Welcome to The Press Room, a semi-regular weekly roundup of the major stories and happenings of the 2023 Delaware legislative year.
This week we focus on updates from budget hearings, a speech from a Delaware man and bills I’ll be keeping an eye on when lawmakers come back from recess.
As always, send story tips, feedback, ideas or gossip to me at [email protected].
Follow me on Twitter at @MereNewman.
The Joint Finance Committee hearings continue for the rest of the month. Last week, the Departments of Correction, Justice and Safety and Homeland Security presented their recommended budgets to lawmakers.
Like all of the Cabinet secretaries, a major focus for all three was staffing issues, particularly with vacancy rates. You can find the presentations and hearings here.
There’s a lot to these hearings. But these are some interesting nuggets that stood out to me:
The Department of Correction announced its plans to increase inmates’ wages. The state has not done this in 30 years. DOC Commissioner Monroe Hudson said the average hourly wage is about 28 cents per hour. To put things in perspective, Monroe said, prices at the commissary have increased by about 34% in that time. The plan is to increase wages by 20% in the course of two years.
The department is also facing chronic issues with staffing and overtime. Monroe noted that this is especially the case when inmates have to go to the hospital because it...
The Department of the Attorney General says the man claiming to be the state’s chief technology officer at national conferences and on online platforms is not affiliated with the state of Hawaii a...