Part I - Katie Tabling on business news and the legislative session. Tabling previewed the Delaware Business Times' upcoming events: the CEO & C-suite Awards (June 18 at Deerfield, with a new C-suite category and milestone honoree Dr. Mark Brainerd of Delaware Tech), the Best of Delaware party (August 26), and a new Partners in Philanthropy program pairing nonprofits with for-profit companies, opening for nominations June 15. On the legislative front, she walked through two controversial bills: SB 272 (Sen. Jack Walsh), which would require union labor on publicly funded school construction despite Delaware's thin in-state union workforce, and Rep. Kim Williams' bill capping credit-card interchange "pass-through" fees on tips — a measure banks warn would make Delaware an outlier and a tough place to operate. She also reported the state's ~$11M purchase of a Delaware State University facility in Dover to serve as a Kent County homeless shelter, modeled on Gov. Meyer's Hope Center success.
After the break, Tabling covered her interview with Erin Dynofsky, Enstructure's new Mid-Atlantic president overseeing the Port of Wilmington, who declined to engage the controversy over a $185M cost overrun (atop ~$250M already invested) and governance disputes, saying her job is simply to deliver. Tabling also broke down the new University of Delaware medical school — $78M secured, up to 40 students, a Newark location, partnership with Thomas Jefferson's Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and the conspicuous exclusion of ChristianaCare, which submitted but was not selected. She closed with Delaware's $850K stake in the FIFA World Cup (Philadelphia matches, Côte d'Ivoire staying at Hotel DuPont and practicing at a Buccini/Pollin facility) and noted the recent deaths of three prominent Delawareans: former Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, philanthropist Gerret Copeland, and builder Reno Pettinaro.
Part II - Charles Elson on the erosion of Delaware's corporate franchise. Elson, founding director of UD's Weinberg Center and executive editor at Directors & Boards, laid out why the incorporation franchise — generating roughly 25% of state revenue directly and far more when related streams are included — is in jeopardy. He traced the damage to two legislative sessions over the past two years in which lawmakers overrode court rulings and shifted Delaware from a balanced regime toward one favoring controlling shareholders, undermining the neutrality and finality that made Delaware's courts trusted. The result, he argued, is a "race to the bottom" with Texas and Nevada, a reputation that Delaware is "for sale," and a wave of high-profile departures (ExxonMobil, Tesla, SpaceX, and others).
Elson was skeptical of DEFAC's reassurances under new chair Alan Levin that filings are up ~5%, citing the firing of Mike Houghton for questioning the numbers and Charlie Copeland's reading of a largely flat forecast. He sharply criticized the Secretary of State's reported suggestion that a Harris-Townsend fee increase would be acceptable even at the cost of 10–12% market share, calling it "penny wise, pound foolish" for any business losing ground to competitors. Reincorporation is a slow, year-plus process, he noted, so the damage won't show immediately — but his ultimate worry is federalization: a future scandal at a Texas-incorporated tech or AI company could prompt Washington to take over corporate regulation entirely, rendering the state of incorporation irrelevant.
Next week: Bob Byrd and Charlie Copeland on politics.
