6/9/2025 Legislative Update

The legislature is back from the two-week break for budget mark-up, which means a few things. First of all, a lot of decisions have been made by the small group of legislators on the Joint Finance Committee that will define the rest of the session. Second of all, we have a huge wave of bills that will be heard in committee ahead of the end of session on June 30th. 

Let’s start with the bad news. In a joint statement, House and Senate leadership announced that they will not be moving forward with HS 1 for HB 13, which would have added new tax brackets for individuals making $125k, $250k, and $500k. Despite the backing of the governor’s office, this legislation was deemed to be unnecessary as we did not have a budget shortfall yet.

Additionally, as Joint Finance Chair, Rep. Kim Williams decided officially that universal free school meals would not be funded this year, and instead moved forward with funding her bill, HS 1 for HB 91, which would instead fund universal free school breakfasts. The politics that were played with this issue will not be forgotten.

Beyond the budget, there are going to be a variety of bills heard in committee this week. One of the most important is HB 210, sponsored by WFP Champion Rep. Larry Lambert, which will update fines for commercial polluters and redirect more of those funds towards affected communities. This has long been a priority of Rep. Lambert and the Justice40 movement, and the recent catastrophe at the Delaware City Refinery only increases the urgency.

With Trump’s ICE raids also ramping up across the country, it is incredibly important that HB 94, which restricts local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies conducting immigration enforcement activities at schools or churches, will be heard. Right now, only Camden Police have made attempts to cooperate with ICE, but there is plenty of indication that others will try, so it is important to pass this law.

Make Your Voice Heard

See below for some of the most notable bills in committee this week and how to give public comment. For length and clarity, we are only putting bills that need the most public input below. Bills in green are bills we generally support, bills in red are bills we generally oppose, and bills in yellow are neutral or unknown. Meetings are held in person at Legislative Hall 411 Legislative Ave, Dover, DE or streamed on Zoom.

You can also check here for the full list of committee meetings and click “view” next to each meeting for the full agenda and additional information.

Bills coming up the week of 6/9/25:

Bill #	Sponsor	Summary/Description	Committee Meeting Info	Give Public Comment
HB 210	Lambert/Poore	Updates fines for commercial polluters, increasing the attempts to hold major polluters accountable and redirect more of those funds towards affected communities.	House Natural Resources Wednesday 6/11 at 3:00pm	House Majority Hearing Room (H217) 411 Legislative Avenue Dover, DE 19901 Zoom
HS 1 for HB 91	Williams/Walsh	Expands free breakfasts (not free lunch) in schools to all students regardless of income. This is not related to the universal free school meals bill.	House Appropriations Tuesday 6/10 at 10:30am	House Chamber 411 Legislative Avenue Dover, DE 19901 Zoom
HB 94	Lynn/Hoffner	Restricts law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies conducting immigration enforcement activities at schools or churches.	House Public Safety Tuesday 6/10 at 11:00am	House Majority Caucus Room 411 Legislative Avenue Dover, DE 19901 Zoom
HB 190	Minor-Brown/Sokola	Creates a new Grant-in-Aid Subcommittee of the Joint Finance Committee. This adds new legislators who get paid extra to handle state contributions to non-profits.	House Appropriations Tuesday 6/10 at 10:30am	House Chamber 411 Legislative Avenue Dover, DE 19901 Zoom
HS 1 for HB 70	Harris	Lead Remediation Bill. Requires that all rental units constructed before January 1, 1978, are certified as lead free or lead safe by a specific deadline.	House Health Wednesday 6/11 at 11:30am	House Chamber 411 Legislative Avenue Dover, DE 19901 Zoom
HB 37	Morrison/Lockman	Updates the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law to ensure that all all government services, including those provided directly by government entities and those that are government-funded or supervised, are subject to the same non-discrimination requirements as private businesses	House Admin Wednesday 6/11 at 3:00pm	JFC Hearing Room 411 Legislative Avenue Dover, DE 19901 Zoom
HB 179	Yearick/Buckson	Undercuts Paid Family and Medical Leave by raising the coverage threshold from 10 employees to 25, thereby exempting employers with fewer than 25 workers from all paid family, medical, and parental leave obligations under the law.	House Labor Tuesday 6/10 at 1:00pm	JFC Hearing Room 411 Legislative Avenue Dover, DE 19901 Zoom