Delaware lawmakers gather for new legislative session

(AP) – Delaware lawmakers are convening a new session of the General Assembly with a host of new faces, and a few old issues likely to be revisited.

With November’s election results, there will be five new lawmakers in the 21-member Senate and 12 rookie lawmakers in the 41-member House.

As the session convenes Tuesday, Democrats also have stronger majorities in both chambers, having improved their margin in the Senate from 11-10 to 12-9 and their advantage in the House from 25-16 to 26-15. The former Republican minority whips in both chambers were unseated in November by Democrats.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are expected to revisit several proposals that failed to gain much traction in last year’s session, including legalizing recreational use of marijuana and prohibiting Delawareans from buying certain types of semiautomatic firearms.