Welcome to The Press Room, a semi-regular weekly roundup of the major stories and happenings of the 2023 Delaware legislative year.
This week we focus on updates from budget hearings, a speech from a Delaware man and bills I’ll be keeping an eye on when lawmakers come back from recess.
As always, send story tips, feedback, ideas or gossip to me at mnewman@delawareonline.com.
Follow me on Twitter at @MereNewman.
Budget hearing updates
The Joint Finance Committee hearings continue for the rest of the month. Last week, the Departments of Correction, Justice and Safety and Homeland Security presented their recommended budgets to lawmakers.
Like all of the Cabinet secretaries, a major focus for all three was staffing issues, particularly with vacancy rates. You can find the presentations and hearings here.
There’s a lot to these hearings. But these are some interesting nuggets that stood out to me:
DOC seeks to increase inmate wages
The Department of Correction announced its plans to increase inmates’ wages. The state has not done this in 30 years. DOC Commissioner Monroe Hudson said the average hourly wage is about 28 cents per hour. To put things in perspective, Monroe said, prices at the commissary have increased by about 34% in that time. The plan is to increase wages by 20% in the course of two years.
The department is also facing chronic issues with staffing and overtime. Monroe noted that this is especially the case when inmates have to go to the hospital because it requires more staffing.
More funding for school resource officers
The Department of Safety and Homeland Security is looking to increase its funding for school resource officers. (Read more background on that here.) The department wants to increase funding for more officers. Secretary Nathaniel McQueen noted that there have been requests for an additional officer at William Penn High School and Mariner Middle School, but the department is looking for flexibility if a school district makes a request mid-year.
The DOJ struggles to hire criminal prosecutors
The Department of Justice is struggling with vacancies and caseloads. Attorney General Kathy Jennings said last week that deputy attorneys general are juggling 300 felony cases a year, in part because of the pandemic. Before, it was about 150 to 200 cases.
It can be a struggle to find lawyers to work for the DOJ, especially with higher salaries available at private firms. DOJ officials said they struggle the most with hiring criminal prosecutors, particularly in Kent County.
The department is also looking to increase staff in its child predator unit, which has seen an explosion of cyber tips. In 2020, the unit received 629 tips. This past year, there were 1,279 tips.
Delaware man gave a big speech
In case you missed it, President Joe Biden delivered his annual State of the Union address last week. Here are some key takeaways.
Biden, unsurprisingly, dropped quotes and mentions of his father several times throughout, particularly on the economic portion of the speech. But he also mentioned another Delawarean – and luckily my colleague Kevin Tresolini noticed.
The Delaware bills I’m keeping an eye on (and you should, too)
The General Assembly is still in recess with the Joint Finance Committee budget hearings ongoing throughout this month. In the meantime, here are a couple of bills I plan to focus more on:
Funding for police recruitment
House Bill 39: This bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Smith, a Pike Creek Republican, would give $20 million (in a one-time appropriation) to police agencies to help recruit and retain new officers. The money could be used in recruitment and retention, as well as helping pay for overtime or creating “programs designed to improve public safety,” according to the bill.
This legislation would likely involve intense debate, given the climate of policing here in Delaware and throughout the country. Noteworthy here: It has the support of five Democrats: Reps. Bill Bush, Franklin Cooke and Ed Osienski, as well as Sens. Spiros Mantzavinos and Russell Huxtable.
It was voted out of the House’s Public Safety & Homeland Security committee and still needs to be heard in the Appropriations Committee.
Eliminating the death penalty in Delaware
House Bill 70: The debate to repeal the death penalty is back. It has a long, complicated history here in Delaware.
A quick refresher: Delaware became the second state in the nation to repeal the death penalty in 1958. And then it was reinstated in 1961 when the General Assembly passed legislation and blocked the governor’s veto.
The state Supreme Court declared Delaware’s law unconstitutional in 2016 because it gave judges too much discretion. Since then, there have been several competing capital punishment bills introduced by lawmakers. Democrats have wanted to repeal it, while Republicans have wanted to reinstate it with modifications.
The new legislation introduced by Rep. Sean Lynn, a Dover Democrat, would eliminate the death penalty from the Delaware code. Those over the age of 18 who are convicted of first-degree murder would face life in prison without the possibility of parole, probation or a reduced sentence.
Gov. John Carney has previously said he is opposed to Delaware’s death penalty. The Associated Press reported in 2020 the governor would “probably sign a bill allowing capital punishment if it were restricted to killers of law enforcement officials.”
A Delawarean has not been executed in more than a decade. This bill has yet to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee.
Delaware tenants’ right to representation
Senate Bill 1: My colleague Esteban Parra last week wrote about a bill that would give tenants the right to free counsel to those whose income is no more than twice the federal poverty guideline. If you remember, this is the bill Carney announced his support of this bill during his budget presentation.
This is not the first time this bill has been introduced. Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend tried to pass this in 2021 and 2022. It failed in the House of Representatives. Carney’s support of this legislation will be key for it to pass.
The legislation would also create a diversion program to resolve most landlord-tenant disputes before they lead to legal action. The cost of this bill starts at around $1 million and then goes up to $3 million. The program would be run by a legal aid organization.
