Gov. Matt Meyer held his first monthly press conference as chief executive of Delaware to discuss hot button issues on Tuesday.
He fielded questions around the implications of President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" and recent turmoil over an offshore wind project and the state interfering with local government control.
Delaware and the "One Big Beautiful Bill"
On July 4, President Trump signed his massive spending and tax legislation dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which makes hefty tax cuts made during his first term permanent, but also solidifies unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Several of these cuts won’t go into effect until the end of next year following the midterm election — a move Gov. Meyer calls a “political decision” on behalf of Republicans to “win an election next year.”
Delaware officials floated new personal income tax brackets earlier this year as a means to raise more revenue for the state with the economic outlook over the next few years appearing grim, but a bill to make said changes never made it to a vote in the state legislature.
Even a statewide tobacco tax increase, a change supported by Gov. Matt Meyer and Democratic leadership within the House and Senate, never made it to its first committee hearing.
But state officials appeared to let out a small sigh of relief in May when the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Committee (DEFAC) announced an additional $98 million in spending authority for the current fiscal year.
This surprising financial uptick, along with Delaware's general fiscal relationship with the federal government, leads Gov. Meyer to believe the legislature will not have to call a special session this fall to make tax adjustments.
"Washington, D.C. needs Delaware more than Delaware needs Washington, D.C. Delaware is the only state of its size in the United States that contributes more to the federal tax base than it receives in benefits in the country. And that was true even before the action the president took last last week signing the [One Big Beautiful] bill. So that gap between what Delaware contributes and what Delaware gets from the federal government is only going to expand," Gov. Meyer said. “We're going to lead Delaware forward — we're going to find a way through. Whether a special session is needed or not, we're still considering. My guess, to be probably too honest at this point, will be that we won't need one, but we're continuing to evaluate.”
Although, Gov. Meyer makes it clear he still plans to work with the state legislature to add additional income tax brackets in the future, remaining steadfast in his belief the "wealthy need to pay their fair share."
Currently, the floor for Delaware’s highest personal income tax bracket is $60,000, which is taxed at a rate of 6.6%
The final state operating and capital budgets for the current fiscal year, crafted and approved by members of the General Assembly, veered from Gov. Meyer's initial recommendations in several ways, but the governor says these differences are just a part of the democratic process and the growing pains of a new administration.
"It's called democracy. If we all agreed, then I'm probably in the wrong business. We worked, we negotiated. There are obviously things in our first year I think where— there are things the legislature needs to work on. There's a different governor in town, things work a little bit differently, and that'll play out I think over the coming years," Gov. Meyer said.
But the governor is still proud of several investments included within the recently passed state operating budget, particularly those centered around improving Delaware's education system.
"Regardless of the crazy coming out of Washington, I think I've made clear that our administration is focused on bolstering education. Everything's going to be okay. We're spending billions on education here in Delaware. It's the principle of cutting the funding, particularly for those who need it most, and all the fun tax breaks for billionaires and to increase our national debt," Gov. Meyer said.
His response comes just days after the Trump administration notified states that it is withholding over $6 billion in previously approved federal education grants to schools — Gov. Meyer says $27 million is set to be withheld from Delaware.
A contentious offshore wind project and discourse around the erosion of local control
State government's ability to override local control became one of the most widely debated political topics this legislative session, so much so that Republicans held off on voting on one key budget bill until Democrats agreed to delay the effective date of Senate Bill 159.
SB 159 will override a Sussex County Council decision to deny the necessary permit to company US Wind to move forward with a 114-turbine offshore Maryland wind project.
That bill was signed into law by Gov. Meyer, but a compromise reached just hours later by party leadership led the governor to sign another bill that delayed the override until the end of January.
This delay gives the Delaware Supreme Court time to decide if the permit was lawfully denied following US Wind's decision to sue County Council over the rejection.
As a former county executive, Gov. Meyer says he believes in the importance of local control, but he says it should not be left up to a county on whether or not a statewide energy project can proceed.
“If you have a locality that's saying ‘We want this type of power over that type of power,’ that's not their choice — that power is vested in the state government," he said. "It's really important. I don't want to undermine how important it is because it can be sort of an abstract, esoteric conversation about governments. It's very important because it's about local people having some modicum of control over their neighborhoods and communities, and you don't want them to lose that modicum of control."
Despite the permit issuance remaining in limbo and the "One Big Beautiful Bill’s” sweeping cuts to renewable energy tax credits, Gov. Meyer says US Wind still intends to move forward with its offshore project.
Another high-profile bill dealing with local control is Senate Bill 75, which would reduce the zoning and operation restrictions counties can place on marijuana businesses.
The bill is a response to counties' — particularly Sussex County's — decisions to implement relatively extreme buffer zone between marijuana dispensaries and sensitive locations, such as schools, childcare centers and substance abuse treatment facilities.
Sussex County opted to adopt a 3-mile buffer zone, which some lawmakers attest implements a de facto ban on dispensaries in the county, while New Castle County settled on a 1,000-foot buffer zone. SB 75 would limit counties’ buffer zones to 500 feet.
That bill passed in both chambers of the General Assembly, but it has yet to be signed into law by Gov. Meyer.
"We're talking to stakeholders to evaluate. I've been very clear as someone who led the largest local government in Delaware for eight years that we believe strongly in local control, local government control. I've also been unambiguous, I've been very clear that we have recreational marijuana that has taken too long to get off the ground," Gov. Meyer said. "So those are two competing priorities — we're going to look at it and make a decision."
When asked if he would let the legislation become law without his signature — a procedure used by former Gov. John Carney when the bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Delaware reached his desk over two years ago — Gov. Meyer said, "It's always an option."
The governor says he ultimately does feel as though Sussex County officials' concerns over the erosion of local control are legitimate: "I think local government plays a critical role in local land use. They are the premier place to determine whether something is appropriate for zoning and permitting in an area, and I think they should retain that control."
Updates on the Diamond State Port Corporation Board and the Edgemoor Port expansion project
The Diamond State Port Corporation (DSPC) Board was another heated point of controversy this legislative session.
The DSPC Board oversees the Port of Wilmington, as well as the proposed $635 million Edgemoor Container Terminal project.
After months of public back-and-forth between the State Senate and Gov. Meyer over nominations to the DSPC Board, the governor ultimately succeeded in appointing three members to the body.
His other two nominations were preemptively denied a hearing by Senate leadership: “Gene Bailey and Jen Cohan are exceptional public servants and should be applauded for their past and ongoing contributions to our State, including for their prior service at the Diamond State Port Corporation," read a statement from Senate Democratic leadership in April. "The Port of Wilmington is at a critical juncture, and we must do all we can to ensure the Edgemoor expansion and its promise of thousands of high-paying union jobs comes to fruition. Over the last 24 hours, we shared with Gene, Jen, and the Meyer Administration that as the Port enters a new phase, the Senate believes this moment calls for different voices on the Board."
Later that month, Gov. Meyer told Delaware Public Media that Bailey and Cohan were both Republicans, and Delaware Code requires a certain number of members of each major political party to be members of the DSPC Board.
"We've maxed out on the number of Democrats. It's notable that the two people the Senate Executive Committee rejected and refused to hear are Republicans, which I think is abhorrent. It's against the spirit of the Port," Gov. Meyer said. "It should not be the Democratic Party's Port — it need's to be Delaware's Port. And that means that Democrats and Republicans need to serve on that Port board, and for me to have nominated two Republicans and have the Executive Committee refuse to even hear them... its abhorrent. It's terrible for the Port. We're looking forward not back — we've got to make the Port happen, and we're going to do that."
Since those candidates' rejections, Gov. Meyer has not made any further appointments to the DSPC Board, and when asked about his intention to fill those vacancies at Tuesday's press conference, he said, "My understanding is there are two people, I think, working on expired terms, but they're still in their seats."
As far as the status of the expansion project itself, the new port has been indefinitely held up due to necessary permits being revoked by by a federal judge late last year.
Litigation over the revocation of those permits is ongoing and how close the state is to reinstating those permits, if at all, is unknown to the public.
Gov. Meyer reiterated this statement to members of the press, saying there is no public information available at this time.
