Housing: 

• One of Senator Huxtable’s signature accomplishments this year was his Housing Agenda, a robust bipartisan package of seven bills that were filed as a result of community engagement he solicited during his statewide Affordable Housing Listening Tour. While there is no single bill that will solve Delaware’s affordable housing crisis, this slate of legislation will help by addressing Delaware’s lack of housing units, ensuring more are available at a price range families can afford.

  • ​​Senator Huxtable sponsored Senate Bill 22 (S1), which creates the Delaware Workforce Housing Program, modeled after the highly successful Downtown Development District program (2014), which will offer new state incentives to help spur workforce housing development in high-density population areas.

  • Senator Huxtable sponsored Senate Bill 23 (S1), which requires Delaware counties and municipalities to develop ordinances that allow for the construction of at least one accessory dwelling unit per single-family home by right within their jurisdictions.

  • Senator Huxtable sponsored Senate Bill 25, which lowers the cost of building new affordable housing projects statewide by fully exempting low-to-moderate income dwelling units from the state’s 2% improvement tax.

  • Senator Huxtable sponsored Senate Bill 244, which authorizes any county that collects a lodging tax to allocate some or all of the proceeds to support workforce and affordable housing programs within that respective county.

  • Senator Huxtable sponsored Senate Bill 245 (S1), codifying the Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Financial Education and the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program that both help homeowners navigate or avoid the foreclosure process.

  • Senator Huxtable sponsored Senate Bill 246, creating the Housing Repair and Modification Fund to support eligible home repairs that help protect the health of struggling families and help them stay in their homes longer.

  • Senator Huxtable sponsored Senate Bill 247 (S1), creating a clearer and more workable system to protect manufactured housing residents from rent increases from landlords within 12 months of recording a health and safety violation.

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Environment:

• In response to overwhelming public opposition to the construction of a restaurant within Cape Henlopen State Park, Senator Huxtable passed Senate Bill 6 to clarify that the state must preserve the “scenic, historic, scientific, prehistoric, and wildlife values” of the state park lands and ensure that use of the land for financial gain by a for-profit enterprise is not detrimental to the public benefit.

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Education:

• Senator Huxtable passed Senate Bill 186 to allow voluntary school assessments in Sussex County, a measure unanimously supported by Sussex school districts, that enables the County to charge developers a per-unit fee to offset the costs needed to expand school districts to accommodate population growth.

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Agriculture: 

• Through Senator Huxtable’s sponsorship of House Bill 87 that established the Delaware Agricultural Production Assistance Program, the state will provide a subsidy for eligible farmers’ multi-peril crop insurance premium.

• Senator Huxtable’s sponsorship of House Bill 392 allows dairy operators to be reimbursed for the cost of the premium to enroll in the USDA dairy operation risk management program.

• Senator Huxtable sponsored House Bill 423 to support farm winery businesses, permitting them to apply for a license to use a portion of their premises as a restaurant.