Bay to Bay News | by Joseph Edelen
On the final day of the General Assembly’s session, the House of Representatives debated critical legislation regarding bail provisions, rent protections for manufactured-housing communities and renters’ rights into the early hours of July 1.
A proposal that would expand rent protections and add requirements to existing rental agreements has taken two forms since its introduction April 28, and its unique path came to a successful end during the House’s final meeting last week.
The bill’s original form, Senate Substitution 1 for Senate Bill 9, passed through the Senate but failed in the House Manufactured Housing Committee on June 8. It needed just one more vote there; however, committee member and co-sponsor of the legislation, House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, was absent due to a scheduling conflict.
That failure led to an agreement between Rep. Longhurst and prime sponsor Sen. Jack Walsh, D-Stanton, to reintroduce the bill as SB 317, a word-for-word copy of SS 1 for SB 9. It was assigned to the House Administration Committee rather than the House Manufactured Housing Committee, and it received approval.
Subsequently, on the final day of the session, the chair of that committee, Rep. John Kowalko, D-Newark, introduced two amendments to SB 317 — the first to define similar facilities, services, amenities and management as an appraisal prepared by a licensed appraiser, as well as to outline the criteria that an appraiser must consider.
Rep. Kowalko said that would prohibit the inclusion of rental housing maintenance as a justification for higher rent and protect manufactured-housing communities in resort areas from rent increases based on location.
The second amendment would return the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, which rent increases are based upon, back to the 36-month period that previous state law provided. He said the change would help these communities avoid compounding — when rent increases come in abundance, making the rises “doubly onerous” for residents.
Both amendments were deemed unfriendly by SB 317’s lead sponsor in the House, Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark, who said the bill does “an awful lot of things because of the large amount of work between homeowners and community owners.”
However, House Manufactured Housing Committee member Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, said the bill is proof of both sides of the aisle collaborating with stakeholders to craft beneficial legislation.
The bill passed 37-3, with one absent. It was signed into law by Gov. John Carney upon its approval.
Bail provisions
Later in the night, SS 1 for SB 11 was brought to the floor for its final vote.
The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, D-Newark, and Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha, D-Wilmington, is the first step to an amendment to the Delaware Constitution that would, according to the representative, “update and modernize (the) state’s bail system.”
He said the change would provide a “more just system” for detaining individuals who don’t have the proper financial means to post bail, which currently disproportionately affects communities of color. The legislation follows similar acts in surrounding states that have moved toward a more balanced bail system.
“I view it personally, as a community-based social worker, as a piece of legislation that is deeply rooted in public safety but also in justice reform,” Rep. Chukwuocha said. “Having a new bail system that will detain individuals who should have been detained because they are a threat to public safety, but for individuals who are not a threat to public safety, they will not be detained just because they lack the financial resources.”
During House debate last week, after Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover, questioned which crimes would fall under the scope of “preventative detention,” neither Rep. Chukwuocha nor his expert witness, Judge Paul Wallace of Delaware Superior Court, had an answer. They explained that the bill would require accompanying legislation outlining which offenses would be defined this way, but since a constitutional amendment would be required, that list has not been drafted yet.
Rep. Lynn argued that, since the U.S. Constitution states that “excessive bail shall not be required” and contains no provisions regarding preventative detention, the bill would be undoing nearly 750 years of law, originally set by the English Parliament. “Even the king did not have the authority to order an individual be held without bail,” he said.
“How can we possibly be asked to do this at 10:12 on June 30, to amend the Delaware Constitution and undo 750 years’ worth of law, with an hour and 40 minutes left in our legislative session?” Rep. Lynn asked.
Despite his concern, the bill passed 28-11, with two not voting. It awaits Gov. Carney’s signature.
Renters’ right to representation
After the clock struck midnight, Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, D-New Castle, had her chance to bring forth legislation that, at one point, did not look likely to receive consideration in the House chamber.
SS 1 for SB 101, which would provide the right to representation for low-income renters, was not on the original House agenda for the final legislative day. However, as the hours ticked away, lawmakers in the House and Senate pushed for it.
After a motion to suspend House rules, Rep. Minor-Brown introduced House Amendment 1 to the act, which would make changes like the elimination of the minimum amount of arrears required to file for eviction, the elimination of a renter’s ability to stop eviction by paying back rent, the removal of pre-filing eviction diversion and changing it to post-filing eviction diversion, and reducing the time for renters to engage in eviction-diversion programs to 15 days.
The amendment failed, and after the full introduction of the bill, Rep. Jeff Spiegelman, R-Clayton, expressed displeasure with the suspension of rules. He said he hopes House members will consider House Resolution 6 in the future, which would require a three-fifths majority to suspend House regulations, adding that the late consideration of bills such as SB 101 was the main reason for that resolution.
SB 101 was defeated by a vote of 23-16, with two not voting, just prior to 12:30 a.m.