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Legislative Newsletter - January 2025

Secretary of labor nominee LaKresha Moultrie

Moultrie nominated as state Secretary of Labor


Governor-elect Matt Meyer has pinged another member of his incoming cabinet – native Delawarean and William Penn High School graduate LaKresha Moultrie.


She brings decades of legal experience to the state table including roles such as vice president of legal affairs, general counsel and chief enterprise risk officer at the First State’s only historically black college Delaware State University.


Over the years, she has held several roles with the state of Delaware varying from clerk for the chief judge of Delaware’s family court to entry-level prosecutor to chief deputy attorney general. She served as the deputy attorney general for the Delaware Department of Justice for five years and was later appointed as the director of the Family Division for the department for two years.


“LaKresha brings a wealth of experience, passion, and a deep understanding of the challenges facing Delaware’s workers. She is a proven leader with a track record of empowering individuals, advocating for workers’ rights, and driving economic growth,” Meyer said in the press release. “Her leadership will be critical in building a Delaware where every worker can thrive, from expanding workforce training to ensuring fair wages and safe working conditions.”

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer

Governor Meyer issues Executive Order on Apprenticeship



Governor Matt Meyer issued Executive Order #1, which would commit to increasing youth apprenticeships and earn and learn opportunities. For a copy of the order, click here.


Led by the Delaware Department of Education, Executive Order #1 establishes a statewide working group consisting of at least 15 members from across labor, educational, and nongovernmental sectors, with the ultimate goal of developing proposed processes and policies to expand youth apprenticeships and workforce development across the state.



“If we’re serious about educating our kids, then we need to be serious about the opportunities we want them to have,” said Governor Meyer. “Workforce development programs for youth are integral to growing Delaware’s economy in a way that all families can prosper. This executive order aims to improve access to apprenticeships so we can better prioritize the needs of working families, invest in our children’s futures, and ensure we’re building an efficient and sustainable 21st-century economy.”

SB 43 – HVACR License released from committee


SB 43, a bill that was brought forward by ABC Delaware which would mandate all towns, municipalities, cities and counties recognize the State HVACR master license and not require any additional testing was released from the Senate committee on Wednesday and now awaits a full vote in the Senate. 


ABC formed a coalition with the Delaware Contractor Association, Plumbers/Pipefitters Local 74 and the State Plumbing HVACR board to pass this legislation.


SB 43 will make HVACR licensing throughout the entire State of Delaware consistent, streamlined and equitable to all who wish to be licensed. The state board currently does extensive background checks and vetting to make sure all applicants for Plumbing & HVACR licenses meet mandatory experience requirements. The State Board just passed a regulation for continuing education requirements for license renewals for both Plumbing and HVACR trades. This will ensure municipalities that licensed contractors are up to date with all code and industry changes. For a copy of this bill click here

Delmarva 811 Legislation reviewed by ABC


Delmarva 811 (formerly Miss Utility) spent time this week meeting the ABC Heavy/Civil committee to review legislation they are proposing . The legislation will be the first time in 15 years they have made changes to the law that governs their entity. The Heavy/Civil committee had previously reviewed the initial draft in November of last year and requested changes be made. The meeting this week was to ensure that those changes were made and incorporated into the legislation. 


ABC will receive the final version in the next month before it is officially introduced into the General Assembly later this year. For a copy of the proposed legislation, please click here.

ABC: Victory for Taxpayers and Construction Industry as Court Rules Biden’s Project Labor Agreement Policy Is Illegal


Associated Builders and Contractors today celebrated a decision from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that rules in favor of ABC members that filed bid protests challenging former President Joe Biden’s controversial policy requiring anti-competitive, inflationary, union-favoring project labor agreements on federal construction projects of $35 million or more. 


Judge Ryan T. Holte’s Jan. 19 ruling responds to 12 bid protests filed by experienced ABC member federal contractors against three federal agencies that mandated PLAs in solicitations for construction services as a result of a Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council rule effective Jan. 22, 2024, implementing Biden’s Executive Order 14063.


The Biden policy has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayer watchdogs and lawmakers for needlessly inflating construction costs and effectively steering contracts to unionized firms and union labor at the expense of taxpayers and federal laws requiring fair and open competition.


“ABC and its federal contractor members are ecstatic that the judicial system has delivered justice for American taxpayers and the 90% of the U.S. construction industry workforce that is nonunion,” said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “ABC members were harmed by former President Biden’s costly executive overreach, which violates federal laws and rewards special interests at the expense of fair and open competition.

OMB issues Report on DBE/CWA pilot program progress


The State of Delaware Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its first annual report in response to Section 37 of House Bill 475 of the 152nd General Assembly, regarding the status of OMB's implementation of its Community Workforce Agreement (CWA) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Pilot Program. For a full copy of the report, click here.


OMB selected three projects to be part of the CWA pilot program. These three projects are all in various stages of design and construction. They include the OMB Food Warehouse, the DNREC Lab and the new Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill. OMB selected one project, the Hodgson Vo-Tech school as the DBE pilot project.


ABC is currently reviewing the report and preparing a written response to the data. We will also be contracting with an outside firm to collect our own data on our members demographics in this area.

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