Legislative Newsletter - December 2024

Representative Melissa Minor-Brown selected as New Speaker of the House

Minor-Brown selected as new House Speaker

Democrat Melissa Minor-Brown was selected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives at a recent meeting. Kerri Evelyn-Harris was voted as House Majority Leader and Ed Osienski as House Majority Whip.

The Republicans voted Tim Dukes as the House Minority Leader and Jeff Spiegelman as House Minority Whip

The House stands at 27 Democrats and 14 Republicans.

Senator Dave Sokola(D) elected as Senate Pro-Tem Leader

Sokola elected as Senate Pro-Tem Leader



Senator Dave Sokola was voted as the Senate Pro-Tem by the Democrat caucus at their meeting following the election. Brian Townsend was voted as Senate Majority Leader and Tizzie Lockman was selected as Senate Majority Whip.

The Republicans selected Gerald Hocker as Senate Minority Leader and Brian Pettyjohn as Senate Minority Whip.

The Senate stands at 15 Democrats and 6 Republicans

Delaware paid leave extension till December 15

Are you planning to use a private insurance plan instead of the Delaware Paid Leave plan to provide paid Family and Medical Leave benefits? In that case, you must submit your policy for consideration by December 15, 2024.

What is Delaware Paid Leave?

Delaware Paid Leave is the name of Delaware’s Paid Family Medical Leave (“PFML”) insurance program that was created through the Healthy Delaware Families Act (the “Act”), which was signed in to law in May of 2022. The Act is a new state law based on the 30+ year-old federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows employees of larger companies take unpaid but job-protected leave when they experience certain significant events in their lives. Delaware’s new program will pay income-replacement benefits to those employees that face the same types of life events that FMLA covers.

Beginning on January 1, 2025, employers that are required to participate in this plan must begin assessing contribution rates against their employees’ covered wages. Employers that are covered by the mandate can require their employees to share in part of the cost of this program. Employers are legally responsible for 100% of the required contributions, but they may deduct up to half of the cost of the program from their employees’ paychecks.

Contributions into and benefits from Delaware Paid Leave are based upon the Federal Insurance Contribution Act (“FICA”) wages that you earned inside the State of Delaware. Employers can require their employees to pay up to 0.4% of covered wages (or 0.04%, if the employer is only mandated to provide Family Caregiver/QE Leave). In any year, “covered wages” are limited to the same maximum as is used for Social Security taxes.

Beginning January 1, 2026, Delaware workers can start taking paid job-protected leave. The contributions from this first year of the program will be used to build the Trust Fund that will pay out PFML claims and expenses.

What type(s) of leave is my employer required to provide?

The type(s) of PFML coverage your employer is required to provide depends upon the number of eligible Delaware employees your employer has:

• Employers with 1-9 covered employees are not required to provide PFML benefits
• Employers with 10-24 covered employees are required to provide Parental Leave.
• Employers with 25 or more covered employees are required to provide all PFML coverages.

Employers may choose to opt-in to the Delaware Paid Leave (DPL) insurance program to provide more benefits than required.

Click here to visit de.gov/paidleave for more information. 

ABC Post Election Webinar - December 10

Please join us for a webinar breaking down the 2024 Election Results with ABC National Staff on Tuesday, December 10^th. We hope you will be able to attend to gain valuable insight on this year’s races and how they will affect the merit-shop construction industry. We look forward to seeing you there!

Title: Mid-Atlantic Post-Election Region Seminar

Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

Length: 90 minutes

Speaker(s): Melanie Pfeiffenberger, ABC National; Kristen Swearingen, ABC National; Vance Walter, ABC National

Moderator: Hunter Bendall, Senior Vice President - Marsh McLennan Agency, ABC PAC Trustee

WEBINAR DESCRIPTION

On Tuesday, December 10 at 2:30 p.m. join Melanie Pfeiffenberger, Kristen Swearingen and Vance Walter from the ABC National Government Affairs team as they breakdown the results of the 2024 election, ABC’s impact, and what to expect in 2025. All ABC members are eligible to attend the webinar and are invited to ask relevant questions.

Please find the registration link HERE: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8332653712570119007

ABC: Withdrawal of Biden Administration’s Apprenticeship Rule a Victory for Stakeholders

Associated Builders and Contractors today issued the following statement applauding the withdrawal of the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule overhauling regulations related to government-registered apprenticeship programs, or GRAPs.

“ABC fully supports government-registered apprenticeship programs as a key component of the construction industry’s all-of-the-above solution to upskilling the more than half a million new workers needed in 2024 alone, but the DOL’s proposed apprenticeship overhaul was out of touch with the needs of employers and apprentices, and was a missed opportunity to modernize and expand the apprenticeship system,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “We are pleased that the Biden administration heeded the concerns of ABC and industry GRAP stakeholders and halted this unnecessarily costly and burdensome policy change, which would have restricted GRAP system growth and exacerbated the construction industry’s labor shortage.

“Feedback from ABC’s GRAP stakeholders on the proposed rule was overwhelmingly negative, with 94% of respondents stating that the proposal would increase the costs of participating in or sponsoring a GRAP and 90% saying they would be less likely to start their own GRAP as a result of the DOL’s proposal,” said Brubeck.

“ABC and its chapters are educating craft, safety and management professionals in construction using innovative and flexible learning models like just-in-time task training, competency-based progression and work-based learning, in addition to more than 450 federal and state GRAPs in over 20 occupations across America, in order to develop a safe, skilled and productive workforce,” said John Mielke, ABC senior director of apprenticeship.

Texas District Court Strikes Down Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements

Small businesses received a resounding victory on the fight against the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements. An early holiday gift to Main Street, a federal district court in Texas has issued a decision in NFIB’s lawsuit against the BOI requirements. The court blocked the Department of Treasury and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) from enforcing the BOI requirements.

Recall that NFIB filed its lawsuit back in May to overturn the BOI mandates. They argued that the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which established the BOI requirements, exceeds Congress’s authority and violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution. NFIB has long argued that the CTA illegally imposes burdensome requirements on small businesses, infringes on free speech by forcing disclosure of private information, and constitutes and unreasonable search.

The district court agreed. Known as the Commerce Clause, Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution states that “The Congress shall have power . . . To regulate commerce . . . among the several states[.]” The Government claimed that the BOI requirements were a valid exercise of Congress’s Commerce Clause power. Not so said the district court. It concluded that the “fact that a company is a company does not knight Congress with some supreme power to regulate them in all aspects—especially through the CTA, which does not facially regulate commerce.”

The court also weighed how far to extend its holding. In our judicial system, judges have the option to narrow their decisions to the parties before them in a given case. In a previous case out of Alabama, a judge ruled that the CTA was unconstitutional but applied that decision to only the few parties that brought the case. Because of the breadth and strength of NFIB’s membership, ALL small businesses across the country are relieved from the BOI requirements. Take it from the district court itself:

“At the Court’s hearing, Plaintiffs suggested that they sought an injunction on behalf of only the Plaintiffs before the Court, including the approximately 300,000 members of NFIB. The Government responded that if the Court were to enjoin the CTA and Reporting Rule, the scope of which included NFIB’s members, then the Court would, in practical effect, enter a nationwide injunction. The Court agrees with the Government’s point. A nationwide injunction is appropriate in this case. . . . NFIB’s membership extends across the country. And, as the Government states, the Court cannot provide Plaintiffs with meaningful relief without, in effect, enjoining the CTA and Reporting Rule nationwide. The extent of the constitutional violation Plaintiffs have shown is best served through a nationwide injunction.”

For now, the January 1, 2025, reporting deadline is delayed until a higher court holds otherwise.

NFIB expects the government to appeal this decision. They are prepared to defend the district court decision and fight against the burdensome and unconstitutional BOI requirements as long as the government seeks to saddle small business owners with this mandate.

ABC to introduce legislation on Statewide recognition of Plumbing/HVAC license in January

ABC Delaware will be introducing legislation that would mandate all cities, towns, municipalities and counties recognize the State of Delaware Master Plumbing and HVAC license. The license is issues by the State Plumbing HVACR board. Currently the only city that does not recognize the license is Wilmington who still requires testing even though you have received a state license.

Senator Spiros Mantzavinos and Representative Ed Osienski will be the lead sponsors for the bill in both chambers.

ABC believes the following with regards to this issue:

• We want to make the licensing throughout the entire State of Delaware streamlined and equitable to all who wish to be licensed. ·        
• State of Delaware does extensive background checks and vetting to make sure all applicants for testing meet experience requirements. A member of the Attorney General’s office sits on the State of Delaware Plumbing & HVAC Board to make sure the board follows the law.
• State of Delaware just passed a regulation for continuing education for both Plumbing and HVAC. This is the first time this has been used throughout the State. This will help the City of Wilmington with keeping the licensed contractors up to speed with all code and industry changes. The City of Wilmington does not have this.
• All other municipalities in Delaware recognize the State of Delaware license as the only requirement for getting a license in the respective municipalities. They do not require additional testing.

We will have more information once it has been filed and how you can help us pass this legislation.