Welcome to The Press Room, a weekly roundup of the major stories and happenings of the 2023 Delaware legislative year.
This week’s edition focuses on the state of police transparency reform, a climate change bill clearing the house and the future (or lack thereof) of online sports gambling.
As always, send story tips, feedback, ideas or gossip to me at mnewman@delawareonline.com.
Follow me on Twitter at @MereNewman.
Could this be the time LEOBOR changes?
During the at-times tense House public safety committee hearing last week over the two police transparency bills, one thing was abundantly clear.
Despite the frustrations of nearly every advocate group, the lawmakers behind the bills showed they planned to move forward despite the concerns raised. They did not show any trepidation in calling advocates out, particularly on how conversations have been ongoing for three years.
Advocates, however, disagreed with this notion. Organizations, including the local American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP, said they were made aware of the existence of these bills just before they were filed. They believed these bills would do little to curb systemic racism in law enforcement.
WHAT’S IN THE BILLS?Delaware tries again to make substantive police reform. Is this time different?
The bills seek to amend the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, which as of now prevents the public from getting information about police misconduct. The bills would require the publication of internal investigations into use-of-force and other substantiated claims against officers, the establishment of uniform standards for police agencies across the state, and the creation of local police accountability boards, among other things.
Law enforcement groups support these bills.
Both of the bills were voted out of committee with strong bipartisan support, a potential indicator that this could have wide support on the House floor. The versions introduced last session in the Senate never made it to a floor vote.
And for what it’s worth, in an incredibly rare move, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf poked his head into the General Assembly Press Room on Wednesday, just for a few seconds. As he was out of the door, I yelled if he supported the changes to LEOBOR.
“Yes,” he said from the hallway.
House passes marquee climate change bill
House lawmakers last week passed the Climate Solutions Act, which would seek to reduce greenhouse gas net emissions by 50% by 2030 and reach a 100% net reduction by 2050.
The legislation requires the state to write a climate action plan in order to meet these goals, with the intent that it would be updated every five years. There was some bipartisan support with Reps. Kevin Hensley, a Republican from Middletown, and Mike Smith, a Republican from Pike Creek, voting for the measure.
BACKGROUND:Delaware lawmakers introduce bills to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
It’s the signature bill of an expansive legislative package, which consists of bills that lawmakers say will aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many in the Republican Party had consternation about the wide authority this bill could give to the secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Don’t bet on it
Online sports betting likely won’t happen in Delaware anytime soon.
My colleague Brandon Holveck recently reported on how the Delaware Lottery has temporarily paused its plan to open online sports betting by the start of football season. It would have been part of a new contract for the state’s internet gaming operations.
It resulted from a group of lawmakers writing to state officials, in which they called the Lottery’s implementation of online sports betting “premature.” The General Assembly, these lawmakers said, needs to introduce legislation to expand the offerings of the Lottery. This could still happen, though the legislative year ends June 30.
At one point, Delaware had a leg up on sports betting in America. It became the first state outside of Nevada to offer single-game sports waging just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibited it.
But now, other states have passed Delaware by. Mobile sports betting is now the most popular form of sports betting.
