Legislative Report: Week of 6/5/2023
The big news this week is that with just a few weeks left in legislative session, this year’s attempt at reforming the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBOR) was introduced as two bills last Friday and will be heard in the House Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, June 7th at 3pm. These bills are the most watered-down version of LEOBOR reform yet, and raise significant questions about whether they would be effective at all in increasing police transparency and accountability. Click here for our writeup on these bills and what they do.
What’s Coming Up This Week
House Bill 99, otherwise known as the Climate Change Solutions Act, will have a vote on the House floor this week. This bill is the most substantive bill concerning environmental issues in several years and aims to cut greenhouse emissions in the state of Delaware by 50% by 2030 and the state to be at net-zero emissions by 2050. A similar bill died in the House last year after hostile lobbying by businesses, though the prospects for the current bill, now supported by the Carney administration, look brighter.
A piece of legislation which would allow artificial entities such as LLCs to vote in Municipal elections held in Seaford, has been replaced with a substitute bill in the past week. The new version of the bill inserts language that states the bill is in accordance with “the principle of one person/entity, one vote”. While this bill specifically extends the right to vote to only entities like LLCs, partnerships and trusts, given that there isn’t really a limit on what an “artificial entity” is, taken to its logical extreme, future charter changes could theoretically extend the right to vote to basically anything that can be legally recognized by the government including, but not limited to: a car, a solid gold statue of a rooster, forty-three gallons of whiskey, the wreck of the Titanic, and a fossilized skull of a Dinosaur.
HB 201 sponsored by Speaker Schwartzkopf seeks to enable a police officer to act immediately under the view or suspicions that a person is carrying a firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone. This bill also creates the crime of Possession of a Firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone which is a Class E felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison. This bill strikes the currently existing crime of Possession of a Weapon in a Safe School and Recreation Zone which is punishable by different felony or misdemeanors depending on the specific weapon in question.
A Safe School and Recreation Zone is defined as:
Any building, structure, athletic field, sports stadium or real property owned, operated, leased or rented by any public or private school including, but not limited to, any kindergarten, elementary, secondary or vocational-technical school or within 1,000 feet thereof.
Any motor vehicle owned, operated, leased or rented by any public or private school including, but not limited to, any kindergarten, elementary, secondary, or vocational-technical school.
Any building or structure owned, operated, leased or rented by any county or municipality, or by the State, or by any board, agency, commission, department, corporation or other entity thereof, or by any private organization, which is utilized as a recreation center, athletic field or sports stadium.
The core concept of the legislation is to allow for police to act immediately if they suspect someone possesses a firearm within a Safe School and Recreation Zone, however nothing in this bill does that. It is already a crime to possess a firearm in one of these zones, and it is already a class E felony, and can be class D felony in certain cases. By striking the current existing law, it strikes the crime of possession of other types of weapons, and this bill doesn’t recreate these crimes in any way, for example someone possessing a knife in one of these zones. The bill does grandfather cases where the crime has been charged prior to this bill being enacted, but it effectively decriminalizes possession of certain weapon types in these zones which goes against the idea of making these zones safer.
Additionally, this bill continues the issue that currently exist of these Safe Zones where these zones are massive and curb into private property, and instead of addressing these issues and tries to create a safe zone that is fluid and takes into account nearby private property, it applies exemptions to private property - which means you can run into the issue of chasing someone and if they cross onto private property, they’re not doing anything illegal they were doing a block ago. Other exemptions it applies are: if the firearm is in a locked container/firearm rack within a vehicle (unless you’re a concealed carry permit holder) which raises the question of why you need a gun in a school owned vehicle, and if you are hunting or engaged in firearm instruction/related sports on public lands that don’t belong to a school.
Finally, this bill can very easily lead to a situation where people of color and people in disadvantaged communities are treated with suspicion by police, which becomes worse when you take into account that cities will have these safe zones that cross over far wider than they would in a suburban or rural area. Dealing with school shootings is an important issue and something that should be worked on, but that should be done at the source of the issue which this bill does not do. It has been proven time and time again that policing does not address school shootings.
House Bill 202 (Romer) aims to make polling places and other locations designated by the Department of Elections on Election Day safer by defining Possession of a Firearm at a Polling Place, a Class A misdemeanor offense. A person is guilty of this offense if they knowingly possess a firearm on Election Day (defined to include days on which primary, general, special, school, and municipal elections are held, as well as two hours before and after polls close on those days) at a polling place; provided, however, that this offense will not be enforced against a person (1) legally in possession of a firearm within a private residence at the polling place; (2) engaged in lawful hunting, firearm instruction, or shooting for sport on nearby properly-designated public lands; or (3) employed as a law-enforcement officer, an Election Day commissioned security guard, or a constable or active-duty troop acting in an official capacity on Election Day. While this bill would be stronger if it made clear that only those law-enforcement officers acting in an official capacity at a polling place are permitted to possess a firearm, establishing a crime encompassing this kind of intimidating and interfering violent conduct should provide voters and poll workers with some safety and security on Election Day.
Senate Bill 163 (Sokola) seeks to “codify the original intent of charter school flexibility” by giving charter schools the “ability to hire the leaders they deem beneficial to the success of the school’s educational program and the needs of students and staff.” What this actually means is that the bill would exempt “Instructional Administrators” (administrators whose primary function is the instruction of students by means of designing and implementing curriculum or instruction) employed by a charter school prior to June 30, 2024 from licensing requirements. Seems like another way for charters to get out of requirements that traditional public schools and teachers have to comply with.
Bills In Committee This Week
For the sake of length and clarity, we will only be sharing notable bills in these reports. Click on the committee name under the Committee Meeting Info column for a link to the meeting agenda, in-person or virtual public comment info, and livestream link.
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.
| Bill # | Sponsor | Summary/Description | Committee Meeting Info | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SB 92 | Walsh | Expands the Delaware Public Employment Relations Act to employers with 25-100 employees, making more workers able to have bargaining rights. | House Labor | Tuesday, June 6 | 11:30AM |
| SS1/SB 87 | Huxtable | Exempts affordable housing projects from the realty transfer tax. | House Revenue & Finance | Tuesday, June 6 | 12:30 PM |
| HB 175 | Neal | Adds provisions to Title 21 defining accessible parking spaces, incorporating federal standards for accessible parking spaces found in the Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable regulations. | House Health | Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00 AM |
| SB 9 | Lambert | Creates a comprehensive system to eliminate lead-based paint from residences where children are still exposed to lead. | House Health | Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00 AM |
| HB 186 | Romer | Makes changes to the requirements for placement on the sex offender registry of juveniles who are adjudicated delinquent of certain offenses. | House Judiciary | Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00 AM |
| HB 151 | Morrison | Adds the intentional restriction of another adult’s access to economic resources resulting in a loss of financial autonomy to the definition of abuse for protection from abuse proceedings. Basically, allows protection from abuse orders for cases of financial abuse. | House Judiciary | Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00 AM |
| HB 155 | Griffith | Would make the unsafe storage of a firearm in a vehicle a class A misdemeanor. Concerns over whether this bill would have unintended consequences and lead to increased over-policing, especially in Black and Brown communities. | House Judiciary | Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00 AM |
| HB 182 | Griffith | Increases penalties and creates new child abuse crimes. Concerns that these offenses are already crimes and there seem to be better alternatives that protect children without increasing criminal penalties. | House Judiciary | Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00 AM |
| HB 183 | Griffith | Creates new penalties for endangering the welfare of a child through exposure, consumption, or inhalation of drugs. Concerns that this is already a crime and there seem to be better alternatives that protect children without increasing criminal penalties. | House Judiciary | Wednesday, June 7 | 11:00 AM |
| HB 123 | Ramone | Would require the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to obtain the consent of the General Assembly before promulgating any regulations restricting the sale of fuel-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs in Delaware. This is the House Republicans’ attempt at curbing the transition to electric vehicles | House Natural Resources | Wednesday, June 7 | 12:30 PM |
| HB 205 | Minor-Brown | The bill is the latest attempt at LEOBOR reform, and renaming it to PODPAT. | House Public Safety | Wednesday, June 7 | 3:00 PM |
| HB 206 | Johnson | Revamps the Council on Police Training, by changing the name of the Council to the Police Officer Standards and Training Commission (or POST) and amending its powers and duties. | House Public Safety | Wednesday, June 7 | 3:00 PM |
| HB 167 | Shupe | Establishes school resource officer units to fund school resource officers (law enforcement officers) in all Delaware public schools. Has a massive cost ($68 million in year 1) so hopefully unlikely to pass since there’s no budget allocation for it. | House Education | Wednesday, June 7 | 3:00 PM |
| HB 181 | Williams | Allows the State Bureau of Identification to release subsequent arrest notifications to the Department of Education for its employees and contractors. Concerns that this is overly broad and could put employees' privacy at risk when they haven’t been found guilty of a crime and for incidents that have nothing to do with keeping children safe. | House Education | Wednesday, June 7 | 3:00 PM |
| HB 201 | Schwartzkopf | Establishes the crime of possession of a firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone as a class E felony. Concerns that this could be used to over-police dense areas where there are school zones everywhere, especially Black and Brown communities. Also troubling that this would require a 90 day expulsion for students found in possession in a school zone. | House Administration | Wednesday, June 7 | 12:00 PM |
| HB 202 | Romer | Bans firearms at polling places on an Election Day in order to increase safety and reduce voter intimidation. | House Administration | Wednesday, June 7 | 12:00 PM |
| HB 62 | Wilson-Anton | Requires that each county reassess the value of real property in the county at least once every 5 years. This is a result of the settlements of various lawsuits finding that Delaware’s property tax reassessments and school funding are inequitable. | Senate Housing | Wednesday, June 7 | 1:00 PM |
| SB 163 | Sokola | This bill provides charter schools the ability to hire the leaders they deem beneficial to the success of the school’s educational program and the needs of students and staff. | Senate Executive | Wednesday, June 7 | 3:00 PM |
| SB 96 | Pettyjohn | This bill is the Senate Republicans’ attempt at curbing the transition to electric vehicles (similar to HB 123 – see above.)This bill would prohibit the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control from promulgating rules and regulations restricting the sale of fuel-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs in Delaware. | Senate Environment | Wednesday, June 7 | 1:00 PM |
| SB 147 | Sturgeon | Exempts employees investigating employer violations from computer crimes. | Senate Judiciary | Wednesday, June 7 | 2:00 PM |
| SB 85 | Lawson | Would effectively eliminate Delaware’s concealed carry permit. | Senate Judiciary | Wednesday, June 7 | 2:00 PM |