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. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.
Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
- Legislature to reconvene to change the tax code (Statewide)
- Public Service Commission to consider Delmarva rate increase (Statewide)
- Smyrna School Board to meet amid pay dispute (Smyrna)
- Dover City Council to consider panhandling ban (Dover)
- Delaware Office of Management and Budget (Statewide)
To decouple or not?
The Delaware House of Representatives will reconvene for another session on Thursday, primarily to consider a bill that would undo the state’s portion of tax savings to businesses that resulted from the passage earlier this year of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
Because Delaware income taxes generally piggyback on the IRS’s system, federal changes to the tax code also impact state income taxes.
But, late last month, Gov. Matt Meyer called on the General Assembly to reconvene before the end of the calendar year to approve legislation that would decouple Delaware’s tax code from the federal government’s on some provisions.
The governor’s request followed a projection from state officials that the revenue Delaware collects from its corporate income taxes would drop sharply over the next two years.
Also, on Thursday, the House will consider a bill that would extend a deadline for New Castle County to collect its property tax bills from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31. It will also consider legislation to change its rules to allow lawmakers to participate in the special session remotely.
The Delaware Senate will consider bills the House passes on Thursday at an unspecified later date.
📍 The House will convene at 10 a.m. Thursday to consider the property tax deadline and remote participation bills. It will then reconvene at noon to consider the decoupling bill. The action will take place at Legislative Hall in Dover and also will be livestreamed here.
Will Delmarva get gas rate hike?
Delaware energy regulators will hold four separate hearings this week to consider a natural gas rate increase submitted by Delmarva Power.
The utility company, a subsidiary of Exelon Corp., is seeking to increase its Delaware gas revenue by about $45 million annually.
While the hearings will be open to the public, only Delmarva officials and an intervenor in the case will be entitled to speak. The state’s public advocate noted previously that this request is likely to be approved because it is a passthrough cost on supplied gas.
In an investor report, Exelon said the rate increase is needed to inspect and maintain gas mains and valves; to replace old cast iron pipes with polyethylene pipes, and to upgrade a liquefied natural gas plant.
Separately, wholesale natural gas prices hit two-year highs earlier this year, and currently sit 25% higher than a year ago. That price spike was driven by usage during extreme weather, supply constraints, record liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, and global demand pressures, brought in part by sanctions on Russian natural gas, according to Forbes.
📍 The Delaware Public Service Commission will meet from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday inside its hearing room located at 861 Silver Lake Blvd. in Dover. For additional details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
Will Dover ban road-median panhandling?
The Dover City Council will meet Monday to discuss several measures, including an ordinance that would prohibit people from standing along a roadway median to ask for money for drivers. It would also ban drivers from giving out money. Both actions would be subject to a citation.
The proposal is the latest to focus on what officials have described as a growing number of unhoused people living in Delaware’s capital city.
City council members have cited safety as a reason for the ordinance. But activists from the Delaware H.O.M.E.S. Campaign say it amounts to criminalizing poverty.
📍 The Dover City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall Council Chambers, located at 15 Loockerman Plaza in Dover. For more information, including about virtual attendance, click here.
Will Smyrna teachers continue to protest?
The Smyrna School District Board of Education will meet Wednesday just as the district and its teachers union continue to be deadlocked over pay.
The two groups were scheduled to go into mediation last week.
Smyrna’s schools fall into the lowest tiers for teacher pay in New Castle and Kent counties.
📍 The school board will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Smyrna School District Central Office, located at 82 Monrovia Ave. in Smyrna. Click here for more information, including for the virtual meeting link.
Budget struggles on the horizon
The Delaware Office of Management and Budget will hold hearings all week to allow testimony from state agencies, including the Department of State and and Department of Justice on Wednesday, about their expected budget requests for next year.
The hearing precedes what is expected to be a difficult budgeting year for state governor.
Also being heard this week are requests from the Department of Transportation and Delaware State University on Thursday, Delaware Technical Community College and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control on Monday, the state Auditor’s office and judiciary on Friday.
Anyone from the public who wishes to comment during the meeting must pre-register by emailing omb.budgethearing@delaware.gov.
📍The OMB meetings will occur Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Delaware Public Archives, located at 121 MLK Jr. Blvd. in Dover. The Thursday meeting will run from 9 a.m. to noon. Click here for information about virtual attendance.
