WDEL | by Amy Cherry
Just one day before the end of the legislative session, the Delaware House passed two key spending bills that are now heading to Governor John Carney’s desk for his signature.
The $54 million grants-in-aid bill that gives state funding to senior centers, non-profits, and volunteer fire companies, passed unanimously in both the state House and state Senate in virtual sessions.
The $708 million capital bond bill, of which funding goes towards school and road construction, had just one “no” vote in the House Monday from state Rep. John Kowalko, who objected to economic development in the form of corporate handouts.
“This endless circle of stopping once at the tollbooth, giving money to the toll, to just continue our way around the circle again to come back to the tollbooth again, to put the money in the corporation’s pockets, I don’t know any other way to stop this since it seems to me this state is built on this corporate welfare thing, except to not support the bond bill,” Kowalko said.
Combined, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership — a public-private partnership — and the state’s Strategic Fund, used to lure companies to the state or help others expand, received $15.4 million in the bond bill.
Monday, it was announced that Barclays would be bringing 300 new jobs to its Wilmington headquarters due to a partnership with the Delaware Prosperity Partnership and a $2.5 million grant approved by the Council on Development Finance, that’s tied to performance measures and meeting employment posts.