Senate adopts Office of New Americans with three-year sunset to evaluate results
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Summary
The Delaware Senate passed Senate Bill 27 to codify an Office of New Americans, adding a three-year sunset amendment requiring a report to measure effectiveness; sponsors and multiple senators cited immigrant contributions to the state’s labor force and tax base.
Senate Bill 27, which would amend Title 29 of the Delaware Code to establish the Office of New Americans, passed the Delaware Senate on Jan. 14 after the chamber adopted a three-year sunset amendment requiring a follow-up evaluation.
Sponsor Senator D. Brown said the measure formalizes an office that has operated under epilogue language and argued it would help foreign-born residents integrate and contribute to the state. "Ultimately helping immigrants to settle in Delaware will strengthen the fabric of our state and lay a stronger foundation for continued success," Brown said, citing 2023 figures that identified 115,129 foreign-born residents (11.6% of the state population), who comprised 15.1% of the labor force and contributed approximately $440,000,000 in state and local taxes.
The nut of the Senate debate centered on program design and oversight. Senator R. Richardson filed two amendments, withdrawing the first and pressing Amendment 2, which adds a three-year sunset and directs a report after that period to assess whether the office should continue and whether allotted funds have achieved intended outcomes. "This bill simply asked that...asked for a sunset of this after 3 years so that it can be evaluated," Richardson said during floor remarks.
Senator L. Lawson asked what the bill defines as an "immigrant." Brown replied the bill does not include a technical definition and said his references were to "foreign-born residents" who are legally present in the state. Several senators shared personal anecdotes and asked to be added as cosponsors; senators Manzanvinos, Pinkney, Lockman, Zappolla and others were noted as joining.
The Senate first voted on Amendment 2, which passed 19–2 (Senators Cruz and Siegfried voted no). After the amendment was incorporated, the full bill passed 21–0. The bill as amended now includes the three-year sunset and reporting requirement specified in Amendment 2.
The next procedural step is transmission of the enrolled bill to the House (or to the governor, per statutory sequence) for further action; floor materials noted related resolutions remain in senators’ binders for consideration the following day. The Senate also recorded routine housekeeping and committee notices before standing in recess.