The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce serves as the leading voice for our state’s employers and employees, advancing policies that strengthen our competitiveness and drive job creation. Each year, our Competitiveness Agenda is shaped through detailed input from members, policy committees, and strategic partners, and approved by our Board of Directors to ensure they reflect the real needs of Delaware’s diverse business community. 

At the start of every new legislative session, we release these priorities to provide policymakers with a clear roadmap of what employers need to grow, invest, and support their employees. Our advocacy team works diligently to keep members well-informed on policy developments in Dover, while fighting for pro-growth policies that support businesses of all sizes and industries. 

As bipartisan advocates, we recognize the complex and challenging issues our elected leaders face, and we remain committed to working with balance, respect, and candor to make and sustain Delaware as a top state for job creation, economic activity, and quality of life.

COMPETITIVENESS AGENDA

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, TRAINING & EDUCATION

• Protect and strengthen business owners’ decision-making ability
• Promote innovative policies and training programs that help Delawareans find jobs in high-growth, high-demand, and emerging industries
• Support changes to the state workforce development system to reduce redundancy, enhance funding, and improve alignment with the business community’s needs

ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, & SUSTAINABILITY

• Promote science-based environmental policies that reflect collaboration between all stakeholders to create practical policies and solutions that improve the environment while growing Delaware’s economy
• Encourage public and private sector investments that improve Delaware’s environment and create jobs
• Support the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites
• Invest in infrastructure that improves resiliency from natural disasters

HEALTH CARE

• Support efforts to strengthen the health care workforce to meet the needs of Delaware’s growing and aging population
• Promote workplace wellness programs and policies that improve the physical and mental health of Delawareans
• Collaborate with health care industries on efforts to reduce health care costs while maintaining health care quality and access

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• Improve Delaware’s national and regional competitiveness rankings for business
• Identify policies and strategies that lower Delaware’s cost of doing business
• Continue supporting initiatives to streamline Delaware’s permitting process
• Advocate for laws and law-making processes that provide certainty and predictability to stakeholders around timelines for development projects
• Invest in site and transportation infrastructure readiness so there are “options on the shelf” for future development
• Push forward policies that address affordability and the diversification of Delaware’s housing inventory

FISCAL POLICY

• Further tax policies that incentivize workforce training and development
• Protect Delaware’s banking and corporate franchises and inform policymakers about the impact that related jobs and revenue have on the State’s budget and economy
• Encourage pro-growth tax and spending policies that reduce revenue and budget volatility and preserve Delaware’s competitiveness and increase business’ ability to expand and create jobs

Download a pdf of our Competitiveness Agenda >