The 151st General Assembly’s legislative session kicks off Tuesday, January 12, and there are a number of important issues that legislators will need to tackle this year in the midst of an ongoing public health crisis, economic uncertainty, and political and social unrest in Delaware and throughout the nation. The stakes are high for legislative action in 2021.
We sent a briefing letter to members of the 151st General Assembly announcing our legislative priorities for 2021 and asking legislators to support the outlined efforts. In a high-stakes session, we must prioritize legislation that protects and expands civil liberties for all Delawareans, especially for some of our most vulnerable populations.
We’re urging the 151st GA to prioritize education equity, protecting our elections, and expanding the progress we’ve made on Smart Justice reform. The priorities outlined in the letter include:
- Reforming school funding;
- Creating an Education Ombudsperson Office;
- Ensuring compliance of the 2018 school discipline reform law;
- Passing the No-Excuse Absentee Voting Constitutional Amendment bill (HB 15);
- Passing the Same-Day Registration bill (HB 25);
- Passing permanent vote by mail legislation;
- Reforming fines and fees and ending automatic drivers’ license suspension;
- Expanding sentencing modification and early release options and removing all drug crimes from the violent felony list;
- Reforming our broken probation system;
- Ensuring police accountability and transparency;
- Passing a clean slate bill to automate the expungement and record sealing process; and
- Passing the Public Health Credit bill (HB 37).
We're hosting a public virtual briefing on our priority items Thursday, January 14 at 6 p.m., live-streamed on our Facebook page. More information on the event can be found here.
