Money issues likely to highlight Delaware legislative session

DATELINE: DOVER Del.

An old saying around Legislative Hall is that the sometimes contentious budget drafting process is easier when everyone realizes there's not much money to throw around.

If the adage holds true, the budget debate during the General Assembly session that starts Jan. 8 could be relatively tame.

"I think it's going to be a very lean year for money," said House Minority Leader Robert Gilligan, D-Wilmington. "When you don't have money, you tell people, and most sensible people don't bother you."

According to the latest official estimates, revenue for fiscal 2009, which starts July 1, is expected to total $3.52 billion, down $53.4 million from the June estimate. The decrease would be even worse without the 60-cents-per-pack cigarette tax increase that took effect this year and is expected to boost revenue by an estimated $66 million for FY2009. Estimated revenue for the current fiscal year has dropped by $36.4 million since June, despite an expected $49 million boost from the cigarette tax.

Not surprisingly, Minner administration officials said they will take a cautious approach in fashioning the governor's proposed budget, which will be released in January.

"I think the focus is going to be, at least in my caucus, on reducing spending rather than increasing taxes or fees," said House Majority Leader Richard Cathcart, R-Middletown.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Copeland said growth in state pending has outpaced revenue growth, and that there's been little in the way of economic development.

"We have a serious, serious, budget crisis that is facing us," said Copeland, R-Greenville, adding that the state needs to do more to encourage the startup of biotechnology and information technology firms.

"The only thing that saved us last year was a spike in the taking of escheat money from corporations," he said, referring to the collection of abandoned property such as forgotten bank accounts and stock certificates. "You can't go to that well too many times."

With money tight, new slot machine competition in Pennsylvania, and a November referendum in Maryland on whether to legalize slot machines there, Delaware lawmakers may take a closer look on whether to embrace sports wagering.

By virtue of as failed experiment with sports gaming in the late 1970s, Delaware is one of only four states, along with Nevada, Montana and Oregon, given grandfathered exemptions from a 1992 federal law banning sports gambling.

Sports wagering is the top legislative priority for Delaware's gambling industry, but Gov. Ruth Ann Minner has indicated in the past that she would veto any bill allowing sports betting.

"I'm not big on introducing bills or voting for bills that are going to be vetoed," said Senate President Pro Tem Thurman Adams, D-Bridgeville.

Adams noted that passage of the Maryland referendum is not a sure thing, and that even if it passes, Maryland would need substantial time to get its slot machines up and running.

While money matters will be discussed throughout the six-month session, lawmakers also will address a host of other contentious matters.

Concerns about patient abuse and neglect, inadequate care and other problems at the state-run Delaware Psychiatric Center are likely to result in legislation mandating improvements. Democrats have tried to delay a final report by a Republican-led House committee investigating the hospital, which also was reviewed by a task force appointed by Minner.

Meanwhile, state officials have delayed a final decision on whether the nation's first offshore wind farm should be built off the coast of Delaware. Lawmakers fear the project would be too expensive and have questions about who should pay for it.

Legislators also will discuss whether charter schools should be allowed take advantage of "conduit" bonding through the state to borrow money at low interest rates for capital projects. In rejecting such a request by the Delaware Military Academy earlier this year, Minner administration officials said the question should be resolved by lawmakers.

Government authority to exercise eminent domain will be debated by lawmakers amid controversy surrounding development on the Wilmington riverfront. Property owners are fighting efforts by the city to have their property condemned and sold to developers as part of an urban renewal effort.

"I think it is a bad idea to allow government to take property from one person and give it to another just because we don't like the kind of business the first person is in," Copeland said.

Copeland said one of his key priorities is passing open-government legislation to shed more light on what lawmakers are doing and how state agencies and schools are spending their money. Efforts to make the General Assembly subject to Delaware's Freedom of Information Act have had little success as Republicans and Democrats spar over competing measures.

"It has the potential of being kind of a pingpong ball," Cathcart said.