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With the end of the legislative session, Editor Katie Tabeling considers how many hard issues legislators had to handle in a few months' time. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ADOBE STOCK[/caption]
Another session has come and gone and with it another flurry of bills that were ushered in as late as May.
Many people I’ve come to know in central Delaware and statewide politics in the last four years have noted that 2024 was an unprecedented year and not just with the landmark legislation that was introduced, although there were several of those that caught attention across the state.
Those issues include granting “end-of-life” options to the terminally ill, parole reform, a constitutional amendment that would codify Delaware’s ban on the death penalty, requiring Delaware colleges to offer medical abortion and more.
It’s also the last year of a two-term governor who had to weigh the ticking clock of the American Rescue Act Plan. Delaware received more than $1 billion federal funds which must be obligated to projects by the end of this year. Gov. John Carney had difficult decisions to make when he drafted his budget, the most pressing of all was likely the rising health insurance costs the state is trying to get a handle on for its growing number of retirees.
I’d like to point out the sheer volume of bills is what made the 152nd session stand out in recent memory.
By the numbers, there were 438 bills that were filed in the second part of the session, which includes January 2024 to June 30 2024. Of that number, only 24 bills were prefiled in December — or before the legislative session began.
That total number also includes substitute bills, or those that have been workshopped between legislators usually after the committee and before it arrives at the House or Senate Floor for a final vote. Reports from legislative analysts found that this year there were 84 substitutes — unusually high compared to past years. For example, the whole 151st session (which legislative analysts consider to be between November 2022 and 2023) had 70 substitute bills. The session before that had 47 substitute bills in its entirety.
In the second part of the more recent session, it’s reported that 66% of those bills passed. Carney’s office estimates they have 237 bills waiting for his decision as of July 11. In Delaware, the governor has 10 days to act on a bill when they are presented to him.
Representatives from Carney’s office told me that his policy and legal teams review and vet each one before it’s technically presented to the governor— so on many, the clock hasn’t even started. He’s already signed some, but that number pales in comparison to the scores of others waiting for his decision.
Reflecting on the past, I can usually pick out one or two major issues that dominate the session which tend to have much drama in committees and floor debates. There was Sen. Sarah McBride’s push for paid family and medical leave. There was Sen. Stephanie Hansen’s slate of green legislation, including one that set benchmarks for emission reductions. There was Rep. Ed Osienski’s persistent and ultimately successful battle to legalize marijuana — which also brought some drama with it as Carney vetoed the attempt in 2022 only for it to pass without his endorsement the next year.
This year, while I can pick out a few major bills that impacted the business community, it’s hard to just pick one bill out of the myriad of issues I listed earlier in this column— and then some— and ignore the rest.
My concern is this —is there enough time to thoughtfully debate and consider each bill? With the sheer volume of bills filed this year, I’ve heard of staff members working long hours to keep up with the Senate and the House. There’s also been times legislators have been late to committee hearings because another one they’re sitting in on has gone over.
Several corporate law attorneys and legal experts reached out to me with their concerns on the limited amount of public speaking time they were allowed on Senate Bill 313, a bill that makes a major change to corporate law that Delaware considers a sacred and crucial part of its economy. Even more were concerned about the gap between the proposed amendments to the state’s corporate law, signed off on by the Delaware Bar Association in March and when the bill was proposed. SB 313 was introduced in late May.
The bill passed only ten days from the end of session, with debate kept to only two experts and many questions from Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton limited.
It’s often said that Delaware is a state of neighbors and things are done with partnership and collaboration. But with less time to weigh matters much like corporate law change and hospital regulation geared to controlling costs for patients, it opens the question of what time is appropriate to consider each matter thoughtfully.
