A massive Delaware Department of Transportation finance shortfall, alternative energy and workman’s compensation reform have promised to be major points of interest for statewide and local politicians as they return to work this week.
Tuesday — complete with swearing-ins and a ceremonial, first-day atmosphere — began a three-week first session of the year for the Delaware legislature. Officials will break at the end of this month for six weeks of finance hearings before returning in the early spring.
Sen. George Howard Bunting (D-20th) said that legislators usually relax through January but that “This may be an exception to the rule year.”
A massive workman’s compensation reform bill was expected to be a part of conversations this week and a major part of the legislation conversation in coming weeks. After scrapping a reform bill last summer that Rep. Gerald Hocker (R-38th) called “poor,” a state-appointed committee has been working to draw up a piece of legislation that local politicians think should be voted on this January, Hocker and Bunting said.
The problem: astronomical workman’s compensation insurance rates. According to Hocker, Delaware businesses pay the fourth highest rates, on average by state, in the country. High rates in Delaware make the state an unattractive place to start new business — which brings new jobs — Hocker said.
“We need to do what we can to correct what’s affecting small businesses,” said Hocker, himself a small-businessman. “Me, possibly being the largest employer [working] in state government, I’m anxious to see what it consists of. I have as much to gain as anybody.”
Possibly more prominent in recent local discussions than workman’s compensation reform, alternative energy should be a talking point for local legislators this January.
A billion-dollar “clean-coal” plant proposal from NRG — the owner of the Indian River Power Plant — and an even more expensive offshore wind farm proposal are vying to win long-term energy contracts with Delmarva Power and bring cleaner energy to the area.
State officials are currently reviewing those proposals — and another submitted by Conectiv — and will recommend by the end of next month which they think should be accepted by Delmarva Power.
Because of funding problems, the much-anticipated Route 26 widening project has been continuously delayed, and another plan to widen local roads that are to be used as detours during the Route 26 mainline plan might be indefinitely delayed.
A loss of more than $10 million in expected federal funds to complete the “local roads” project surprised DelDOT planners last year. The ordeal was blamed on “miscommunication” between state and federal officials, who said federal money is usually not available for such local projects. DelDOT spokesman Darrel Cole said last summer that officials were considering all options, including using money earmarked for other projects to complete the “local roads” plan. No new information was available as of Monday but Bunting called the need for a Route 26 solution “paramount.”
“We can allocate other sources of revenue to that. We can shift some spending,” Hocker said. “Alternate (Route 26) and Route 26 — both are major concerns.”