Delaware General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Back in session for three weeks.  We reported yesterday on a bill designed to reduce hospital healthcare costs.  The irony of two legislators who have carried ChristianaCare’s water, and who are endangered incumbents, co-sponsoring the bill is not lost on me.  I would have expected quite a few more sponsors, surprised that there are so few.  Does that speak to the bill’s prospects? Time will tell.

Before we get into the agendas and committee meetings, just an example of the (literally) toxic nature of agricultural pollution.  Allen Harim has once again been in violation of Delaware’s wastewater requirements since late January.  You will recall that, when Rep. Larry Lambert passed his legislation increasing fines for environmental pollution, he had to exclude agriculture interests from the bill in order to get it passed.  He instead introduced a companion bill to address this.  The bill passed the House, 24-15.  It has also been released from the Senate Executive Committee.  It’s time for the President Pro-Tem to place this bill on a Senate Agenda to finally address these corporate scofflaws once and for all.

Not much on today’s Senate Agenda.  SB 223 (Sturgeon) ‘updates the requirements for Department of Education’s regulations for personnel records to include charter schools.’

Today’s House Agenda features SS1/SB 230 (Mantzavinos), which appears related to the reassessment issue.  The bill ‘expressly authorizes the county authority to compel the production of testimony and documentary evidence whenever a county relies upon, or defends its reliance upon, the income approach or cost comparison approaches to assess the fair market value of real property.’

There are no Senate committee meetings scheduled for today.  Today’s House Committee highlights:

HB 277 (Neal) ‘codifies the Delaware State Police program that makes available a “blue envelope” for use by a person with a disability. The intent of this program is to increase safety for both officers and persons with a disability during a traffic stop.’ Public Safety & Homeland Security.

HB 306 (Romer) ‘makes it an unlawful practice to engage in a commercial transaction with a consumer who interacts with computer technology, under circumstances where a reasonable person would believe that person is engaging with an actual human, without notifying the consumer that the consumer is communicating with a computer and not a human being.’  Hey, with a synopsis like that, how could I not include it?  Technology & Telecommunications.

HB 258 (Bolden) ‘allows any municipality with a population of 50,000 or more to establish by ordinance rules for the location of liquor stores that are more restrictive than state law, and requires the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner to refuse a license for any new establishment that does not comply with those rules.’ Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce.

HB 315 (K. Williams) ‘prohibits payment card networks from establishing or charging transaction fees on tips on credit card transactions. Violations are punishable by a penalty of $1,000 per electronic transaction and the wrongful fees must be refunded.’  Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce.

HS1/HB 84 (Morrison) ‘prohibits employers from requiring meetings or communications the purpose of which is to convey the employer’s political or religious views, including views regarding unionization.’ Labor.

A decent way and day to ease back into session.