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Committee advances constitutional amendment to protect right to organize after contested debate
Summary
Representative Burns introduced HB 234 to amend the Delaware Constitution to affirmatively protect workers' right to organize; the Controller General warned the broadly written amendment could expand bargainable items and carry indeterminable, potentially significant fiscal impacts, while unions and advocacy groups argued both for and against the measure. The committee voted to circulate the bill for signatures.
Representative Burns presented House Bill 234, a proposed amendment to Article I of the Delaware Constitution to affirmatively protect the right to organize and collectively bargain. Burns cited Illinois' 2022 amendment as precedent and urged the committee to move the measure to the floor. "This bill is an amendment to the Delaware State Constitution to affirmatively protect the right to organize," Burns said, adding that states that protect collective bargaining have seen growth in union participation.
Committee members questioned fiscal consequences. Controller General Ruth Ann Miller told the committee the fiscal note characterizes the bill's impact as "indeterminable" and "potentially significant," and warned the amendment could expand the scope of bargainable items to include pensions, health care and position classification — areas historically determined legislatively or via the budget process. "Upon implementation of this bill, the scope of what could be collectively bargained will include... pension, health care, other benefits that are not currently bargainable now," Miller said.
Testimony reflected sharp divisions. Opponents included Andrew Haines, executive director of the Public Employer Labor Relations Association, Lincoln Willis of the Delaware League of Local Governments and business representatives who described the amendment as broadly written and likely to invite litigation and fiscal uncertainty. "As written, HB 234 will impose a constitutional obligation on employers rather than preserving a permissive framework," Haines said.
Supporters included Stephanie Ingram, president of the Delaware State Education Association, who argued the amendment protects fundamental worker freedoms and cited studies that associate unionization with higher wages and improved benefits. Academic witness Isaac Gebolla Corollis described decades of research showing unions raise wages and lower turnover.
Assistant House Attorney Rayanne Warner acknowledged that the amendment's language could be interpreted to expand bargaining beyond current limits and said it would also protect against future 'right to work' legislation. Burns said he intended to protect workers' current rights and would consider drafting clarifications.
At the meeting's close, the committee took a motion to release/circulate HB 234. Roll-call votes were: Chair Harris yes; Vice Chair Ozinski yes; Speaker Minor Brown absent; Representative Dukes no; Representative Spiegelman no. The clerk announced the committee will circulate the bill and, if it receives enough signatures, it will be posted and announced on the House floor.
