WMDT 47 News
March 1, 2023
Although House Bill 69 died in previous Delaware General Assembly sessions, the dream behind it isn’t dead, says Representative Bryan Shupe.
Bill Dead, Dream Alive
The bill would have established a Residential Drinking Water Purification System Grant program.
“It aimed at helping lower income individuals in our communities all throughout the state of Delaware who had contaminated water, have the ability to have access to state grants to place water filtration systems on their homes,” said Rep. Shupe. “We’re talking about individuals who are barely making ends meet, and helping them with the filtration system so they don’t have to decide between medicine, and taking their kid to the doctor, and clean water.”
Rep. Shupe says the bill enjoyed bipartisan support in both the Senate and House. The legislation passed the House Health and Human Services Committee, and was on its way to a floor vote. However, Rep. Shupe believes politics got in the way of the bill’s progress. That was when Rep. Shupe says he was encouraged by colleagues to find another way to bring the program to life.
“After 2021, I saw that politics were being played even though it had bipartisan support, even though it actually passed the committee for a vote on the House floor. I started working with the Department of Health, and said can we get this done without legislation?” said Rep. Shupe.
Teaming Up
Now, Rep. Shupe and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) are teaming up to get the program up and running, without legislation. Adding, it’s already paid for, because the fund is built up by municipalities’ interest on bond bills for water or sewer infrastructure.
“The money is already there. The fund is ongoing through municipal bonds to the state of Delaware,” said Rep. Shupe.