2009 Legislative Wrap-Up

The Delaware General Assembly officially ended the first term of the 145th Session in the early hours of July 1, 2009. The General Assembly passed many important legislative initiatives.

Highlights of the 145th Delaware General Assembly:

• Senate Resolution 2: “Senate Rules” - This resolution changes the senate rules to include posting Senate roll calls and all bills and resolutions shall be acted upon by the appropriate committee within twelve (12) legislative days after being assigned to that committee.
• House Bill 1: “Open Government” - This bill allows the public to have access to meetings of the Delaware General Assembly except for caucuses. Additionally, the bill allows the public to have access to records of the Delaware General Assembly. The current exceptions that apply to public bodies and public records would apply to meetings and records of the Delaware General Assembly.
• Senate Bill 121: “Non-Discrimination” - This bill bans discrimination in employment, housing, contracts and insurance on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Senate Bill 7: “Eminent Domain” - requires state, county, or municipal governments, or State agencies or other condemning entities to use their eminent domain authority solely for “public use” and defines that term. The Bill specifically states that benefits derived from economic development do not constitute a public use. The Bill also includes notice to property owners of the asserted public use and this policy. The Bill also sets a procedure for a court hearing to consider how the State has met its burden of proof when private use is contemplated.
• House Bill 253 w/HA2, HA 3: This bill: 1) Changes the name of the Violent Crimes Compensation Board to the Victims’ Compensation Assistance Program; 2) Transfers the duties, responsibilities and employees of the Violent Crimes Compensation Board from the Administrative Office of the Courts to the Department of Justice. This will provide the residents of Delaware with statewide access to services for victims of crime; 3) Allows the Executive Director and investigative staff to award benefit compensation thus streamlining the decision making process for claims; 4) Reconsideration stage at the paper level to allow staff/Executive Director to reconsider new information for a claim without the need for the victim to appear before the Appeals Board; 5) Changes the current Board to an Appeals Board. The current Board members will serve out their existing term and continue to receive statutory compensation. Upon expiration of term, compensation will be $100 per day; 6) Provides that the Appeals Board shall include members from all 3 counties and the City of Wilmington; 7) Provides that members of the Appeals Board shall be confirmed by the Senate; 8) Establishes an Advisory Council that includes individuals from state government, advocacy groups, victim related task forces, medical, mental health, law enforcement fields and members of the public to be appointed by the Governor.
• Senate Bill 179: implements the recommendations of the Joint Sunset Committee’s review regarding the Commission of Adult Entertainment Establishments. This Bill clarifies the intent of the General Assembly to include that the health, safety and welfare of the people of the State are imperiled by the widespread operation of adult oriented retail businesses without reasonable time, place and manner limitations on such businesses. It gives the Commission more authority to make key decisions regarding adult oriented establishments.

Education Highlights of the 145th Delaware General Assembly:

• Senate Bill 68 eliminates the Delaware State Testing Program (DSTP), and requires its replacement beginning in the 2010-2011 school year with a test administered at a minimum in each grade level 2 through 10 at the beginning of the school year and at least one more time later in the year, to assess student progress over the course of the year as well as providing a benchmark for student, school, and district achievement. This new testing regimen will allow students’ performance on state assessments to be based upon students’ best results from the multiple assessments performed during the year. This bill replaces the DSTP with a statewide test that will be more useful to teachers, less stressful for students, and more helpful in charting student progress.
• House Substitute 1 to House Bill 119: permits local school districts substantially more discretion with respect to expenditure of state education funds than they have had under previously existing law. However, the bill also establishes a number of safeguards to ensure that those funds are spent in a responsible manner that enhances student achievement, including state approval of local district budgets, a requirement of full transparency for local district expenditures, and the establishment of citizen financial oversight committees for each district. This Legislation puts procedures in place to direct more public dollars into the classroom and less into administrative overhead, while simultaneously giving schools more financial flexibility. This bill was passed in an effort to allow schools to use their state dollars where they’re needed most. The Delaware Department of Education must approve district budgets and each district must create a community financial review committee. I look forward to supporting school districts and the DOE to provide more funding discretion to enable innovation.
• Senate Bill 151: creates a pilot Academic Achievement Awards program, which would use federal stimulus funds to make financial awards to schools that significantly close the achievement gap and schools that exceed their adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years. The awards are focused on schools that high percentages of economically disadvantaged students. Vision 2015 recommended providing "bonuses for schools that meet or exceed agreed-upon goals for improvements in student achievement," which is the intention of this bill. Yet Vision 2015 also recommends "incentives to attract teachers to high-need subjects and to low-performing, high-need schools." We look forward to working with policymakers to design ways to provide individual incentives to attract more great teachers and those in high-needs schools and subject areas (like math and science).
• Senate Concurrent Resolution 19: articulates the support of the Delaware General Assembly for the recommendations of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and findings of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies as they pertain to physical activity in children. This resolution also encourages Delaware’s public and private schools to provide students in grades K-8 with a minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity during the school week and expresses the support of the legislature to help make Delaware's children the healthiest in the nation. Both Nemours Health and Prevention Services, which encouraged support for the resolution, and Vision 2015 are committed to healthy and successful lives for Delaware children.
• Senate Concurrent Resolution 24: supports Delaware’s application for a federal Race to the Top Grant and encourage the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Department of Education to submit a competitive application. The federal education stimulus package gives Delaware the opportunity to receive millions of dollars to drive education reform. The Race to the Top grants are focused on four reforms: adopting rigorous standards and high quality assessments; creating data systems that track students from pre-kindergarten through college and into the work force; improving teacher effectiveness and ensuring qualified teachers for all students; and to support and intervene at the lowest-performing schools. Delaware is already working on all the areas identified to receive the grant. ** Delaware again balanced our budget and maintained our status as one of only 5 states left with an AAA bond rating.