DOVER – The Delaware Senate Democrats on Sunday celebrated the many legislative accomplishments achieved over the course of the two-year 152nd General Assembly, which concluded with the final legislative day on June 30.
“Voters in 2022 elected the most diverse Senate Democratic Caucus in history and I could not be prouder of what we have accomplished together on behalf of the communities we serve,” Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Sokola said.
“United in our passion to make Delaware a better state for all families, we made substantial progress this session in making our neighborhoods safer, our schools stronger, our justice system fairer, our healthcare more affordable, our childcare and senior care more accessible, and our environment more sustainable,” he said. “We also took concrete steps to ensure that struggling families have a helping hand to get back on their feet, while helping more Delawareans keep a roof over their head and food on the table. We are fulfilling your faith in us, and I look forward to continuing our progress in the months and years ahead.”
The many impactful bills passed by the Delaware Legislature in the 152nd General Assembly include:
Safer Neighborhoods
- Raised the level of responsible gun ownership by requiring safety training to purchase a handgun and creating misdemeanor penalties for failing to safely store firearms in vehicles
- Replaced an illegal drug market with a safe and well-regulated cannabis industry that will create good-paying jobs for Delaware residents
- Kept defendants charged with violent felonies who pose a clear and convincing risk to public safety from pre-trial release while ensuring non-violent offenders are not detained due to a lack of financial resources
Stronger Schools
- Raised the base salary for public educators by 11%.
- Strengthened the workforce pipeline for public education by creating the Delaware Educator Apprenticeship Program, codifying the teacher academy pathways program and helping schools recruit qualified candidates into the teaching profession.
- Increased funding for Delaware high schools to hire psychologists, therapists, school counselors and social workers, while providing other support to children experiencing mental health trauma
- Provided free school-based meals to thousands of students from low-income families
- Created a Student Behavior and School Climate Task Force to recommend data-driven, developmentally appropriate school discipline policies and interventions.
Fairer Justice System
- Reformed how law enforcement disciplinary cases are handled, and raised the level of transparency and accountability for law enforcement agencies throughout the First State
- Eliminated several fines, fees and outstanding balances imposed by the courts on top of any restitution or criminal penalties defendants are ordered to pay
Affordable Healthcare
- Required Delaware hospitals to align their pricing with annual benchmarks set by the state to control spiraling costs for consumers
- Unlocked more than $175 million in new federal funding to protect, enhance and expand healthcare coverage for thousands of vulnerable Delawareans
- Required most private health insurance plans, the state employee health insurance plan and Delaware’s Medicaid program to cover the cost of abortion-related services
- Expanded abortion care services on the campuses of colleges and universities with student health centers
- Required private health insurance plans and/or Delaware’s Medicaid program to cover prenatal and postpartum doula visits, mammograms, prostate and ovarian cancer screenings, epinephrine autoinjectors, and drug treatments for conditions associated with metastatic cancer.
Accessible Care for Children and Seniors
- Added nearly $30 million to Delaware’s Purchase of Care and more than $10 million to Delaware’s Early Childhood Assistance Program to help families in need access affordable childcare
- Gave families greater assurance that long-term care facilities in Delaware are operating at the highest standards by defining dementia and memory care in Delaware law, restoring annual inspections of long-term care facilities, creating staffing and training requirements for assisted living facilities providing dementia care, establishing new rules for long-term care facilities to use temporary staffing agencies, updating fines that can be assessed for violations and enhancing the rights of long-term care residents.
Environmental Sustainability
- Created a detailed framework for the solicitation, consideration, and potential approval of a future offshore wind project
- Set obtainable reduction targets to reduce and eventually eliminate greenhouse gases by 2050
- Set goals for the state to convert its entire fleet of passenger cars and light-duty trucks to zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
- Established targets to convert 30% of the state-owned school bus fleet to zero-emission by 2030.
- Created programs to ensure new residential homes are equipped with EV charging capability and providing assistance to help families add EV charging capabilities to existing residential properties
Food and Housing
- Required the State of Delaware to develop a holistic, statewide strategy for reducing food insecurity, while creating a new grant program to help strengthen the existing network of small businesses, nonprofits and other organizations currently providing underserved communities with some of their only access to fresh, healthy food.
- Incentivized public and private investments in the construction of new housing, added tools for the state and counties to incentivize housing investments, bolstered existing state programs that help families stay in their homes, protected manufactured housing residents, and created new opportunities for higher density development in Delaware’s cities and towns.
- Prohibited landlords from discriminating against tenants based on whether they receive housing assistance while working with Delaware’s five public housing authorities to standardize and streamline their approval processes.
- Leveled the playing field between landlords and Delaware’s more than 100,000 renters by giving low-income tenants a right to legal representation in eviction proceedings and other landlord-tenant actions, while establishing a residential eviction diversion program.
- Created the Affordable Housing Production Task Force to recommend ways the state and local governments could help increase the production of affordable rental units and homes.
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