Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
- Public Education Funding Commission to hold community forum (Sussex County)
- Legislature to consider hospital board bill, mini bond (Statewide)
- Bond committee to approve funding for ChristianaCare (Statewide)
- Renewable energy taskforce to look at solar backlog (Statewide)
- Sussex County Planning Commission (Sussex County)
Have your say on Delaware’s new school funding formula
Last year, a committee of Delaware education officials came up with a new way to fund public education by creating a framework that distributes more money to schools with high numbers of students who are low-income, still learning English, or have special needs.
The committee, called the Public Education Funding Commission, says their framework, which could replace a per-student funding system, will “make Delaware school funding more flexible, equitable, and responsive to student needs.”
In the coming months, lawmakers will have to iron out many of the most difficult details to transform that framework into an executable plan. And they could approve one later this year.
But first the state will present the plan to the community at two forums where the public can offer feedback. The first one begins this week in Sussex County.
📍 The Public Education Funding Commission will hold the first forum at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Seaford Central Elementary, located 1 Delaware Place in Seaford.
Legislature enters second week with hospital review board, mini bond bill
During the second week of a new legislative session, lawmakers are scheduled to consider a slew of bills including ones that increase penalties for animal cruelty, that allow for scooter rentals in cities, and that lower the required age for bartending to 18 years old.
Because Delaware’s legislature runs on a two-year cycle, bills that lawmakers considered last year can continue moving along the legislative process this session.
Among the meatiest bills listed on this week’s agendas is the drafting of Delaware’s early session capital budget – known as the mini bond bill.
Every year, lawmakers can reallocate existing dollars from the current fiscal year’s capital budget toward new or altered projects. Last year’s version of the bill allowed state facilities management officials to redirect remaining dollars from capital improvements at Legislative Hall to a controversial proposal to build a parking garage at the statehouse.
📍 Lawmakers will begin drafting this year’s mini bond bill at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Joint Finance Committee hearing room at Legislative Hall, located at 411 Legislative Ave in Dover. The committee will not hold a formal public comment period during the meeting. For more information, including how to watch the meeting virtually, click here.
Also up for consideration this week is legislation that would weaken a state board charged with reining in hospital costs, by removing its ability to veto hospital budgets. If passed, the new bill would also allow for the formal termination of a lawsuit that ChristianaCare brought against Delaware in 2024.
Last fall, ChristianaCare, Delaware’s largest and most influential hospital system, tentatively agreed to end its lawsuit challenging the Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board in exchange for lawmakers removing the key enforcement mechanism.
Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark), the sponsor of the new legislation – Senate Bill 213 – said transparency remains a core tenet of the review board under his legislation, as hospitals will still be required to submit their revenue and expenditures for review.
“Civil penalties of up to $500,000 remain available for knowing failures to comply with reporting obligations … and written findings are now required, so the mechanisms that matter the most, sunlight, oversight and structured follow through, remain in place,” he told Delaware Public Media.
📍 The full Senate will consider SB 213, as well as judicial nominations at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Legislative Hall, located at 411 Legislative Ave in Dover. To watch the meeting virtually, click here.
From hospital spending to spending on hospitals
ChristianaCare is also central to another Delaware public meeting this week. The Bond Committee of the Delaware Health Facilities Authority will meet to determine the final terms of revenue bonds the state will issue. The money from the bond sales will fund a loan to ChristianaCare, according to meeting documents, which do not state the amount of the loan.
Hospital systems regularly fund themselves through the bonding authorities of states. In 2020, the Bond Committee of the Delaware Health Facilities Authority approved a resolution for the state’s to issue $265 million in revenue and refunding bonds for ChristianaCare.
📍 The Bond Committee of the Delaware Health Facilities Authority will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the fifth floor of Hercules Plaza, located at 1313 N. Market St. in Wilmington. For more information, including about virtual participation, click here.
Community solar backlog?
A Delaware taskforce, charged with examining the renewable energy market in the state, will discuss recent growth in Delaware’s solar industry, as well what it calls a backlog of Delmarva Power community solar.
A separate backlog in the approvals of energy generation sites from regional grid operator, PJM, has been cited over the past year as one reason that electricity prices spiked in the region recently.
📍 The Delaware Renewable Energy Taskforce will meet virtually at 1 p.m. Tuesday. For more information, including the link for the virtual attendance, click here.
Sussex growth marches onward
Fresh off of its votes on two controversial building proposals in the past month, the Sussex County Council has this week off from public meetings.
But that doesn’t mean development talk won’t be had among officials in Delaware’s fastest growing county. The Sussex County’s Planning Commission, a five-member panel, will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss a range of development proposals.
Those include a proposal to grant a permit for an outdoor storage area as part of the Tharros Village campground for the homeless, near Lewes.
📍 The Sussex County Planning Commission will meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Sussex County Administrative Office Building, located at 2 The Circle in Georgetown. To watch the meeting virtually, click here.