Legislative Wrap-Up from the Legislative-Advocacy Committee
The 2021 Legislative session ended June 30. Here is a summary of legislation the Alliance supported:
- Gun Legislation: the Alliance supported HB125, banning ghost guns, SB3, requiring a permit for a gun purchase, and SB6, defining large capacity magazines as those with a capacity to accept more than 17 rounds of ammunition. The Alliance supported these bills with a letter to the editor published in the Cape Gazette and will e-mails to the Sussex legislators and respective committee members. HB125 passed; SB3 was in the House Appropriations Committee and later substituted back in the Senate; and SB6 passed both the Senate and the House.
- Law Enforcement: the Alliance was represented on the Delaware Coalition for Fair Policing and the ACLU Smart Justice Coalition and worked to advocate for amendment of the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights. A bill, SB149, was introduced toward the end of the session, calling for amendment of LEOBOR to allow public access to police misconduct investigations and to establish civilian review boards. The Alliance sent e-mails to the Black Caucus and the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to support this legislation. The Alliance also testified in support of amending LEOBOR at the hearing of the Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force in which it considered the recommendations of the task force’s subcommittees. Unfortunately, SB149 did not make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and on to the floor for a vote. The Alliance also supported two other bills, SB147, establishing an objective standard with which to judge whether a police officer’s use of force was excessive, and SB148, delegating to the Division of Civil Rights complaints regarding excessive use of force, with a letter to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. These two bills passed the legislature and SB147 has been signed by the Governor. The Alliance further supported HB195, providing for law enforcement and corrections officers to wear body cameras. The bill passed both houses of the legislature.
- Criminal Justice: the Alliance supported SB111 and 112, providing for automatic expungement of adult and juvenile offenses eligible for mandatory expungement and expanding the class of offenses eligible for mandatory expungement with a letter to the editor published in the Cape Gazette. These two bills passed both houses of the legislature.
- Economics: the Alliance supported SB15, the minimum wage bill, with a letter to the Editor published in the Cape Gazette and with a letter sent to the members of the House Appropriations Committee. The bill passed both houses of the legislature.
- Voting Rights: the Alliance was represented on the ACLU Voting Rights Coalition, which actively worked to pass HB75 for the second time in the House. HB75 is the constitutional amendment which would have removed the requirement for an excuse for an absentee ballot. Although the measure passed with bipartisan support in the preceding legislature, it did not pass in the House this June, even after being brought to the table for a second time with a reconsideration vote. The measure still can be brought out in January in the second part of this 151st session and the Alliance will continue to advocate for its support. The Alliance also supported HB25, Same Day Voter Registration, which did not make it out of the House Administration Committee, and SB5, automatic voter registration, which passed both houses and was signed into law. The Alliance continued to advocate for these bills, even after the session ended, with a letter published in both the Delaware State News and the Cape Gazette.
Education: the Alliance supported HB198, requiring the teaching of African-American history throughout the K-12 curriculum, not just during Black History Month. The Alliance presented written testimony to the House Education Committee hearing from Charlotte King, sent a letter of support to the Sussex County Senators when the bill was before them, and had a letter to the editor published