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Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee Meeting

Thursday, January 29, 2026·1h 47m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee advanced three items: a draft bill to rename itself, a conditional release of DENREC from permit-process review contingent on forthcoming legislation, and a release of DDDS from review upon enactment of a new annual reporting requirement.

Key Actions

·Draft Legislation (ending in 168) – Committee Name ChangePassed

+ 4 more actions

Controversies

Committee name change: retaining the word 'Sunset'

Senator Huxtable proposed keeping the word 'Sunset' by constructing the alternative acronym 'State Unified Nonpartisan Supervision Evaluation of Throughput,' arguing that everyone really likes the term sunset. The chair responded that if that motion passed, they would always refer to it by its full name and never the acronym. An unnamed speaker said they planned to put the name-change bill on a consent agenda in the House and did not feel it needed much discussion. Senator Huxtable's proposal did not result in a formal motion or vote.

+ 2 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“We are trying to rebuild the plane while flying it. Permits are continuing to come in, the backlog is continuing to be there. We're trying to do the process improvements, we're trying to create new general permits and statewide activity approvals. That's all with the same set of the same number of people, augmented to some degree by temp staff and contractors and consultants.”

Secretary Patterson (Secretary of DENREC) — Secretary Patterson was describing the challenge of simultaneously reducing the existing permit backlog and redesigning the permitting process, while permit applications continue to arrive at the same pace.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Motion to release the draft name-change legislation for introductionPassed
Yes (8)Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair, Representative Ortega, Representative Roslevin, Representative Jones Giltner, Senator Huxtable, Senator Poore, Senator Pettyjohn
Absent (2)Representative Collins, Senator Richardson
Motion to release DENREC permit processing from review from sunset contingent upon DENREC providing the aforementioned bill and enactment of that billPassed
Yes (10)Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair, Representative Ortega, Representative Ross Levin, Representative Collins, Representative Jones Giltner, Senator Huxtable, Senator Poore, Senator Pettyja, Senator Richardson
Motion to adopt the draft recommendation and also to release DDDS from review upon enactmentPassed
Yes (10)Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair, Representative Ortega, Representative Ross Levin, Representative Collins, Representative Jones Giltner, Senator Huxtable, Senator Poore, Senator Pettyjohn, Senator Richardson
Motion to approve the January 22, 2026 minutesPassed
Yes (9)Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair, Representative Ortega, Representative Ros Levin, Representative Collins, Representative James Giltner, Senator Huxtable, Senator Pettyjohn, Senator Richardson
Absent (1)Senator Poore
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TranscriptPreview
Okay. We will now move on to the discussion of draft legislation. I will now ask our legislative attorney, Holly, to walk us through this draft legislation. Thank you. Good morning. I'm Holly Von Wagner, attorney for the committee, and I'm going to present to you a draft bill regarding the change of the committee's name. And it's the draft that, in the lower left hand corner, should end in the number 168 in your packet. So on January 15, the committee voted to change its name from Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee to Joint Legislative Oversight Committee. A little bit of background really quickly. In 1980, the committee was established as the Joint sunset committee. In 2017, it changed its name to what it is now, and it expanded its name to emphasize the oversight work of the committee. Meanwhile, over time, many states have downsized or repealed their sunset processes in favor of targeted oversight and performance evaluation. And Delaware started making the shift in 2020. In 2023, the committee's statute was updated to reflect its modern review practices and standards. And that's when the committee's new focused review was created. So, turning to today's draft bill,…
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