A 2024 state budget that’s 10% higher than 2023’s led eight Republicans to vote against it Thursday in the House of Representatives, but that didn’t stop it from passing. House Bill 195, sponsored by Rep. William Carson, D-Smyrna, delineated how the $5.6 billion budget will be spent over the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. Carson is the vice …
The leader of the House Republicans offered a resolution during Thursday’s session asking DNREC to pause the implementation of California’s Advanced Clean Car II regulation. Like other Republican attempts to rein in state efforts to increase the number of electric vehicles on the road, the motion failed 17 to 22. The resolution also would have ask the Department of Natural …
The cost of providing electric vehicle charging stations up and down Delaware popped up in a Joint Capital Improvement Committee meeting this week. Sen. Nicole Poore, D-Delaware City, asked if the Department of Transportation is considering the cost of adding more electric vehicle charging stations across the state and transitioning school districts to more electric vehicles. “Everybody wants to move …
A Republican representative plans to file a bill that would allow bail to be denied to anyone who is carrying a firearm when arrested for committing a felony. Delaware’s Constitution allows people charged with capital offenses to be held without bail when “proof is positive or the presumption great,” which the bill would expand to include people charged with the …
A bill that would ditch a constitutional requirement that people must live in Delaware for a year before voting, officially change the voting age to 18, remove the literacy requirement for voting and make it easier for ex-felons to vote seems headed to the full Senate. Senate Bill 180, sponsored by Sen. Kyle Gay, D-Elsmere, would do all that. Because …
The State Employee Benefits Committee unanimously approved raising the rate retirees pay for their Special Medicfill insurance plan. The committee in May voted to raise Medicfill rates by 5% starting Jan. 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024. On Tuesday, though, the vote was to approve a specific dollar increase. The increased rates will lead to no change for those who …
Three bills that change Delaware law as it relates to child abuse passed the House, with some sparking more contention than others. House Bill 182, sponsored by Rep. Krista Griffith, D-Fairfax, would change child abuse in the third, second and first degree to child abuse in the fourth, third and second degree respectively; and changes the new third degree child …
A bill that seeks to stop aggressive tactics for collecting medical debt easily passed the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce Committee meeting Tuesday. Senate Substitute 2 for Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos, D-Elsmere, would forbid a medical creditor or medical debt collector from arresting someone, forcing someone into court for being in contempt, foreclosing on someone’s property …
Several bills that have been making their way through the legislature are still in limbo despite being passed by committees and either the Delaware Senate or House of Representatives earlier in the session. House Bill 80, sponsored by Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, D-New Castle, would require doula services to be covered by Medicaid starting Jan. 1, 2024. A doula provides support …
A bill introduced Thursday adding protections for gender-affirming care in Delaware has drawn criticism from Republicans for the impact it would have on parental rights. House Bill 230, sponsored by Rep. Deshanna Neal, D-Elsmere, would protect medical providers in Delaware who provide gender-affirming care from being prosecuted by other states that ban the practice. Neal said in a statement Friday …
