By James DeChene, Armitage DeChene & Associates

As the 151st General Assembly prepares itself to gavel in on January 12, 2021, the Delaware State
Chamber of Commerce respectfully offers a number of policies that, if enacted, would assist the business
community in rebounding from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time help
Delaware workers find new opportunities. Here are a few examples:

Tax credit for Rapid Workforce Training and Redeployment Initiative hires
This past summer, Governor Carney issued Executive Order #43, which established the Rapid Workforce
Training and Redeployment Initiative, a time compressed curriculum to be focused on in-demand industry
sectors and occupations. The program will make available certificate and certification programs, and access
to the Today’s Reinvestment Around Industry Needs (“TRAIN”) program to help prepare Delaware workers
who may have been displaced by the impact of COVID-19 find a new career path. The State Chamber recommends a refundable tax credit be made available to employers who hire graduates from these programs much the same as the credit for hiring veterans and those with disabilities.

Engage in creating process related efficiencies in oversight agencies
In recent years the State Chamber has focused on the process log jams that serve as impediments to development in Delaware. By working with agencies like DelDOT, the Chamber worked to streamline plan review process, resulting in simple project submission documents for a number of common projects, like curb cut-outs and driveway access. The Chamber has commitments from DelDOT to continue to find ways to streamline these processes, and is pleased to hear DNREC plans to do the same. These partnerships serve to find innovative solutions to issues without sacrificing public input and holding accountable applicants with incomplete application submissions.

Focus on childcare
It is estimated nationally 30% of childcare facilities will close permanently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact to employers and employees will be felt across all sectors and become a challenge for all to overcome. Access to childcare is increasing in importance as businesses continue to reopen and expand operating capacity. While not a crisis in Delaware yet, the State Chamber urges a proactive response by the General Assembly to prepare for this eventuality. 

In addition, the State Chamber will be working with our Federal delegation to make much needed changes the CARES Act. A top priority change would be to extend the deadline for spending appropriated funds. Many programs Delaware directed CARES dollars towards, including the expansion of broadband, are long-term investments. More time is also needed to complete construction. While the State can appropriate these dollars, it is next to impossible to actually spend the money prior to the current March 31, 2021
deadline. Other priorities include an expansion of COVID-19 testing to help ensure businesses remain open, which in turn helps state finances and negates a need for tax increases next year.

2021 is bound to continue this period of change and transition. With the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic still being felt, the possibility of a vaccine being developed and distributed, along with a new President, Congress, Administration, and our own General Assembly, the business community should prepare itself to be more nimble than ever with change happening at lightning speed.

Provided by Delaware Technical Community College

On August 3, 2020, Governor John Carney signed Executive Order #43 (E043) creating the Rapid Workforce Training and Redeployment Initiative to assist Delaware workers and their families who have lost jobs and income due to the COVID-19 crisis. In partnership, the Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Employment and Training, and Delaware Workforce Development Board issued a funding opportunity to provide guidance on the workforce training services.

Through this program, known as the Rapid Workforce Training and Redeployment Training Initiative, Delaware Technical Community College was awarded funding to provide free workforce training in the areas of healthcare, technical training, and transportation between October 2020 and March 2021. All training programs are offered at no cost to students.

Healthcare programs include training for certified nursing assistants, hemodialysis technicians, dental assistants, and more. These courses will be offered in partnership with Polytech and Sussex Tech Adult Education divisions. For more information on the healthcare courses, visit http://go.dtcc.edu/WorkforceHealthcare.

The technical training and transportation programs include construction technology, HVAC technician, and transportation. More information on these programs can be found at http://go.dtcc.edu/TechnicalTraining.
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The programs are offered at campuses across the state. Courses are offered in a hybrid format, with students participating in both remote and in-person instruction.

“Delaware Tech is proud to offer this training at a time when many Delawareans are seeking educational opportunities to gain skills and access to jobs,” said Paul Morris, associate vice president of Workforce Development and Community Education. “We look forward to working with our partners and the State to provide the high-quality training that our workforce demands.”

For more information on all of the Rapid Workforce Training offerings, visit https://www.forwarddelaware.com/.

By Mike Quaranta, President, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic shifted much of our lives online — from education and work to healthcare and retail shopping. And remarkably, our broadband infrastructure performed superbly, helping families across Delaware adapt to these seismic changes.

But many Delawareans are stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide – lacking a home broadband connection for different and sometimes complicated reasons. It’s a problem that needed to be fixed even before the pandemic, and one that has more urgency now.

Although 98 percent of Delaware’s communities are wired for broadband and we have the fastest average internet speeds of any state, only 76 percent of Delaware residents actually subscribe to broadband at home.

Many factors contribute to this broadband “adoption gap.” When unconnected Delaware households are asked why they don’t subscribe, more than 60 percent say they just don’t see the need for, or have any interest in, high-speed internet. Sometimes non-adopters may prefer their mobile service. And one quarter of Delawareans don’t have a computer at home.

To help address this challenge, most major broadband providers have established programs to offer low-cost broadband ($10 to $15 per month) to low-income customers together with crucial digital literacy training and discounted computers to help spark interest. These programs have helped millions of low-income Americans get online over the past decade, including many right here in Delaware. And since the start of the pandemic, many providers have gone farther – opening up Wi-Fi hotspots to the public and even offering free home service for the most vulnerable customers.

Still, we need to better understand why broadband has failed to capture the imagination and interest of so many across our state, despite the widespread availability of subsidized discount programs. This is a critical sociological issue we need to solve.

In addition, in some of our state’s rural, downstate communities, the problem is less about broadband adoption rates than with broadband availability. Longer distances and fewer customers-per-mile make broadband infrastructure cost-prohibitive without public investments.

Here in Delaware, Governor John Carney’s effort to bring wireless broadband to over 127,000 homes and businesses in Sussex and Kent counties was an important step forward. More recently, Delaware’s Department of Technology & Information (DTI) and Department of Education have committed over twenty million dollars of CARES Act funding to help fast-track broadband infrastructure and adoption programs in rural downstate communities.

But like rural electrification a century ago, this rural deployment challenge is national in scope, and requires a national response. This isn’t a problem Delaware should be left to solve on its own; the federal government also needs to step up more.

Congress spent tens of billions over the past decade trying to connect rural America but has made little progress – over 20% of rural Americans still have no access to wired broadband.

The last rural deployment effort launched by the 2009 stimulus bill was half-baked in conception and poorly executed, with billions of taxpayer dollars diverted to build duplicative networks in communities that already had high-speed service, instead of being prioritized for unserved areas.

The federal government’s internal watchdog office criticized the ham-handed effort: “We are left with a program that spent $3 billion, and we don’t really know what became of it,” Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigator Mark Goldstein said at the time.

This fall, the Federal Communications Commission will try again with a new $20 billion effort to deploy broadband in rural communities.

This time, we need to be smarter. Congress needs to focus federal funds where the problem is greatest: areas that currently have no fixed broadband service, including some in Sussex and Kent Counties.

To further buildout rural broadband, we also need to reform the eligibility rules to encourage more competition among broadband builders vying for federal construction contracts. The current, outdated rules, written almost 25 years ago, allow some state and local regulators to steer funds toward their favored providers, instead of those best equipped to get the job done right.

Finally, we need accountability: the Feds should tell us how communities will get needed broadband and in what year – and then set up a system to ensure the goals are met. Too often, pie-in-the-sky rhetoric has been followed by an empty bag of results.

We need to get universal broadband in each and every Delaware community, and get every home to actually sign up. It’s critical for us to compete globally, to grow our local economy, and to address longstanding social and economic inequities.
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We can’t afford to wait any longer. 

​By Katie K. Wilkinson
Chair of the Board of Directors, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce
Chair of the Business Subcommittee, Pandemic Resurgence Advisory Committee

On July 31, the Pandemic Resurgence Advisory Committee (PRAC) delivered its interim report to Governor Carney. The report outlines all recommendations from the three subcommittees: Health, Business and Equity.

In the Business Subcommittee, we focused on five goals:

1. Build resilience
2. Protect employment
3. Capitalize on trends
4. Create accountability and consistency
5. Communicate proactively

Our recommendations encompass near-term, mid-term and long-term goals with a laser focus on the need to closely connect the health of Delaware communities, businesses and economy. This is not easy. There is no playbook and no way of knowing if we are right, wrong, or somewhere in between. Communication, accountability, and consistency will be key to a deliberate and concentrated approach to implementing recommendations for the benefit of the Delaware business community that has been hit so hard by this pandemic.

I wanted to thank the many members of the Business Subcommittee for their engagement and input, and specifically thank the three State Chamber members that joined me on the subcommittee – Chris Schell of Schell Brothers, Steve Chambliss of Christiana Mall, and Taryn Dalmasso of Edgewell Personal Care. Their input has been critical.

I encourage everyone to take some time to review the interim report and offer any and all comments that will be considered as we develop the final report in September.

By James DeChene, Armitage DeChene & Associates
 
The General Assembly gaveled out of session early on July 1, 2020 in what was the earliest ending in recent memory due to what has been an almost indescribable year to date. With little to no drama on the money bills (Budget, Grants in Aid, and Bond) as they were passed on June 29th, the General Assembly was left to close out a few bills on consent agendas.
 
The Senate said goodbye to retiring Senator Harris McDowell, and the House bid farewell to retiring Representative Quinn Johnson. This means that for next session there will be two new co-chairs for the Joint Finance Committee and both the Senate and House Energy Committees will have new chairs as well.
 
As the General Assembly came back to session in January, members seemed poised to pass a series of legislation that included increasing Delaware’s minimum wage, expanding worker’s rights, and increasing the role and presence of private and public employee unions. Those bills largely went nowhere, and with the COVID-19 pandemic altering how the legislature would work, those bills were placed on hold until next year.
 
The same can be said for legislation the business community supported as well. Efforts to invest in clean water infrastructure, building a new high school in the City of Wilmington, modifying the state’s offerings of Association Health Plans and creating new workforce training platforms (more on that later) all took a pause as well.
 
That said, a number of bills important to the business community were introduced, and some were acted on in the final weeks of this session. They included:

• DSCC SUPPORTED
  • Passed
    • SB249: Title V, which deals with the Clean Air Act and must be reauthorized every three years
    • HB349: Alcohol takeout from restaurants, taverns and taprooms
  • No action
    • HB200: Invests in Delaware’s clean water infrastructure

 

• DSCC OPPOSED:
  • Tabled until next year
    • SB252: Deals with apprenticeship programs
  • Withdrawn
    • HB303: Deals with call centers
  • No action
    • HB110: Recreation marijuana legalization
    • SB105: Proposes an increase in Delaware’s minimum wage
    • SB250: This bill would dramatically increase Delaware’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, and significantly raise utility rates with other provisions

 
In the midst of three months of uncertainty, countless Zoom meetings with Governor Carney, members and staff from his Administration, the chambers of commerce community, stakeholder groups and others, there were a number of positives that were announced, and work completed ahead of schedule.
 
The State Chamber has long been an advocate for rural broadband development and adoption. Last year’s announcement of BlooSurf, a project to bring broadband to western Sussex and Kent counties was met with fierce approval. Originally slated to be completed in 18-24 months, the project was able to be completed in just over 12 by using federal CARES Act funds to speed up the building process. In July 2020, 15 towers are set to be completed. Efforts to promote residential adoption of broadband will roll out soon after in preparation for what could be another school year of distance learning. Now children in these communities will be able to be active participants. Similar broadband adoption efforts are taking place in Wilmington with the similar goal of making sure all children have access to distance learning efforts.
 
For the last year, the State Chamber has pushed for the creation of a workforce training program similar to what has worked with ZipCode Wilmington. A compressed, 40-hour week training schedule focusing on in-demand career paths that will help transition low-skill workers into better paying jobs. While the legislation creating this program was not worked on this year, we continue to work with Governor Carney and his Administration on creative ways to implement such a program, especially in light of the potential permanent job losses related to COVID-19.
 
WHAT'S NEXT?
Between now and January 2021, when the 151st General Assembly convenes, much will have happened:

• Phased openings for businesses and changes in guidelines for the general public will continue.
• How schools – both K-12 and our universities – will open and operate will be defined.
• Chair of the State Chamber’s board of directors, Katie Wilkinson is chairing the business subcommittee on the Pandemic Resurgence Advisory Committee (PRAC). The goal is to identify tactics and resources to manage a resurgence of COVID-19. The group will provide recommendations this fall.
• A better analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the state and its finances will be clearer in September and beyond, which will in part help decide unemployment insurance rates and if tax increases will be on the table next year to shore up state finances.
• Changes will continue who and how many will continue to work from home, changing how commercial real estate and its uses going forward.
• Plus, there will be an election that will determine the make-up, and direction, of the next General Assembly.

 
There remains a great deal of uncertainty as we enter the second half of 2020. What does remain certain, however, is the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce’s dedication to advocacy on behalf of its members – the business community.
 
Look for more opportunities in the coming months to hear from experts on the latest trends as the COVID-19 pandemic, and recovery, continue to evolve. Also look for innovative networking opportunities and other creative ways to get your business noticed. For more information, check www.DSCC.com.

Interview by John Riley

Please tell us a little bit about your background and why you focused your naval career on submarines?
I’m a third-generation naval officer, and I’m proud to continue my family’s service. My grandfather flew airships during World War II and my dad flew P-3s during the Cold War. I grew-up planning to join the navy, and I entered the United States Naval Academy after high school expecting to become a naval aviator like my dad and my grandfather.
 
Fortunately, all midshipmen at the Naval Academy are required to spend several weeks each summer serving in the fleet on what they call “summer cruises”. These cruises are opportunities to spend time with each of the warfare communities in the navy and to learn about them: surface ships, marines, aviation squadrons, and submarines. These summer cruises taught me that I did not actually like flying airplanes nearly as much as I thought I would. Instead, I learned that I was attracted to the submarine community.
 
I graduated from the Naval Academy in 1998, and over the last 22 years I’m privileged to have served on six submarines and with over 1000 submarine Sailors. I have enjoyed and personally benefited from the opportunity to work alongside these highly capable Sailors, and I hope I have been able to add some value to their lives as well.
 
What sets the submariner apart from others in the Navy?
One of my Naval Academy summer cruises was on a Sturgeon-class submarine. I remember sitting in the wardroom one day watching a meeting - this would have been one of my first couple of days onboard. The behavior that I observed during the meeting was different from anything I had seen before, and it illustrated for me how the submarine community was unique.
 
As I recall the situation, an important piece of equipment had broken and about a dozen of the crew’s officer and enlisted submariners had assembled in the wardroom to decide what to do about it. During the meeting one of the Sailors spoke-up with a plan. Everyone listened attentively, and when he finished speaking, they discussed his idea and asked some pointed questions. After some deliberation the Commanding Officer agreed with the plan, and everyone left the wardroom to go execute it. At the end of the meeting I was surprised to see that the Sailor who spoke-up was a Petty Officer Third Class - a junior enlisted Sailor. I was impressed that the others in the wardroom didn’t seem to care that he was a junior Sailor; they just cared about his idea, whether it was a good idea, and how they could all work together to execute it. I was also impressed by the junior Sailor’s confidence and competence, and his willingness to present his idea to the Commanding Officer.
 
During my remaining time onboard I observed more and more examples of this behavior, all across the submarine. I saw that submariners were smart, competent Sailors who valued independent and critical thinking, problem solving, and results; I saw that their personal interactions were honest and direct, they were appreciative of each other’s ideas and contributions, and while they were respectful of rank and position they were not blinded by it. Overall, I saw that their collective focus - from the most junior Sailor to the Commanding Officer - was simply on working together to safely and effectively operate their submarine and keep it at sea.
 
I had certainly observed different combinations of these behaviors on my other summer cruises; however, I had never seen all of them together in one place, across all ranks, even down to the most junior Sailor. I recognized that this collective behavior, and the culture that encouraged it, was unique to the submarine community. I enjoyed being a part of it for the few weeks I was onboard, and it convinced me that I wanted to become a submariner.
 
When did you learn you would be the first commander of the USS Delaware?
I received orders to the Delaware in June 2015. I began the Commanding Officer training pipeline that same month and reported for duty in February 2016.
 
What was the most challenging aspect of preparing to go to sea for the first time?
Taking a submarine to sea is always challenging, whether it’s the first time or the hundredth time. A submarine, on its own, does not want to go to sea. It just wants to sit at the pier, and when you do take it to sea it is usually not very cooperative. The only thing that really keeps a submarine in line is the Sailors, who exert a massive amount of energy into it and work together to bend the submarine to their common will. Getting a submarine to sea, and keeping it at sea, requires a great deal of collective willpower on the part of the crew.
 
It is extremely rewarding to do this well - it is rewarding to see a submarine respond to the crew’s energy and willpower, and for the crew to successfully operate in an environment where human beings are not supposed to be able to survive. The feeling of accomplishment that accompanies this is what makes a lot of submariners keep going to sea together.
 
So an added challenge for a new crew is that they have never experienced the feeling of working together to take their own submarine to sea, or the collective effort required to do it well. It’s hard to simulate this effectively, although we tried very hard by having our Sailors walk-through their respective portions of the underway process, practice the different evolutions we would be performing at sea, and things like that.
 
How long did you command the submarine and what were your special responsibilities during your tour of duty?
Commander Matthew Horton relieved me as Commanding Officer in November 2019, so my tour was 45 months long - almost four years.
 
The first Commanding Officer of a new submarine has the unique responsibility to establish the initial command culture on their ship - the collective attitude, behaviors, and overall approach toward submarining. Sailors, like all human beings, learn most of what they know through osmosis - they learn by simply being part of a group and conforming their behavior and attitudes to what they observe around them.
 
Because of this, the culture of a command transcends any single individual - it drives the positive or negative behavior of every Sailor onboard, and it remains largely intact well after those who originally established that culture have left the command. It takes years and years to correct a negative culture, and until corrected it will ruin entire crews of Sailors. So, I think the first Commanding Officer has a special and unique responsibility to establish a positive command culture.
 
Can you tell us a little about the roles and responsibilities of the crew and how each prepared for the "sea trial."
The “sea trial” is actually three sequential at-sea periods, ranging in length from a couple of days to about a week. The goal is to fully test the submarine, and every system onboard, to its operational limit.
 
As I mentioned previously, the crew’s job is to work together to exert their collective energy into the submarine - to bend it to their will and make the submarine conform to the underway plan (or in this case, the three underway plans). To be successful, every Sailor onboard must be able to perform the various individual and team skills that are required for them to do their jobs, and they need to understand how each of their specific jobs contribute to the overall plan. Our goal leading up to sea trials was to simulate the entire underway sequence as best we could and give each of our Sailors as many opportunities as possible learn and practice their individual and team skills.
 
This was somewhat challenging, because at the same time we also needed to support the final construction and testing sequence for our submarine, and make sure it was ready to go to sea as well. We worked hard with the construction team to make sure we balanced our time effectively, and the basic concept was to walk-through each of the individual and team evolutions as many times as possible so that our Sailors could execute the plan almost without thinking about it. We knew that we needed to build a great deal of resiliency, so that once we were underway, we would be able to focus our attention on the unexpected curveballs that we would likely have to deal with. Our Sailors did a great job taking full advantage of the available training opportunities, and my role was just to protect our time and help communicate the different underway scenarios. Overall, our preparations were extremely successful, and we executed the sea trials sequence very well. I’m proud of our crew’s efforts.
 
How does the "Virginia class nuclear attack submarine" differ from other submarines in the fleet?
The Virginia-class submarine is the most technologically-advanced submarine in the world. The open source literature will tell you that the Virginia-class incorporates the latest in stealth, intelligence gathering and weapons system technology.
 
From a personal perspective, all of my previous submarine tours were on Los Angeles-class attack submarines and Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. My recent tour on Delaware was the first time I had ever served on a Virginia-class submarine, and overall, I was extremely impressed. For example, the layout and integration of the control room provides a level of situational awareness that I did not have on any of my previous submarines. I think Delaware is an extraordinarily capable undersea platform.
 
Tell us a little about your experience becoming familiar with Delaware and state leaders?
Our first experience with anyone from Delaware was our keel laying ceremony in April 2016, shortly after our first group of Sailors reported for duty. The keel laying is the first of four traditional milestones in the life of a ship (along with christening, commissioning, and decommissioning) and it ceremonially marks the beginning of the new construction process. Dr. Jill Biden, who is Delaware’s Sponsor, and United States Senator Tom Carper attended the keel laying ceremony and basically introduced us to Delaware - through their speeches and their personal interactions with our crew. Dr. Biden (along with her grandson, Hunter) and Senator Carper stayed at the event long after it was finished and talked to every single one of our Sailors and their families.
 
We were very appreciative of the time that they invested in our crew, and they clearly indicated that it was important to build a positive connection between our Sailors and the State of Delaware. In the months following the keel laying our Sailors visited Dover Downs for a Dover 400 NASCAR race, the University of Delaware for a football game, the Elizabeth Murphy School in Dover, the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, the Kalmar Nyckel museum in Wilmington, the Delaware State Archives in Dover, and the Delaware State Capital where our crew was specifically recognized by Delaware House Concurrent Resolution #16 of the 150th General Assembly.
 
During these visits we were very privileged to meet state leaders, leaders in business and education, and private citizens. Every one of our interactions reinforced our experience from keel laying - that it was clearly very important to everyone in the State of Delaware that our Sailors feel connected to their namesake, and proud of their service on a vessel named after the First State. As someone who is not from Delaware, I can tell you that my experiences over the past few years have made me wish that I was. Our Sailors have certainly benefited from our positive relationship, and on behalf of our future Sailors, I certainly hope it continues for the life of the submarine.
 
Please tell us about your current position in the Navy . Do you still work in submarines?
I currently work in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. This is a “joint” position, which means that I represent the submarine force and the navy to those outside of my service and community. Following this tour, I expect to return to a position within the submarine community.

By James DeChene, Armitage DeChene & Associates
By Verity Watson, Ruggerio Willson & Associates
 
The Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) held their May meeting with one more in June before the General Assembly passes the state’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget. While projections and estimates seem to change by the minute, there are a few things to be watching over the summer and into the fall related to economic recovery and what the impact to state expenditures will be in 2021.
 

1. Medicaid Growth: Delawareans eligible for Medicaid increased by 3,000 to a total of 238,000. Financial increases from the federal government are expected to terminate at the end of 2020, so tracking the number of newly eligible Medicaid participants who remain eligible as the economy improves will be an important marker. Even if those 3,000 individuals transition off of Medicaid, 25 percent of Delawareans will still be receiving Medicaid. If you add in state employees, their families, and Medicare almost half of Delaware’s citizens are receiving some measure of publicly subsidized health care. These costs are expected to rise.
2. Unemployment: On May 28, just shy of the Phase 1 re-opening, Delaware unemployment claims surpassed 100,000. As reported by DEFAC, 95,824 claims were filed between March 15 and May 15, with $234,783,265 in unemployment insurance benefits paid. The state share of the cost was $91,932,638. It is expected that Delaware’s unemployment insurance fund will dry up in June, necessitating borrowing from the federal government for future payments. Some of the CARES Act dollars allocated to the state will be shifted to help cover unemployment costs, lessening the amount to be borrowed, but any borrowing will have an adverse impact on next year’s overall spending. It also remains to be seen what unemployment insurance rate increases businesses will face in October.
3. Long Term Impacts on Traditional Revenue Streams:  Long term uncertainty remains about the impact to residential and commercial real estate, the realty transfer tax, and the subsequent impact on those revenue streams. Governor Carney was prudent to classify construction as essential to not only ward off additional unemployment claims, but to keep up with the demand for new homes, road improvements, and new infrastructure.

 
As businesses adapt to large swaths of employees working from home, in many cases working more productively, significant changes to the dedicated physical space businesses require could be on the horizon. Downstream impacts, such as Wilmington’s wage tax, will require creative measures to insure solvency.
 
Corporate income tax and personal income tax filings are both predicted to take a significant hit next year. Personal income tax is the top revenue stream to the state, and while so far high wage workers have not suffered significant job losses, it will be interesting to see what the current 40% layoffs in hospitality workers translates into when federal unemployment ends in July.
 
All told, there remains much uncertainty—whether there will be a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall and what that economic impact will look like, how changes made during this time related to how employees work will impact real estate, office environments, the work-from-home movement, and how all of these issues, and others, will further impact Delaware’s budget process.

April 7 was Great American Buy Local Day to support local businesses, the communities they serve, and the millions of people they employ. Even though Delawareans must socially distance themselves right now, there are still ways to support local businesses by shopping online, buying gift cards, utilizing services of essential companies, referring a friend, or leaving a positive review online. To join in on this movement, the State Chamber created the #DSCCLocalSwagChallenge to encourage Delawareans to give local businesses online love!

By James DeChene, Armitage DeChene & Associates and Verity Watson, Ruggerio Willson and Associates
 
The spread of and reaction to COVID-19 has the world changing minute by minute, and the business community has come together in these uncertain times to focus not only on keeping their doors open and their employees paid but also continuing to be a helpful presence in their communities.
 
It’s not an understatement to say we are currently navigating in uncharted waters. In an effort to provide some stability for employers during these times, the State Chamber of Commerce, along with other chambers across the state, industry associations and other business-focused groups are committed to finding ways for employers to keep their lights on and continue to operate.
 
Some of these recommendations have already been implemented as of mid-March. Currently the waiting period to file for unemployment benefits has been reduced to seven days. Workers are now allowed to supplement their income with part-time employment while still collecting benefits. Tipped employees are not being classified as minimum wage as long as they claim their tips, increasing them to a higher unemployment benefit rate. Alcohol regulations have been relaxed to increase sales at local restaurants. Zero percent loans have been made available for businesses forced to close under the State of Emergency order.
 
As we continue to see fallout from this crisis, there a few more areas where targeted government action could have very positive impacts for struggling businesses. These include:
 

• Additional changes needed to unemployment insurance:
  • Do not penalize employers when unemployment claims are made. Modification scores should be frozen during this time so businesses who are forced to lay off, especially those closed by executive order, are not further negatively impacted.
  • Increase eligible amounts from $400 to $600 per week. 
• Many businesses have limited access to cash on hand. We should explore ways to keep cash in the hands of businesses through temporary exemptions from gross receipts and payroll taxes. Zero interest bridge loans and small business loans should be explored as a way to infuse businesses with cash.

                          
These unique circumstances demand unique solutions. Other recommendations being floated include the state utilizing its top bond rating to borrow funds necessary to fully fund the unemployment insurance trust fund, to provide employers with rent relief, and to cover payroll taxes paid by employers. As mentioned earlier, access to capital remains a critical component for businesses looking to reopen, to remain open, and stay solvent during these difficult times. The ability for the state to provide this safety net is a much-needed service toward its maintenance of a strong bonding rating was designed to achieve.
 
As we look forward to the eventual reconvening of the General Assembly, the business community’s message is clear—a plea for action only on critical legislation. Budget, Bond, and Grants-in-Aid bills are a priority, as are any bills providing relief to employers, employees, and at-risk citizens. During these uncertain times legislative focus should remain on how we will recover as a community.
 
The impact of the COVID-19 crisis has the potential to dwarf the economic impact of the Great Recession. In 2008-2009, extraordinary measures were undertaken by the Markell Administration and the General Assembly to keep Delaware going, and just a few short years ago we faced a $350 million budget deficit that also took extraordinary measures to overcome. With the help and planning of the Carney Administration and the General Assembly, Delaware can position itself to come out of this crisis better positioned for the future.

An interesting read: 9 charts that explain the coronavirus pandemic, Vox
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