Hear how some of the discussion went in Tuesday's special session. The bills that were passed were expected, but some amendments did make it in that were pleasant surprises. Most of this episode is spent wishing that our legislators spent more time using their power responsibly and less time demanding obedience.

Spotlight article - State lawmakers ease residential property tax burden in testy special session

Watch the recording of the House session

Watch the recording of the Senate session

Email: ask@thisisthedelawareway.com

What's a special session, and why is it happening today? Which bills will be considered, and which won't, and what is the difference? We'll go over all of that and more for you today. Bonus content: data is beautiful and we can get more of it.

Spotlight Delaware Special Session Live Blog -- the best way to catch up on what is happening or has happened in Aug 12th's special session

State Constitution - Time and frequency of sessions

State Constitution - Governance of revenue

Spotlight article - After property tax outcry, leading lawmakers focus on three bills for special session

Urban3 - Financial assessments for cities, towns, counties, and municipalities

State Constitution - Land value tax ban

Strong Towns article - Big Box Stores: Core Insights

Strong Towns article - Big box stores are costing our cities far more than we ever imagined

Video - Is a Land Value Tax the Best Option? - Chuck from Strong Towns

We cover a few news items, including a bill to protect medical providers in Delaware from being sued based on other states' laws. We dig a little deeper behind the company that wants to build a data center in New Castle County, as it would impact our electric bills but we wouldn't get any of benefit from the billions of dollars it may generate for its owners. We also look at the process of running for office and being a first-time legislator, and give some tips on how to look into running for office.

Thursday, July 24th, 5:30pm Delaware City Fire Hall

Form to submit questions to Data Center Town Hall

• Campaign to replace Rep. Parker Selby heats up between two educators

• Proposed Delaware data center’s energy needs would dwarf all state households

• AI Tech CEOs are lying to you - listen to just the first 15 minutes to understand how bad data centers are for all of us

• Why the true water footprint of AI is so elusive

• Latest Delaware City Refinery emissions prompt investigation, ongoing questions

• AI data centers could make your electric bill go up by 70%
• Jack Kemp Foundation Leadership Awards
• Delaware Department of Elections
• Run For Something
• Network Delaware Change Agent Journey
• Delaware Working Families Party contact form to request training
• Day in the Life of a Legislator: State Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton

Where are they now, legislative edition. What happened to the bills we've talked about this year? How are we feeling? There's some extra philosophizing in this episode, because that's the mood of the moment. But also some yelling. And the word "flabbergasted" is used.

2025 Session Legislative Report - DE WFP

End of Session Live Blog - Spotlight Delaware

We get through most of the notable bills being heard on the House and Senate floor on Tuesday June 24th in 15 minutes. Then we get into it with a recap of the lead paint remediation bill's committee hearing, in preparation for it being heard on the House floor on Tuesday as well. After some light philosophizing, we lightly laugh at a Senator's spin of one of his bills.

To submit corrections or questions, email: ask@thisisthedelawareway.com

Note: the sound quality is a bit off, I apologize. This will tighten up! Session is almost over, and then episodes will be more planned out for a while. The rest of the summer into the fall will be a series of deep dives on different processes, legislators, and of course bills we've seen fall short of passing.

This episode comes with a content warning, as it discusses a bill on educating minors about sexual extortion. The timestamp for that section is 8:24.

Enjoy the rapid-fire delivery of most of the bills our state legislature will discuss on Wednesday, June 11th. As we near the end of session, the schedule will become more and more crowded, and there are some big deal bills being heard!

Speed cameras are not a permanent solution to dangerous streets

Well planned street design

We kick off a hectic week by looking at just Tuesday's agendas. You've heard of most of these bills before, but there are a few hot ticket items that might have you wanting to reach out to your legislators. Surprise surprise, we see one of the two school meals bills yet again, and wonder about the timing of how the saga went down. We also look at what's happening with the slate of immigration protection bills.

Disappointment abounds in this week's episode, from opening to close. But we start off giving people more info on how a bill gets written, and what qualifications someone needs to run for office (hint: not many). In the middle, we go over the long list of bills the General Assembly worked on the week of May 20th. The GA is now on a break while the Joint Finance Committee finalizes budget decisions, and will be back in session next week. We round out the episode with a personal story from the host that leaves her with more questions than answers about her House Representative.

Ask questions for the pod! ask@thisisthedelawareway.com

Division of Legislative Services Staff

House Speaker: Income tax reform may be delayed

Babies smacked, slapped, knocked over at Delaware day care, then director lied to parents about state’s investigation

HB 142 - edits that remove permission for citizen's arrest

HB 153 - edits that make citizen's arrest illegal

(00:00) Intro and outline

(4:14) Who actually writes the bills?

(14:14) House Speaker speaks on delay of tax bracket bill

(24:28) House bills

(24:55) Affordable housing through Site Readiness Fund

(26:55) Slate of immigration bills

(29:59) Increasing vehicle fees

(31:43) multi-level marketing schemes

(32:10) Creates new crime charge for discharging a firearm in public

(35:00) Elimination of citizens’ arrests

(36:02) Threshold for automatic election recounts

(36:19) Protecting seniors from property reassessments

(38:23) Constitutional amendments for voting

(39:43) Senate bills

(40:06) right to marry

(41:29) rape kits monitoring

(41:42) Dental usage of general anesthesia & Medicaid dental coverage

(43:11) Bills related to evictions of renters

(44:18) Reducing property taxes for Low Income households

(49:31) Interaction with my House representative

(1:02:20) Closing