. No public comment period will occur during the meetings.
To contact your state legislators directly, enter your address into the search bar on this page and click Find My Legislator.
Money for nonprofits
The grant-in-aid bill sends tens of millions of dollars to private nonprofits in Delaware, including some led by legislators and former legislators. The application process for nonprofits seeking those dollars began months ago, but this year’s recipients will not be publicly known until the bill is made public.
On Thursday at noon, the Joint Finance Committee will meet in Legislative Hall in Dover to draft and vote on this year’s grant-in-aid bill. As with the Joint Capital Improvement Committee, there will be no public comments taken during the meeting. For details on how to attend in person or virtually, click here.
The Joint Finance Committee previously met earlier this month to write the state’s operating budget.
Those negotiations were less painful than previously feared after lawmakers learned last month that they would have an extra $100 million to spend on schools, police, and other state-funded programs for the 2026 fiscal year – which begins July 1.
The resulting budget bill and a supplement to the budget subsequently passed out of the House Appropriations Committee and both will be addressed by the full House of Representatives during its session on Tuesday.
Beyond the budget bills, the full House will also consider legislation on Tuesday to prohibit local police from partnering with federal immigration officials, and a constitutional amendment to formally abolish the Delaware death penalty.
For details on how to view the House session virtually, click here.
The full Delaware Senate will also meet on Tuesday, with the same 2 p.m. start time. Its agenda includes legislation to give subpoena power to the Delaware auditor, and three bills to more strictly regulate school boards.
To watch the Senate session virtually, click here.
Outside of the full House and Senate chambers, several legislative committees are scheduled to continue to move bills through the process this week, despite only having days until the end of session.
Notable bills that are still live include ones to create an inspector general to investigate government waste; to provide free breakfast to all public school students; to ban single-use plastic utensils; and to mandate that public water utilities publicly report toxins found in their systems.
Bills that are no longer being considered include one that would have raised income taxes on the richest residents of Delaware, and another that would have waived state taxes on overtime pay for hourly workers.
To view the legislature’s full agenda this week, click on its home page and navigate to its “What’s Happening” section.
