Joint Finance Committee Meeting

Thursday, February 26, 2026·2h 52m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Joint Finance Committee held budget orientations for the Fire Prevention Commission, DelDOT, and DHSS — flagging a multi-hundred-million-dollar deficit and noting the first-ever inclusion of direct support professional rate increases and child care funding in the Governor's Recommended Budget — while the Delaware Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force heard presentations on spent nuclear fuel storage, SMR technology, and grid reliability, producing sharp disagreement over whether future reprocessing technologies should factor into current policy decisions.

Key Actions

·Fire Prevention Commission – FY2027 Budget Orientation (Tab 75.00)No Vote

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Controversies

Whether future nuclear waste technologies (pyroprocessing, fusion) should inform current policy decisions

Representative Burns argued 'we have to deal with what's here and now not what we hope will be in the future' and stated that if fusion power arrives, current nuclear assets would be 'a stranded asset that's worthless.' An unidentified committee member explicitly responded 'Well, I disagree' and cited Los Alamos, Argonne Labs, OKLO, and Curio as evidence the science is solid, stating 'we have to look at what's possible and then turn what's possible into what's probable.' A third unidentified voice sided with Burns: 'I have to agree with Representative Burns here that you cannot bank on the unknown.'

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Notable Quotes

“That's something I'd be concerned about. Yeah. Madam Co Chair. And then we'll go to Senator Buck. Director, please sit down. Get. You might as well just get comfortable, , Just get comfortable. So this is always very confusing. How many rate studies are there? How many of them are current and how many of them are out of date? I could. I get that. So that's why I kept him here for your. That is a great. That's a great question. I actually had a conversation with the comptroller General yesterday and an attempt to try to map that out as far as where they're at in the process. When's the last time a rate was increased where”
Director Brian Maxwell, Office of Management and Budget — Maxwell was explaining why the FY2027 Governor's Recommended Budget is unusual, noting first-time inclusion of a $10,582,900 direct support professional rate increase and $25,266,200 in child care policy changes — items previously left to the Joint Finance Committee.

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TranscriptPreview

Members, please take your seats. On today's agenda, we will start with orientation for fire. That includes the fire school, the Fire Prevention Commission, as well as the fire marshal. Then we will have orientation for del.del. will be heard after lunch and then after the del. Hearing. Before we break for the day, we will do the orientation for dhss. No, we're going to do the orientation for DHSS this morning as well, just after Fire or Delta and we'll do DHSS orientation. Okay, let me, let me restate that. We will actually do the orientation for DHSS after we complete the orientation for DEL dot. And just as a reminder to everyone here today and anyone who is tuning in, the Joint Finance Committee will be meeting on Monday beginning at 9am so with that, Mr. Smith, please kick off the orientation starting with fire. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So we will be under tab 75. 00 in your binders for the Fire Prevention Commission. The Fire Prevention Commission is made up of the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Delaware State Fire, the State Fire Commission for fiscal year 2026. The base budget contains 28.5 ASFF…

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