Spotlight Delaware held its annual legislative summit on Wednesday, hosted by Delaware State University in Dover.
In anticipation of lawmakers returning to resume work at the State Capitol next week, the event featured elected leaders and other experts in guided discussions exploring a wide range of public policy issues.
House Minority Whip State Rep. Jeff Spiegelman (R-Clayton, Townsend, Smyrna) was one of four legislative leaders on a panel discussing issues ranging from reassessment to school district consolidation in northern New Castle County.
Resetting Delaware’s top income tax rate bracket, which currently applies a 6.6% rate to annual wages and small-business earnings exceeding $60,000, drew significant interest.
Speaker of the House Melissa Minor Brown (D-New Castle) said setting the top threshold at $60,000 “makes no sense.”
Existing legislation pending action in the House Revenue & Finance Committee, House Substitute 2 for House Bill 13, seeks to create three new tax brackets that would impact high-wage earners and small businesses:
- 6.75% of taxable income in excess of $150,000 but not in excess of $250,000;
- 6.85% of taxable income in excess of $250,000 but not in excess of $500,000;
- 6.95% of taxable income in excess of $500,000.
However, at Wednesday’s summit, Speaker Brown would not commit to any specific proposal or timeline.
Rep. Spiegelman said the issue is more nuanced than it appears, and raising income taxes in an uncertain economy would have negative repercussions for many people, not just those paying the higher rates.
ADDITIONAL
The 2026 Spotlight Delaware Legislative Summit also yielded the following comments and contributions from participants:
IMMIGRATION
State Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark) said she wants House Bill 151 enacted. The legislation, which she introduced on May 1, would prohibit private detention facilities in Delaware.
She also indicated she would look into how local police agencies handle immigration detainers received from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The detainers are requests from ICE to state and local law enforcement agencies (including jails, prisons, or other confinement facilities) asking that ICE be notified as soon as possible before releasing certain unauthorized immigrants. The document also requests that such individuals be held for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so ICE personnel have time to assume custody.
There are currently six House bills aimed at curtailing the potential flow of information about unauthorized immigrants from Delaware state and local agencies to federal officials. Five of the six measures have cleared committee and are eligible for a House vote.
ENERGY
Marcus Beal, Vice President of Governmental and External Affairs for Delmarva Power, said Delaware is facing significant challenges in meeting sharply higher electricity demand. “We were in a situation last year when we were considering shutting off electricity to preserve the integrity of the system,” he said during a panel discussion on energy. “We are marching towards a cliff where supply is not matching demand, and we’ll have to decide where to shed load.”
He said one modest step that could be implemented in the near future is to install batteries at the sites of large solar arrays. Storing excess solar power would provide additional flexibility in meeting local demand.
State Rep. Bryan Shupe, an experienced small business owner and operator, joined Ayanna Khan from the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce (in photo) and Rob Herrera, co-chair of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, as panelists in a Spotlight Delaware forum discussing “Delaware’s Innovation Economy.”
In this brief recap video, Rep. Shupe cited several issues he raised during the discussion, including curtailing state spending, reducing the regulatory and economic burden on small enterprises, and the need to teach Delaware youths that entrepreneurship can be a viable and rewarding career path.
