With forecasts projecting a strong bump in state revenue for this fiscal year, lawmakers in the Joint Finance Committee voted last month to fund a number of priorities in the budget for next year.

Every year in Delaware, the governor sends a proposed budget over to legislators in the committee, which is composed of lawmakers from both the House and the Senate. The committee reviews the budget bill section by section, voting on each one. The legislation is then voted on by each chamber.

The budget bill is not the only source of funding for state priorities. The Bond and Capital Improvements and the Grants-in-Aid acts, which are also passed yearly, appropriate additional funding for things like public facilities and non-profit organizations respectively.

Here’s an overview of a few notable items from this year’s joint finance hearings.

The McNesby Act

The committee voted to fully fund the McNesby Act this year, upping the pay rate to direct support professionals that aid people with disabilities. (After the legislation was signed into law in 2019, lawmakers decided against funding it at the level authorized by the bill.) Advocates had been urging this change, arguing that a lack of funding was causing a shortage of direct support personnel in the state.

Clean Slate Act

Lawmakers voted to fund up to 27 full-time employees to help administrate the Clean Slate Act, which automatically expunges eligible arrest and conviction records. A companion bill expanded the number of charges that qualify for mandatory expungement (and therefore subject to automatic expungement under the Clean Slate Act.)

State employee raises

Committee members voted to increase state employee salaries by up to 9%, depending on pay grade — with the highest raises going to employees who make the least. The minimum raise an employee would see is 2.3% under the plan.

Public school bus drivers

The Joint Finance Committee also approved a pay raise for public school bus drivers, hoping to address a pandemic-exacerbated shortage. The JFC earmarked $11.7 million specifically for driver compensation — which could entail an effective raise to $21 an hour from $15.92 an hour — although pay is ultimately determined by the contracting companies that hire drivers.