By Tyler Micik As the General Assembly returned to session, so did the public to Legislative Hall. After two years, The State Capitol building reopened its doors so people can attend hearings on session days. Lawmakers and visitors are also no longer required to wear masks or face coverings in the building, although it is strongly recommended where people cannot maintain safe social distancing. Unvaccinated individuals are strongly encouraged to wear masks at all times when interacting with other people. However, House and Senate committees will meet via Zoom until further notice. But it’s likely they’ll transition to a hybrid format soon, with the House considering having in-person committee meetings starting next week. You can view the Senate’s memo here and House memo here to learn more. With the flurry of bills before the General Assembly, two of particular note that were heard were SS2 for SB1, or the Healthy Delaware Families Act, and HB 305, which would legalize recreational marijuana. The Healthy Delaware Families Act proposes to create a statewide paid family and medical leave insurance program. The bill passed the Senate by a 14-7 vote on Tuesday following a two-hour discussion. This latest version of the bill includes a few changes such as the use of PTO, which can be counted towards the total amount of leave; a reduction in the number of weeks an employee can take for parental leave (applies to companies under 25 employees through 2031); and allows for the grandfathering in of private plans in existence at the time of passage that offer comparable or greater benefits through 2030. The bill now heads to the House for consideration. The Delaware State Chamber and Delaware Business Roundtable issued a joint statement on the Healthy Delaware Families Act that can be viewed here. The recreational marijuana bill was heard in the House on Thursday. The State Chamber advocated for HA 7 to be introduced and placed with the bill and it passed the House by voice vote. The amendment gives businesses the flexibility to keep and maintain their current polices with regards to drugs and alcohol. However, the bill was defeated in the House after receiving a 23-14 vote in favor of the legislation, with 4 lawmakers choosing not to vote. The bill required a three-fifths majority, or 25 votes, because of the new tax it would impose. The bill now remains dead until next year when it can be reintroduced.
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By Verity Watson There has been a flurry of activity in the state capitol over the last few months, including the beginning of legislative session and the Governor’s State of the State and budget proposal, and Joint Finance Committee budget hearings. Governor John Carney’s budget proposal emphasizes long-term sustainable budget growth in the midst of a historic influx of federal dollars flowing to the state. A focus on one-time spending versus growing the base budget continues to be a defining theme of his administration. The proposed operating budget would grow the budget by 4.6 percent from the current year to a total of $4.99 billion. The proposed bond and capital infrastructure budget totals $1.18 billion. Some highlights include:
The Governor highlighted initiatives in his State of the State Address that the State Chamber has been actively engaged in. The long-awaited substitute version of the Healthy Delaware Families Act was unveiled in January and incorporated many of the changes asked for by the State Chamber. The new version—which has the full backing of the Governor—was debated and released from the Senate Health and Social Services committee and is expected to be voted on by the full Senate in March. Among other changes, the new bill breaks up the types of leave that will be required to be offered depending on the size of the business. The State Chamber, in partnership with Delaware SHRM and Delmarva SHRM, hosted the bill sponsor, Senator McBride, along with representatives from the Governor’s Office, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Finance to discuss the logistics of the proposal, the impact it will have on your business, and remaining concerns. A recording of this discussion is available at www.dscc.com/webinars. The legislature stood in recess in February while the Joint Finance Committee worked to craft the budget for the next fiscal year. When they return the week of March 8th, there will be a new face in the chamber of the House of Representatives. The resignation of Representative Gerald Brady triggered a special election for his Wilmington seat which, due to redistricting, will relocate to the Long Neck area in Sussex County later this year. The General Assembly is expected to work expeditiously over the coming months to pass their collective and individual legislative priorities heading into the end of the fiscal year. Given that it is the second leg of the 151st General Assembly, all legislation must be worked to enactment or will need to be reintroduced in January. By Tyler Micik
The Delaware Manufacturing Association (DMA) recently met to discuss SB 1, the Healthy Delaware Families Act; HB 305, legalization of recreational marijuana; and HB 288, paid time off to vote. Manufacturers like many others are facing significant labor shortages despite offering competitive wages, sign-on bonuses, good benefits packages, and more. The board met to talk about these proposals and share their feedback on the potential impact these bills, if passed, would have on the manufacturing industry--which employs more than 27,000 Delawareans. Other topics discussed included President Biden’s vaccine mandate, which was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. The mandate would have required companies with 100 or more employees to get vaccinated or produce a negative test result on a weekly basis staring January 4th. Lastly, the board discussed the State Chamber’s Spring Manufacturing and Policy Conference. The conference will be held virtually on March 16th from 8:30 – 11:30am. The event will feature Dr. Kelvin Lee, institute director at the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). Dr. Lee will share how NIIMBL is working to ensure the U.S. cements its leadership in global biomanufacturing to further economic development, enhance national security, and provide improved patient access to cutting-edge therapies—today and in the future. The conference will also feature a keynote address from Governor John Carney and a discussion on the State Chamber's policy priorities to improve Delaware's economic climate and encourage manufacturers to both relocate and grow in our state. You can register for the event here. By Tyler Micik Members of the State Chamber’s Employer Advocacy Committee met last week for their first meeting of the year. The committee was joined by Secretary of Labor Karryl Hubbard, who gave an update on the Department of Labor (DOL), sharing their policy priorities and current projects. Late last year, the DOL composed a list of five goals or pillars known as the Department of Labor Framework for the Future:
The committee was also joined by the Department’s Barry Butler and Thomas “Chip” Riddleberger who highlighted the Delaware JobLink, one resource offered by the DOL. Delaware JobLink is a self-service tool for employers to post job openings and find and hire candidates. “Currently there’s around 19,000 active jobs posted on Delaware JobLink Additionally, last year, the DOL hosted and assisted with over 35 job fairs throughout the state. Services like Delaware JobLink play an important role in connecting employers with job seekers at a time when employers are struggling to fill open positions. To find out more about Delaware JobLink, visit joblink.delaware.gov. Committee members also reviewed several important policy issues, including paid family and medical leave and recreational marijuana legalization. First, SS 1 for SB 1—or the Healthy Delaware Families Act—creates a statewide paid family and medical leave insurance program. This latest version has undergone substantial revisions from the original bill that was introduced last year. Employers with 25 or more employees are required to provide up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave and up to 6 weeks paid medical and family caregiving leave. Employers with 10 or more employees but less than 25 are only required to provide up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. Under current law, small businesses, those with 50 or fewer employees, are exempt from the 1993 Federal FMLA law. Second, HB 305—the Delaware Marijuana Control Act—would allow adults over the age of 21 to legally possess and consume under one ounce of marijuana for personal use. It does not permit individuals to grow their own marijuana. Participants on our policy committees are instrumental in helping the State Chamber review bills, develop feedback, and recommend amendments. Consider joining the conversation and help shape policy in the First State by joining a committee. Contact me at tmicik@dscc.com to learn more. DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR'S EMPLOYER SERVICES: By Tyler Micik The General Assembly returned to session this month in a virtual format and a number of bills were introduced that are noteworthy for employers. First, SS1 for SB1, the Healthy Delaware Families Act creates a statewide paid family and medical leave insurance program. This latest version has undergone substantial revisions from the original bill that was introduced last year. Employers with 25 or more employees are required to provide up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave and up to 6 weeks paid medical and family caregiving leave. Employers with 10 or more employees but less than 25 are only required to provide up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. Under current law, small businesses, those with 50 or fewer employees, are exempt from the 1993 Federal FMLA law. The bill was released from the Senate Health and Social Services Committee yesterday and awaits a full vote in the Senate. You can view a full copy of the legislation here and a short summary here. We continue to work closely with the bill sponsor, our Employer Advocacy Committee, and our members to ensure this proposal is a win for both employers and employees. On February 16, we are co-hosting a webinar with DelMarVa SHRM as an opportunity for businesses to learn more about this proposal. It is free to attend, but we ask that you register in advance here. "I'd like to thank the State Chamber for their efforts in working with the sponsor of the bill Other bills that saw movement:
Bills that were introduced but did not see movement:
The Chamber is looking for feedback from members on how any of these proposals may impact your company or employees. Please direct feedback to me at tmicik@dscc.com. The General Assembly is in recess through the month of February for Joint Finance Committee meetings. By Tyler Micik The General Assembly returns on Tuesday, January 11th for the second leg of the 151st session. It’s likely a large portion of business will be conducted virtually--at least for the first few months--given the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant. It is an election year and a variety of bills are expected to be considered, all of which offer implications for businesses, large and small, across every industry. Among these proposals are Paid Family and Medical Leave and recreational marijuana legalization which were first introduced last year. As the General Assembly gavels into session next week, the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce offers our 2022 policy priorities, which focus on four pillars that are important to maintaining and creating a healthy business environment in Delaware: workforce, fiscal policy, economic development, and environmental policy. Guided by our leadership and members, these represent our top areas of focus in 2022 and will serve as a roadmap for the policies and regulations we plan to support. Providing us your feedback, sharing your stories, and joining one of our committees is the best way to help us shape policy in the First State. Working together to cultivate an environment where companies can grow and invest in Delaware. This is the best way to secure Delaware’s economic future. Join us.
By James DeChene, Armitage DeChene & Associates PERHAPS YOU’VE SEEN the videos and pictures of an elected official touring a production plant, wearing a suit and tie, with a hard hat and goggles, and wondered, “Why would they (the company, or the elected official) do that?” I’ve had the opportunity to be on tours like that for some very interesting companies including: walking through a nuclear submarine prior to its shakedown run, learning how a pharmaceutical company combats counterfeit versions of their products globally, seeing how a UPS facility works, touring a major fabricator of intricate (and large) metal works projects, the Nylon Mile in Seaford, and more. Each of these events gave the attendees an in-person look at how the “sausage is made”—note, if there are any sausage making facilities in Delaware, I’d love a tour. It’s a great opportunity to see how concepts come together and make a business successful. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic eliminating in-person meetings for over a year, the State Chamber created a successful Member-to-Member program. The concept is simple, but the outcomes are important. Work with Chamber staff to set up a meeting date to host your elected official—state House/Senate member—for a lunch/coffee and tour of your facility or office. That meeting is your chance to showcase your company, employees and the work they do, provide real examples of what the impact of legislation from Dover has on Delaware companies, and to build relationships with your representatives to provide feedback in the future. I’ve written before on the concept that employers tell their story the best—and that’s the case if you’re a small firm looking to grow or if you’re a large, multi-national firm with headquarters or other significant footprint in Delaware. The current list of legislation to be considered next year, along with what will be crafted and introduced, will most likely impact many companies across the state. These meetings are a great opportunity to help educate and provide background to decision makers. A few examples of issues that remain pending into next year:
If you have an interest in hosting an meeting at your company, the easiest way to start the process is to contact Tyler Micik at tmicik@dscc.com. Chamber staff will help coordinate the timing of the meeting, provide talking points on pertinent legislation, and more. The summer and fall are great times to host these meetings while legislators have some free time and are planning legislation for next year. Being a part of the conversation is important now more than ever, and the Chamber can help you tell your story.
Recreational marijuana presents challenges for employers By Jackson Bistany, Policy Intern Several states have been the drivers of policy changes to cannabis legalization, and it appears as though the trend will continue. For now, it remains predominantly a state’s decision whether to allow the sale and consumption of it, and in Delaware the topic is on the table as lawmakers consider recreational marijuana legalization in 2022. Cannabis legalization offers more freedom of choice for individuals to decide for themselves how they spend their time and money. However, if passed, legalization could bring about complex challenges into the workplace and put employers in an uncomfortable bind. The U.S. is currently experiencing a job surplus. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are roughly 9.2 million open positions throughout the United States. Companies across the country are desperate for workers that possess the skill sets necessary for to fill open positions. Legalization could add to this burden by making recruitment and retention efforts increasingly difficult for businesses trying to build a skilled workforce while maintaining a drug free workplace policy. Problems also arise when we consider the discrete nature of many THC products available today. In dispensaries across legal states, one can walk into a store to buy brownies, cookies, or infused candy and consume these products without detection. This readily available concealment is not shared by alcohol where the scent of consumption is apparent, and an individual must consume substantially greater quantities before impairment. Delaware has a very diverse business community comprised of cognitively demanding businesses that are accompanied by grave consequences when mistakes are made. At Kuehne Chemical Company, a typical day involves the transportation and storage of several dangerous and potent chemicals, which means there is no room for error. Bill Paulin, president at Kuehne, expressed concern for legalization explaining that “when someone makes a mistake, it could be a fatal one. So, we have to enforce a zero-tolerance policy or else people in our community and our team members could lose their lives." Concerns regarding workplace accidents due to impairment are not limited to dangerous or physically demanding positions. Every job operates at varying levels of responsibility, whether that is operating machinery, preparing a legal brief, or balancing financial statements. The simple fact is that no manager needs a greater probability of a mistake being made at the workplace. One of the larger issues surrounding cannabis is the lack of an accurate and decipherable on-the-spot sobriety test. This makes it impossible for employers to determine if someone used cannabis two weeks ago or an hour ago. Currently in legal states the primary method of impairment detection used by police officers is the Standardized Field Sobriety Test. This is mainly based on physical capabilities like balance and coordination, much of which does not apply well to THC impairment. Other more subtle indicators are looked for by police but are much more difficult to notice to the non-experts and can be subjective to individuals and their unique bodies and tendencies. This method of identifying insobriety on the spot is still rudimentary and is executed by professionals that have training and experience in recognizing specific signs. This is not something that employers are trained to identify, making it difficult for anyone to make the call on whether an employee is under the influence. These situations become messier when lawsuits become a factor as disgruntled employees may feel they were unjustifiably dismissed. Impairment is an issue in the workplace that employers must be vigilant in preventing. Recreational marijuana legalization adds to this stress and creates greater ambiguity around the nature of impairment. Companies will always put the safety of their employees, customers, and operation first. Until employers are protected from liability and can accurately identify impairment, businesses will maintain internal zero tolerance policies and reserve the right to make employment decisions with exemption from litigation. Until the science of cannabis advances to the point of accurate and reliable spot tests, businesses are wary to move forward with more lenient policies. Until then it is critical to the Delaware business community that employers be able to construct their own workplace policies and be able to make decisions according to that policy without the fear of legal repercussions. Jackson Bistany served as a summer policy intern with the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce. He is a rising senior at the University of Delaware with double majors in finance and management. By Michael J. Quaranta Unprecedented amounts of federal aid were awarded to each state as economic recovery continues. In Delaware, the State will receive over $1 billion of support, on top of other revenues that have previously been directed here. This transformational moment is upon us, so making top-quality investments in our future is critical. For me, I would put our choices into a couple of categories: the safest, the wisest and the riskiest. Upgrading or repairing our infrastructure is a very smart and safe use of these resources. We need to get to and from places, survive on clean water, connect with our employers, schools, and commerce, and more. Another wise investment would be to clean up old or abandoned industrial sites and use these resources to remediate the environmental hazards developers cannot afford to do on their own. This puts these “brownfields” back into useful service and limits sprawl and development of “greenfields” or open space. Finally, workforce training and upskilling is another important strategy. Roughly 10,000 baby boomers reach the retirement age of 65 in this country every day, a phenomenon that has been occurring since 2011 and one that won’t end until 2029. We know that there is an existing mismatch between the skills workers have and the open, unfilled jobs employers post. If we want to rebuild the middle class and fill the jobs employers are desperate to hire, we need to put our eyes on more than just the three percent of the workforce coming out of high school or college every year and lift up those already in the workforce. A riskier move may not be so risky after all. Every great city in North America – and maybe the world for that matter – has a college or university in its midst. The intellectual capital this brings to a downtown has economic multipliers that are easy to calculate. I’m not suggesting that any of our colleges and universities abandon their homes, but a “multi-flag” consortium of buildings, staffed with programs and populated with students of law, urban studies, management, finance, data science, and more could be an invigorating economic driver for Wilmington.
By James DeChene, Armitage DeChene & Associates What a difference a year makes. At this time last year, concerns that Delaware could expect to see incredible revenue losses due to COVID-19 had a significant impact on not only the budget crafting process but also in how the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) approached its economic forecasting for much of 2020. This year, as was reported at the May DEFAC meeting, every single company that recently went for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) was a Delaware registered company, which increased Delaware’s corporate franchise tax revenue by 13 percent. In addition, realty transfer tax revenue was up 42 percent due to a housing boom, especially at our beach areas. While neither of these increases are sustainable, they do provide significant one-time money for infrastructure investment to help position Delaware for a strong future. The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce has a history in advocating for infrastructure investment, including supporting legislation like HB200. This bill invests heavily into water and sewer projects, supporting changes to the Transportation Trust Fund to ensure more dollars are dedicated to project spending versus operational budgets within DelDOT, broadband development across the state, and more. The simple reason for this advocacy is the intersection between government spending, economic development, job creation, and return on investment (at the end of the project you have a tangible, bright and shiny “thing” that provides a needed service or function).
Delaware finds itself in a unique position this year. Significant increases to the bond bill above and beyond the Governor’s recommended budget, combined with close to one billion dollars in federal money stemming from the American Rescue Plan, means that there is an opportunity to invest heavily in Delaware’s future. With smart spending and keeping in mind that these are two separate pots of money, the State can maximize its investments. The federal stimulus money has a fairly narrow scope of authorized uses—though the hope is that with the pending public comment period, Treasury will ease some of those restrictions. Much of what is currently authorized with federal stimulus money are areas in which Delaware still needs help. This includes broadband development in urban and rural areas across the state and repairing aging water and sewer infrastructure, which can be everything from stormwater remediation in New Castle County, persistent coastal flooding in Sussex, and drainage repair in much of Kent. The State’s bond bill can be much more creative in how it allocates money and starts filling the backlog of projects that have been considered for years. Projects like building new court houses, schools, and even perhaps leveraging the recently passed site readiness funding money to help attract new sectors to Delaware are all on the table. With state money, new train stations in Newark and Claymont have been built. Maybe now is the time to direct investment to extending Delaware rail to connect with MARC for better regional travel. Perhaps investing in broadband can help create a tech corridor along that line that connects Delaware to Philadelphia and Baltimore making the region an attractive alternative to Silicon Valley.
The possibilities of what can be built here may not be endless, but they are indeed significant. Now is the time for Delaware leaders to look to the future and continue shaping Delaware as a regional leader. The clock is ticking on the three-and-a-half years we have to allocate the federal stimulus money. Direct and nimble approaches to project development will be key, and state and local governments will have to work together to maximize this opportunity. The State Chamber’s continued calls for permitting reform at the state and local level will continue to grow in volume, as projects will not have the ability to take 18 months or more from conception to groundbreaking.
Delaware’s size should make it a giant amongst its neighbors if we can effectively combine smart investments with effective permitting and development opportunities. Like the COVID-19 pandemic, this is (hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime event and we should take every step to make it count. |
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