Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/124458
Legislative Update The Governor's money bills – known as his Revenue Stability package – pass House ack in 2009 the General Assembly passed several personal and corporate tax increases because of the national and state financial crises. Delaware was hit especially hard because of our reliance on auto production plants and financial services companies. Those tax increases are now due to "sunset," or expire, at the end of this year unless the General Assembly votes otherwise. If the General Assembly does nothing and they expire, the state stands to lose $200 million over the next two years. The Governor has helped introduce four revenue bills which would recoup that $200 million, all of which DSEA supports. Their primary sponsors are Rep. Longhurst and Sen. Blevins. "If my legislator could only see what I do..." H B • House Bill 50 reduces the top personal income tax rate (people earning over $60,000) from 6.95% (what it was in 2009) to 6.6%. It actually is at 6.75% now, a change that the legislature made last year. It roughly equals $24 million of revenue in fiscal year 2014 and $61 million in fiscal year 2015, which is less than if the tax rate stayed at 6.75%, of course. • House Bill 51 reinstates the estate tax, to take effect July 1, 2013. It will bring in approximately $3 million in fiscal year 2014 and $15 million in fiscal year 2015. • House Bill 52 keeps in place the current franchise tax rates, estimated to bring in $80 million in fiscal year 2015. • House Bill 53 reduces the gross receipts tax on businesses other than manufacturing by 1% from what the percentage is now. For manufacturers, the gross receipts tax will be 30% less than in fiscal year 2014. This bill will equal approximately $200,000 in state revenue in fiscal year 2015. www.dsea.org ave you ever said to yourself, "If my legislator could only see what I do, he/she would understand." DSEA would like to give you a chance to make that a reality Just . go to www.dsea.org. Click on Political Action at the top, then How to Volunteer. There you will see a form on which you can check off volunteer activities that are of interest to you. The first one is called "Voices and Faces." If you'd like to be considered for a chance to have one of your area legislators be with you during part of your day, check that box. Alison Solano (right) and Emily Klein thank Governor Markel for his emphasis on improving our ability to help troubled youth access the mental health services they need. The Governor has proposed adding 30 mental health professionals to our middle schools. Solano and Klein are school psychologists and officers in the Delaware Association of School Psychologists. DSEA held a lively Legislator Reception recently in Dover, attended by 31 legislators, the Governor, State Auditor Tom Wagner, 26 DSEA members, and 13 DSEA staff. Bill puts two state employees on SEBC As groups representing the disabled like to say, "Nothing about us without us." he powerful State Employee Benefits Comm., which has jurisdiction over everything health care and pension, does not have anyone on that group that represents state workers. The SEBC is composed of the insurance commissioner, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the state treasurer, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the controller general, the secretary of Finance and the secretary of Health and Social Services, or their designees. A recently-introduced bill, Senate Bill 21, supported by DSEA, would insert this sentence: T In addition, the Governor shall appoint two Committee members from the following persons: The President of the Delaware State Education Association or his/her designee, the Executive Director of the American Federation of To access any bill to read it in full, just go to http://legis. delaware.gov/LIS/LIS147.nsf/ home?openform and plug in whether it is a House or Senate Bill and its number. To see the status of the bills that DSEA is tracking and our position, got to www.dsea.org/ PoliticalAction/Home.html and then click on Legislative Abstract. State County and Municipal Employees or his/her designee, the President of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware or his/her designee, or the President of the Delaware State Troopers Association or his/her designee. The appointment terms shall be for three years, and no organizational representative shall be appointed to more than two consecutive terms. We thank the bill's prime sponsors, Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, and Reps. Kowalko, Mitchell and Keeley . There is an SEBC Advisory Committee that we are a part of, as is DSEA-Retired, but that's the extent of its power: advice. Call to ACTION! Please contact the Governor's Office to let him know that we expect his support of SB21, that the SEBC makes decisions about state worker benefits, yet there are no state workers on it. "Nothing about us without us." Contact the Governor's office at 302-744-4101 in Dover, or 302-5773210 in Wilmington. Or you can send an email by way of his web page at http://smu.governor. delaware.gov/cgi-bin/mail.php? contact. Rep. Paul Baumbach (D-23) first legislator in our new "Voices and Faces of DSEA" campaign "I loved the community feel in the hallways and classrooms at Newark High School, the way teachers and students were engaged and working hard." This was just one comment from Rep. Paul Baumbach who spent a day in the Christina Baumbach District, first on a bus with students out of Wilmington at 6:15am; then with Rebecca Reggio, master teacher and PLC lead at Newark High School, as she observed two teachers and talked about their PLC (Professional Learning Community); on to meet the principal; then time with Karen O'Connell, a paraprofessional; then to work in the cafeteria with Cindy Arnold; then to Keene E.S. with Marilyn Moore, secretary; then back to Newark High to sit in on Rebecca Reggio's PLC. "The picture many people have of our schools is not accurate. We have such dedicated staff. I was very impressed," he said, adding that he was very glad for this opportunity . March/April 2013 DSEA ACTION! 9