The Delaware General Assembly concluded its 2024 session with a flurry of bills affecting highways, traffic and cars, many focused on improving safety and reducing crashes. RELATED: Legislative Wrap-up: gun bills passed in 2024 House Bill 373 – donations for highway safety Sponsored by Rep. Bill Bush, D-Cheswold, the bill enables the Office of Highway Safety to solicit and receive …
2025 grants budget that benefits nonprofits rises 27% over ’24
The record-busting $98.5 million grants-in-aid budget bill for fiscal year 2025 sailed unanimously through the Delaware Senate Sunday, even though it is nearly 27% higher than the last one. The 2024 budget, which ends today, June 30, was $98.5 million. Senate Bill 327 was one of hundreds before the Delaware House and Senate on the final day of the 2024 …
Budget blows through Senate; bit slower in the House
The 2025 Delaware state budget quickly passed the Senate Thursday afternoon and the House in the evening. The $6.1 billion budget, outlined in Senate Bill 325, goes into effect July 1, and likely will be signed into law next week by Gov. John Carney before the session ends. Quick budget approval hasn’t always been the case in the General Assembly. …
State budget, one-time spending bills filed in Senate
The state’s $6.1 billion budget and a $168 million budget of one-time expenditures will cover raises for state employees, rises in healthcare costs for employees, state retirees and Medicaid recipients, an increase for some direct support professionals and help for low-income families who need childcare to work. The Senate is expected to vote on the bills Thursday. “The spending plan …
Hospital bill passes Senate on party lines, heads back to House
The bill to create a Delaware hospital budget review board, as expected, passed the Senate today after nearly one hour of comments by Republicans opposed to the state stepping into private businesses. House Bill 350 will now return to the House, which must vote on a Senate amendment that changed several points in the original bill. If it passes there, …
GOP’s Short: State budget needs oversight, too, if hospitals must have it
A Sussex County state representative plans to introduce a bill that will hold lawmakers to the same rules its Democrat members want to set for hospitals: Holding budgets to benchmark. State Rep. Danny Short, R-Seaford, and other Republicans have repeatedly said during House and Senate hearings and debates that the state wants to hold hospitals to a rule it won’t …
Colleges, DOE ask for hundreds of millions for capital projects
The big three institutions of higher education in the First State along with the Delaware Department of Education on Thursday asked for a combined $300 million from the state for capital improvement projects. As the state’s General Assembly prepares its budget for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, the University of Delaware, Delaware State University and Del Tech all …
Environmental bill would ban six-pack plastic rings in 2025
As cities and states across the county have been taking measures in recent years like banning plastic bags and styrofoam to help prevent waste and sustain the environment, Delaware has a new bill to consider that would further that effort. Senate Bill 263, sponsored by Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, would prohibit the sale of beverages packaged in rings or other …
Public Health seeks $3.5 million more in 2025 state budget
Editor’s note: This report has been updated to reflect that Medicaid is not overseen by Public Health The Delaware Division of Public Health wants a 2025 budget of $167.4 million, but about $3.5 million of that is not in the governor’s recommended budget. That puzzled the chair of the state Joint Finance Committee, which writes the state budget. It’s in …
JFC praises DSU aviation, says it should upgrade facilities
Jokes were cracked, programs were praised and millions state funding was requested from Delaware State University Thursday’s Joint Finance Committee hearing. That committee is responsible for setting the state budget and allocating funding to different programs and organizations throughout Delaware. DSU, the state’s only Historically Black College and University, is asking for about $47,000,000. It started its hearing on a …