AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL TO BE KNOWN AS THE DUPONT-COOK FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT.
HB 370 codifies the Delaware Economic & Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) into state law and renames the governing subchapter the DuPont-Cook Financial Responsibility Act. DEFAC currently operates by executive order; this bill formally establishes it in Title 29 of the Delaware Code to preserve its existence and provide a statutory framework for its membership, duties, quorum rules, and reporting obligations.
The bill sets DEFAC’s membership range at 25 to 34 members, including legislative appointees, gubernatorial appointees from the public and private sectors, and specified ex officio state officials. It also requires regular meetings, public roll-call votes, annual and multi-year revenue and expenditure estimates, and an annual report on forecast accuracy and fiscal risks. In addition, it creates a DEFAC Health Care Spending Benchmark Subcommittee to support work related to Delaware’s health care spending benchmark, with members drawn from DEFAC, the Governor, the General Assembly, and health care expertise roles.
The bill would move DEFAC from an executive-order body to a statutory entity, strengthening its permanence and clarifying its authority under Delaware law. It would also expressly tie DEFAC to several existing statutory responsibilities, including revenue forecasting, debt limit-related duties, tax preference review, benchmark index and reserve reporting, inflation adjustment calculations, and health care spending benchmark oversight. State agencies, especially the Department of Finance, would be required to provide data, analysis, staffing, and reasonable financial support when requested or authorized, increasing the operational support available to DEFAC and formalizing interagency cooperation.
The overall sentiment appears strongly favorable and bipartisan. The bill’s findings emphasize DEFAC’s long-standing role in promoting fiscal prudence, balanced budgets, and nonpartisan economic and revenue forecasting, and the sponsor list includes members from both parties in both chambers. The recorded House Third Reading vote was unanimous, 35-0, indicating broad support and little visible opposition.
There is little evidence of major controversy in the available materials. The main policy choice is whether to codify a council that has historically existed by executive order, but the bill frames that change as a continuity and transparency measure rather than a substantive shift in fiscal policy. Any potential points of interest are structural: the Governor retains appointment power over the chair and many members, while the bill also expands public reporting and formalizes a health care spending subcommittee. No committee testimony or recorded objections are provided, so no specific factional opposition is identifiable from the record.