July 05, 2009

General Assembly Approves All of Markell Administration's Legislative Priorities

Efforts in education, energy, equality and open government will move Delaware forward despite historic budget shortfall

DOVER – Reflecting on his administration's first General Assembly session, Gov. Markell said Sunday that every one of his legislative priorities will become law and position Delaware for long-term growth.

"Thanks to hard work, and having the courage to make tough decisions, we enter the new fiscal year with a budget in place that shrinks the size of government and is, for the first time in years, several hundred million dollars less than the prior year’s," Markell said. "This General Assembly was a success not only because we responsibly addressed the largest budget shortfall in Delaware's history, but because we moved our state closer to brighter days and a better future."

The legislature approved significant reforms in two top priority areas for the administration -- education and energy -- and passed several other pieces of legislation that address significant public policy areas.

The administration's legislative agenda included:

• Eliminating the Delaware Student Testing Program

• Giving districts room to innovate and instill greater financial accountability

• Launching a pilot program to reward high-performing teachers.

• The Energy Conservation and Efficiency Act, which will reduce our energy consumption statewide 15% by 2015

• Significantly updating our building codes

• Ensuring that customers that generate more renewable energy than they need will be able to sell the excess power

• Removing barriers to the promotion of renewable energy

• Making government more open and efficient by expanding the use of videoconferencing and extending the Freedom of Information Act to cover the legislature

• Outlawing discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation

• Making it easier for Delawareans to protect their vulnerable loved ones from abuse 

• Ensuring Delawareans can choose their own hospital visitors

• Extending unemployment benefits for Delawareans hit hard by the economic downturn;

• Enacting three pieces of legislation that reform the Delaware Psychiatric Center by increasing accountability and strengthen patient protections

• Getting drunk drivers off the road and sending a message that the behavior will not be tolerated.

"Recognizing that Delaware cannot have the world-class economy we need unless we make our education system even better, we have taken significant steps to further improve this system and help students be competitive in the global economy," Markell said. "The competitive economy also demands we have a new sense of the link between environmental wealth and economic health. Environmental sustainability must be at the forefront of our public policy discussions. The effect of these laws will be new jobs, money saved and a cleaner environment. Thanks to the action of the past six months, we can look back at this as the time when we laid the foundation for decades of economic growth and a cleaner environment."