Gov. John Carney spent the majority of his final State of the State address reflecting on his administration's accomplishments, but did highlight a few remaining goals before the end of his term.
House Speaker Valerie Longhurst (D-Bear) says she's happy with Carney's focus on gun safety, environmental concerns and expanding mental health in the state's education system.
"I've been fighting for mental health for the last five years. We've put it in elementary schools, we put it in middle schools and now the fact that he put it in the state budget this year for high schools is huge. We've done so much for mental health over the years," Longhurst said.
In his speech, Carney said the state will "take another big step forward and pass the permit to purchase law." The governor already allocated $1.1 million for the proposed billin his recommended budget, which would create an application process to obtain a handgun qualified purchaser permit to authorize the purchase of a handgun in Delaware.
Longhurst says the bill is on the agenda in the House for Thursday this week.
"We do have the votes — it's been a long journey but we've finally got there. [Melissa Minor-Brown] did a lot of compromise, and we worked with the Senate, so I'm very optimistic it will pass on Thursday."
Senate Minority Whip Tizzy Lockman (D-Wilmington), the bill's prime Senate sponsor, says she's grateful for the governor's support on the bill and is excited to see the law go into effect.
"I think the benefits we are going to see by getting permit to purchase done, on top of the many other pieces of legislation we've passed recently, is going to be immense," Lockman said.
The governor also spent time discussing the $1.5 billion the state has spent on school construction and the first new school being built on the East Side of Wilmington in over half a century, which Lockman was pleased to hear.
"Having him talk about the new school and the ways that we are pushing more collaboration across the districts that serve the city of Wilmington — I was very happy and honored to be called out in relationship to that," she said.
Carney also requested the legislature to pass a bill that would "permanently control operating spending at sustainable levels" in the state.
The governor refers to this policy as "budget smoothing." His proposed constitutional amendment to limit spending in 2018 failed, but he's been working with legislators to try again.
Longhurst says she's been working with the governor on his concerns, and the House plans to introduce a bill this session to address the spending benchmarks and guidelines Carney has been hoping to implement.
Lockman, however, says she would rather discuss the policy with the next governor and make a plan moving forward.
“I think there’s still hesitancy around tying the hands of future General Assemblies and flexibility around that. So, for my part, and I don’t know if I can speak for a whole chamber on this, but it might be a little premature to head down such a path without the input of the person who's going to be our governor for the next 4-8 years," she said.
Republican Senate leadership is pleased to hear Carney address budget control, and Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) says he looks forward to the legislation being introduced.
"Financial accountability and responsible spending is something that we need to make sure that we're doing as a state... Staying within a benchmark allows us to be responsible for the budget growth that happens here in the state and also the spending in relation to the expected revenues that we've got," Pettyjohn said.
Republican leaders concurred with Democratic leadership for praising Carney's commitment to improving education but rose concerns over the high amounts of spending.
Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View) says he agrees teachers in Delaware need to make a fair wage, but he’s concerned that education spending is rising while test results and literacy rates are declining.
Pettyjohn says Carney’s $3 million allocation for literacy coaches is a good starting point, but he wants to make sure the state sees results following the investment.
“Let’s just make sure that when we’re putting money in, we’re not just throwing money at the problem, but we’re also looking at the results of those programs, and if they’re not producing the results that we expect, then we need to drop back and reevaluate them," he said.
Hocker also brought up his disappointment in Carney's lack of addressing support for small businesses, as well as his commitment to funding offshore wind.
Additionally, Carney's address was interrupted multiple times by protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
"It was an embarrassment what happened with the interruptions there. Five interruptions from people up in the gallery — that's something that I don't think has happened before. Whether you agree or disagree with what the governor is saying, there's a certain respect for the institution that's there," Pettyjohn said.
When asked for her thoughts on the interruptions, Longhurst said, "I believe in freedom of speech, and I think we're welcome in the General Assembly — this is a people's House, and everybody has the freedom of speech. The governor had to get the State of the State done, that's what we were down here for — protest is how we change things in the world."
