The Senate passed bills Tuesday pertaining to confidentiality for abortion providers, minority party representation on an emergency health committee and payouts for employment discrimination. Senate Bill 158, sponsored by Sen. Kyle Evans Gay, D-Arden, focuses on confidentiality rights for medical providers. The bill allows anyone who is a reproductive health care services provider or employee to apply for participation in …
If a bill approved Thursday by the Delaware House of Representatives succeeds, residents won’t have to pay state or federal taxes on the $300 rebates issued last year. House Bill 25 would designate that money as qualified disaster payments and therefore untaxable. The 2022 Delaware Relief Rebate Program was a one-time direct payment of $300 per Delaware resident taxpayer who …
The Delaware Senate on Thursday passed a bill to effectively ban restaurants from offering single-use plastic straws and styrofoam food and beverage containers. Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 134, sponsored by Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, also prohibits food establishments from providing customers with plastic coffee stirrers, cocktail picks and sandwich picks. Under the bill, food establishments would only be …
Delaware’s seven Republican senators have asked the state’s top doctor not to reinstitute a statewide indoor mask mandate. The letter came after the City of Philadelphia last week announced its mandate would be coming back due to a rise in cases there. Restaurants, museums, businesses, offices, government buildings and arenas in Philadelphia began requiring masks Monday morning. Dr. Karryl Rattay, …
Photo/Getty Images Delawareans will soon receive $300 checks thanks to a bipartisan direct relief bill signed Thursday by Gov. John Carney. The bill, aimed at helping Delawareans faced with high gas prices and soaring inflation, consists of a one-time payment to every state taxpayer who filed a 2020 tax return. “Delaware families are dealing with higher costs at the grocery …
The leaders of the Delaware House of Representatives and Senate plan to open Legislative Hall to the public effective immediately, they said during a committee meeting Thursday. Speaker of the House Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf and Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Dave Sokola plan to announce the building’s opening later Thursday or Friday. “My intent is open to building up, get …
Left to right: Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View, Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, House Minority Whip Tim Dukes, R-Laurel, Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown. House and Senate Republicans are generally pleased with Gov. John Carney’s $5 billion proposed state budget but argue more should be done to return money to taxpayers given the state’s rosy economic outlook. …
Photo by Daniel Sato The state of the state is strong, said Gov. John Carney during his annual address before a joint session of the General Assembly Thursday. Much of Carney’s speech focused on the fallout of COVID-19, including its impact on the state’s economy and the work that still needs to be done to confront new variants and surges. …
Delaware Legislative Hall by Brian K. Leonard. September 2021. When Delawareans vote for their state representatives and senators a year from now, they could find out that they live in a new legislative district. That’s because during a special session of the General Assembly on Monday, both chambers approved Senate Bill 199, which redraws those district boundaries. The bill passed …
An email from a Democrat staff says the special session is likely to be in September and may deal with issues other than redistricting.
