Page 25 - Delaware Lawyer - Summer 2021

A town hall discussion of the COVID emergency on June 25 outside the gym- nasium at P. S. duPont Elementary School in Wilmington.
cising his emergency authority. More to the purpose of these pages, I do know that the decisions yet to come, includ- ing from other officials, are the ones that will evidence the extent to which the pandemic has impacted the aware- ness, ingenuity and empathy of Dela- ware’s policymakers.
The formal state of emergency, al- ready now concluded, will end up being far shorter in duration than the negative consequences of the pandemic. Even as many Delawareans continue to grapple with the fallout of the pandemic, policy- making in Delaware will initially return more fully to the familiar legal structure in which legislative bodies at different levels of government pass laws, and executives at different levels of govern- ment advance regulations and initia- tives, in the absence of an overarching emergency-powers framework.
Yet will policymaking processes be fa- miliar as we exit the pandemic? Will their results? I hope not. And here is why.
We have the opportunity to increase public participation and trust in govern- ment, especially with the use of technol- ogy. Social distancing during the pan- demic compelled the adoption of dif- ferent technology platforms. “Zoom” became a familiar term and, for some, a daily routine. Virtual platforms became an essential tool for the operation of government. Various legislative bodies adopted them within weeks of the pan- demic forcing closures. The Delaware General Assembly, a larger body with a broader charge and more complicated operations, adopted the Zoom video conferencing platform for streamlined legislating in June 2020. In January 2021, the General Assembly began a new session, including virtual commit- tee hearings that enabled Delawareans to attend and provide public comment via Zoom. Since then, we have experi- enced record levels of citizen participa- tion in our legislative process. Zoom rooms hold more participants than physical rooms at Legislative Hall, and more Delawareans are able to observe or participate in committee meetings when they do not have to take off work and travel to Dover. Full-chamber views are now live-streamed during our floor debates and roll calls. Delawareans can
more readily hear and see their state leg- islators in action, in real time.
Should the shift to virtual legislating become permanent? No. Pre-pandemic, Delaware was the only state in the coun- try where the public could sit on the floor of the legislature during session, an arm’s-length away from the elected officials crafting the fundamental laws of our community. We should embrace that identity again. While doing so, however, we should adopt the use of technology to facilitate continued ease of remote engagement in our proceed- ings. Delaware was also one of the last states to livestream full-chamber video, a practice we now plan to continue go- ing forward. Committee hearings also should continue to utilize technology to solicit input from Delawareans who cannot attend in-person for whatever reason.
Certain limits are appropriate. Espe- cially for heavily attended hearings on controversial subjects, some people who sign up to speak likely will not end up being given time to do so, and all speak- ers likely will be subject to a reasonable time limit. Similar formats can apply to other legislative bodies in Delaware and other policymaking forums.
This context reminds me of sage
The decisions yet to come are the ones that will evidence the extent to which the pandemic has impacted the awareness, ingenuity and empathy of Delaware’s policymakers.
SUMMER 2021 DELAWARE LAWYER 23
SAQUAN STIMPSON