Why Should Delaware Care?
Rural communities in Delaware are often forgotten in the statewide conversation. A range of legislation relating to gun ownership, agriculture and change to municipal charters will have a direct impact on the lives of Delawareans in rural areas across the state.
This year’s legislative session saw a number of bills that will directly impact peoples’ lives in rural communities across the state, from gun ownership, farmland interests, wetland preservation and changes to town charters.
Bills addressing rural communities tend to be more bipartisan in their introduction and support, as Delaware’s Republican minority largely represents the southern part of the state – and rural areas.
Here’s a look at the legislation chiefly impacting rural Delaware that passed or stagnated in the General Assembly this year.
Firearm dealers, gun practice
Gun-related bills passed by the legislature this year addressed a range of issues, including attempts to clamp down on straw purchases, cleaning up the state’s ghost gun laws and officially reversing a controversial hunting age restriction.
The most controversial proposal was Senate Bill 300, which aims to curb illegal gun trafficking by implementing a more extensive state licensing system for gun shop owners. Retiring Senate Pro President Tempore David Sokola (D-Newark) introduced the bill as one of the final acts of his 30-plus-year tenure in the General Assembly.
The bill drew substantial criticism from gun shop owners, who said it placed undue financial burdens on them, when illegal gun trafficking actually takes place on the underground market – not in gun shops – they argued.
Following an extended round of amendments and debate, SB 300 passed both chambers largely along party lines. The final version of the bill decreased the licensing fee for shop owners to a flat rate of $300 and decreased the frequency requirement for background checks.
If signed into law by Gov. Matt Meyer, the provisions will be implemented gradually, beginning in July 2028.
House Bill 418 clarified the state’s regulations for privately made firearms – or ghost guns – which was originally implemented in 2022, and has since faced legal challenge.
The bill creates a more straightforward pathway for individuals who have unserialized guns to become in compliance with state rules, by either having their gun serialized by a federally licensed dealer or making them permanently unusable.
It comes in the wake of Rigby v. Jennings, a federal lawsuit against the state alleging the state’s prohibition on unserialized firearms is a Second Amendment violation, as an “exit path” for sportsmen who currently own ghost guns, bill sponsor Rep. Kendra Johnson (D-Bear) said.
Republican-led House Bill 427 allows 16 and 17 year olds who have a valid hunting license and have completed the necessary education courses to target practice and hunt without adult supervision.
The legislation officially reverses a controversial 2022 law, which went into effect last summer, that required adult supervision for hunters under the age of 21 and was declared unconstitutional by a Superior Court judge.
House Minority Whip Jeff Spiegelman, the bill’s sponsor, described it as an effort to make it more accessible for young hunters to get into the sport.
Conversely, a bill aimed at enshrining Delaware’s culture of hunting, fishing and trapping in the state constitution wound up dead in the water. It passed the Senate earlier in June, but was never formally introduced for a vote on the House floor.
The proposal, which was endorsed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), was an attempt to prevent animal rights or gun control advocates from being able to outlaw hunting outright in the state, sponsor Sen. Dave Wilson (R-Lincoln) said in January. Wilson wrote in a Facebook post that he plans to re-introduce the constitutional amendment next legislative session.
Farmland, composting and wetlands
As Delaware farmers are increasingly stretched thin financially and the federal government rolls back environmental protections, the General Assembly passed a string of legislation relating to farmland oversight boards.
House Bill 371 removes the requirement that each county establish a farmland preservation advisory board. The proposal passed both chambers unanimously.
Rep. Jesse Vanderwende (R-Greenwood), the bill’s sponsor, wrote in a Facebook post that the county advisory boards were created multiple decades ago to help create agricultural districts. But those duties are now managed at the county planning level, Vanderwende wrote, so the advisory boards are superfluous.
Senate Bill 211 expands the Governor’s Council on Agriculture from seven to nine members, and adds requirements that at least one member of the council be a livestock producer, and another a farmer under the age of 40. The council, which has existed since 1970, makes recommendations to state leaders on farm and food-related policy.
A spokesperson for the Delaware Farm Bureau told Spotlight Delaware the organization strongly supported the legislation, as a way to more fairly represent a diverse range of farm interests on the council.
As fuel and fertilizer prices spiked this spring due to the war in Iran, the legislature also passed House Bill 431, which allows farmers to compost their yard waste and food residuals on property that is zoned for agriculture use.
Jim Minner, a Felton-area farmer and president of the Kent County Farm Bureau, said HB 431 will be helpful to Delaware farmers’ outputs because compost improves soil health.
For the first time in decades, state lawmakers also passed a bill to regulate freshwater wetlands, known as the Wetland Stewardship Act.
In the wake of an intensive federal rollback of wetlands protections, the legislation aims to protect ecosystems by extending the permitting process for landowners to include nontidal or freshwater wetlands as small as half an acre.
The bill, which failed to advance in previous legislative years, was a rare show of both bipartisan support and championing by various stakeholders, including environmentalists, farmers and developers.
It has a hefty $1.5 million price tag, as it will require at least a dozen more full-time DNREC employees to implement.
Municipal charter changes
Every year, the General Assembly receives a handful of municipal charter change requests, which are sent to the statehouse for final approval after being passed by a city or town government. Because they amount to a modification to the state constitution, the charter changes require a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to pass.
A change proposed to the city of Rehoboth Beach charter drew attention from state and local officials in the final days of the legislative session.
Among a series of proposed changes was a provision prohibiting two people in the same household from simultaneously holding office.
The prohibition was seemingly in response to City Commissioner Suzanne Goode, who has sparked controversy with her explosive comments toward other members of the city government, and her husband, Jeffrey Goode, who is also running for office.
In late June, Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall (D-Rehoboth Beach), decided to withdraw the language prohibiting two members of a household from both seeking office.
Snyder-Hall’s decision unleashed more controversy, as the Goodes released a statement crediting House Republicans with removing what they described as an “unconstitutional” clause in the charter change. Snyder-Hall fought back with another statement pointing out what she described as inaccuracies in the Goodes’ claims.
While the turmoil within the oceanside city government continues, the charter change ultimately passed both chambers handily.
The General Assembly also approved a charter change for the town of Smyrna, allowing its government to impose school impact fees on new construction in town limits.
State leaders passed additional charter changes removing certain parcels of property from the Town of Cheswold, requiring that the Town of Frederica have at least one town council meeting per month and amending the local election process in the town of Millville.
All these bills now await Gov. Meyer’s signature to become law.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
