Governor Jack Markell called on lawmakers to approve nearly $510 million in new spending over the next five years to address Delaware’s aging infrastructure, violent urban centers and bulging prisons during his State of the State speech Thursday.
$500 million of those dollars would be for infrastructure, including improving state roadways.
"Let’s improve our transportation network for generations to come and put thousands of Delawareans to work," said Markell.
He also wants to spend on cleaning up the First State's polluted waterways.
"A century of pollution has impaired nearly every waterway in our state," said Markell. "While we have significantly reduced air pollution and cleaned up brownfields, far too many streams remain unsafe."
Markell says the infrastructure spending has economic benefits beyond creating jobs and the finished products, especially when you look at the current state of Delaware’s ecosystem.
“Water is the foundation of our tourism industry. It’s vital to agriculture, manufacturing, and everything that we do, said Markell. [Right now], we can’t eat our fish from the [St. Jones River]. We can’t swim in too many parts of the Inland Bays. The Christina and Brandywine rivers are laced with toxic pollutants. This is embarrassing. This is unacceptable. We must change it."
But the state faces a $125 million dollar budget shortfall according to December revenue forecasts, making new allocations potentially difficult.
GOP leadership in both chambers of the General Assembly raised red flag about the infrastructure spending.
"How do you fund those things?" asked House Minority Leader Daniel Short (R-Seaford). "How do you actually put that to work?"
Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson (R-Milford) says he expects Markell will propose new taxes or fees to pay for those initiatives
“I just don’t see a lot of support on my side of aisle in the House or the Senate for a tax increase at this time," said Simpson. "So I just don’t know if we’re ready to delve into an increase gas tax or increased fees for registration or documents for our vehicles.”
[caption id="attachment_27314" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Gov. Markell is greeted by lawmakers following his State of the State address. (Click to enlarge)"]
Markell will likely address those concerns when he unveils his proposed fiscal year 2015 budget next week, but already has support from Democratic leadership. Senate Pro Tem Patricia Blevins (D-Elsmere) says the investment is a no-brainer.
“It pays for itself," said Blevins. "It creates jobs and it repairs our needed infrastructure: our bridges; our dams; our roads. But right now as we’re coming out of a recession, it couldn’t be more important than to invest that way.”
Blevins adds there are “creative ways” to help bankroll the initiative.
House Majority Leader Valarie Longhurst (D-Bear) says she thinks that there has to be some borrowing to achieve the ultimate goal of job creation, but wants to tread cautiously.
“I don’t think we need to borrow the full amount that some people are talking about because I still think that we need to maintain a AAA bond rating," said LongHurst. "As long as we can maintain that, maybe borrow against it just to get those jobs moving. I mean, we need to get them moving quickly. We can’t wait four or five years to get that done.”
Markell also offers a plan to invest $7 million in “Downtown Development Districts” that would give development incentives and housing and transportation benefits to help revitalize a few designated city areas. Rep. Short offered some support for that initiative.
"There's an initiative we on the more conservative side can really wrap our arms around," said Short. "If you're asking for asking for public investment by giving the private sector a matching grant as an incentive to do that, that's something that piqued my interest."
There was also some common ground on a proposal to create a pilot program that would test giving school districts more flexibility in deciding how to spend the state money they get.
"State government sets rigid funding formulas that determine how many assistant principals, reading instructors, and administrative assistants a school will have. In fact, we have one of the most rigid funding systems in the country," said Markell. "This leaves little room for school leaders – those who know our students best – to innovate, create a vision, and pursue it. It is time to give those school leaders more flexibility to make a difference in our kids’ education."
Sen. Simpson says he likes that idea.
"That's one of the things the charter schools have benefited from is having more flexibility than our traditional public schools," said Simpson. "And some of those schools are flourishing."
Markell also spend a significant amount of the speech addressing crime and the criminal justice system, specifically trying to alleviate prison overcrowding by assisting those leaving jail in their efforts to find work.
"There are those who belong behind bars and it is worth every penny we spend to keep them there. But when a person has served their time, it’s up to them – and to us – to make sure they transition effectively, achieve their potential and contribute to society," said Markell.
He urged lawmakers to eliminate statutes denying nonviolent drug offenders drivers’ licenses upon release and threw his support behind the a "ban the box" bill that would eliminate the box that says “check here if you’ve been convicted of a crime” from state job applications.
But Rep. Short says Markell’s focus on creating more job opportunities for those coming out of prison may too narrowly focused in a state with so many people still unemployed.
“My impression is if we put jobs out there to people [in general] and make them available for them to go to work, we solve the overall problem up and down the state," said Short. "So, I think the stronger initiative ought to be in my perspective creating jobs overall, not being specifica to one area of the population.”
Markell also used his speech to advocate for changing the Delaware law forcing judges to impose consecutive – rather than concurrent - criminal sentences for multiple offenses in hopes of lowering the state's prison population.
“That has not made us any safer and it contributes to overcrowding in our prisons and I ask you to join me in giving judges greater discretion when it comes to concurrent and consecutive sentences,” saids Markell.
Markell also assigned Kids Department Secretary Jennifer Ranji to lead a task force addressing youth offenders and how to tailor state services to their needs.
Markell also addressed the crime and gun violence issue in Wilmington. As part of dealing with it, he proposed a new Division of Special Investigations within the Department of Safety and Homeland Security that will focus on gun-trafficking.
"Far too often, gun violence is committed by shooters who cannot legally own guns, so it is critical that we do a better job tracing these weapons back to their sources," said Markell. "We must redouble our efforts to confront the gun-trafficking that is escalating the gang wars.
Rep. Longhurst offered her support to that proposal and others that seek to revitalize downtown Wilmington in order to shed its crime problem, noting “we all do need to chip in” to help curb gun violence the city.
Overall, Markell called the state of the state "stronger today than when I addressed you a year ago," but added there's more work to be done.
"We’ve made progress, but to paraphrase Will Rogers, even if we’re on the right track, we’ll get run over if we just sit here. We have so much more to do," said Markell.
You can read Markell's entire speech here
Or listen to WDDE's coverage of the speech below:
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/131033387" params="color=ff5500&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /].
