Delaware Bills

This Act extends the Clean Air Act Title V Operating Permit Program annual fees for facilities in Delaware, which have historically expired and been reauthorized by the General Assembly every 3 years. Existing statutory authorization to collect fees sunsets December 31, 2026. This legislation updates the fee assessments based on the work of the Title V Operating Permit Program Advisory Committee and makes additional clarifying updates. For 2027-2029, the total fee will be comprised of a base fee, user fee, and a program fee. Base fees are based on the number of staff hours spent on the source’s permitting, compliance, and enforcement activities, while the user fee is based on the source’s air emissions. The program fee will be assessed based on the total base and user fees. This Act authorizes the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to collect Title V annual fees for calendar years 2027 through 2029 at which point the authority sunsets and would need to be reauthorized.

Currently, if a licensed Delaware attorney pays off a mortgage in conjunction with a real-estate settlement and the lender fails to file a satisfaction piece within 60 days, the attorney may administratively satisfy that mortgage to clear the title record. Unfortunately, often other types of liens that are paid off remain unsatisfied and cloud title for the homeowner. This Act clarifies that a licensed Delaware attorney may also file an administrative satisfaction or partial release for any other type of lien that the Delaware attorney paid off.

This Delaware bill allows a staff member to attend a virtual meeting from an anchor location instead of a public body member. The change updates the rules for virtual meetings in Title 29 of the Delaware Code to include this specific staffing arrangement. It directly affects public bodies in the state by modifying how they conduct remote sessions. The legislation was passed by both the House and Senate to formalize this procedural adjustment.

This Act clarifies that penalties associated with section 4512 of Title 21, relating to truck parking, are applicable to parking violations in both residence and non-residence districts. This Act further clarifies that truck tractors (with and without attached trailers) may be prohibited from stopping, standing, or parking on highways in the same manner as trailers and semitrailers.

This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 289 by retaining the State Treasurer as a member of the State Employee Benefits Committee (Committee) and making the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources a nonvoting member. Like SB 289, this Act allows the appointed members of the Committee to select designees to attend Committee and subcommittee meetings, as is currently allowed for Committee members serving by virtue of position. This change does not apply to meetings of the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee. The authority that appointed the member must approve the appointed member’s proposed designee and the appointed member must provide that written approval to the Committee chair or subcommittee chair, as applicable. In addition, this Act makes the Controller General a voting member of the Committee. This Act also adds the Chair of the Delaware Health Care Commission to the Committee and designates that individual as the Chair of the Committee. Further, this Act makes the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who currently chairs the Committee, a regular voting member. This Act clarifies that proposal review committees are subcommittees and clarifies that the membership or attendance of a quorum of Committee members on or at a subcommittee meeting does not constitute a meeting of the Committee. The Act requires that official action by a subcommittee requires a roll call vote.

This Act changes the date by which a person who wishes to be nominated for Town Council in the Town of Ocean View must file their Certification of Intent and $50 filing fee with the Board of Elections from at least 30 days prior to the election to at least 45 days prior to the election.

This Act clarifies that security film is distinct from ballistic-resistant materials, and adds that school construction will satisfy the requirements of § 2306(b) if ballistic-resistant materials are used in the required locations. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act safeguards elections in this State by strengthening fairness and impartiality in both the conduct of elections and the enforcement of election laws. Election protections are strengthened because this Act updates Title 15 so that the terms and procedures reflect modern vocabulary, technology, and best practices. Most of the revisions in this Act are technical, clarifications, or conform existing law to current practices in regard to determining an individual’s place of residence, requirements for electronic voting system software, performing audits of election results, and adjudicating or curing deficient absentee ballots. Section 1 revises the terms and definitions for Title 15 as follows: • Repeals obsolete terms. • Revises current terms and definitions to accurately reflect the organization of the Department of Elections (Department), the use of electronic voting systems, and conform to drafting standards. • Adds additional defined terms that are already used in Title 15, to provide consistency and clarity in this State’s election laws. Section 1 also codifies how the Department determines residency for purposes of registering to vote and to be a candidate for office in a new § 103 of Title 15. This new section provides that an individual’s place of residence is fixed and is a place that the individual physically inhabits and requires that residence be broadly construed to provide all eligible voters with the opportunity to participate in the democratic process. This section specifically provides for all the following: • An individual’s place of residence when the individual’s sleeping area or place of habitation is not a traditional residence associated with real property. • An individual does not lose their place of residence if the individual intends to return after an absence, such as for education, military service, incarceration, or obtaining or providing medical care. • If an individual maintains possession of the individual’s place of residence, obtaining a secondary residence is not prima facia evidence of a change in residence. • An individual’s residence changes and the individual forms a new residence if the individual inhabits a new location with the intent to remain there indefinitely, registers to vote based on residence at a new location, or votes based on residence at a new location. • How a dispute regarding an individual’s place of residence is determined and appealed. Section 2 updates the requirements for electronic voting systems to incorporate best practices and increase the clarity of these requirements. The increased clarity provides transparency regarding both the Department’s compliance with these requirements and the accuracy of election results. The current requirements were enacted in 2019 (82 Del. Laws, c. 170) to provide a framework to use when the current electronic voting devices were first acquired. These voting devices have now been used in several election cycles so the requirements can be updated to reflect that experience and the ongoing improvements to voting technology. Specifically, these updates: • Transfers Chapter 50A of Title 15 to Chapter 50 of Title 15. • Provide for the designation of the software, which includes the version of that software, that must be installed on voting devices before each statewide general election. • Expands the criteria that must be considered when designating the software that must be used on voting devices, including the experiences of other jurisdictions that have already used the software. The expanded criteria also provides certainty and stability instead of relying on the continued existence of a federal certifying entity. • Requires that no later than July 1 of an odd numbered calendar year, the State Election Commissioner (Commissioner) must designate the software required for the next statewide general election and that this software can be used for elections held during the next 2 years. • Explicitly allows the Commissioner to change the designated version of voting device software if necessary to address a material security flaw in the previously designated software. • Transfers the requirements under § 4508 of Title 15 to § 5010(a)(1)b. of Title 15. • Consolidates notice requirements under § 5010 of Title 15 for when voting devices will be tested and repeals language about party designees that is obsolete because this testing is open to the public. • Revises current law that is confusing or imprecise, including dividing the current audit section into 4 sections. The first audit section, § 5014, provides the audit requirements that are applicable to all audits of elections results (audits). The following 3 sections provide the requirements for audits after elections for specific offices: § 5015 applies to state or county offices, § 5016 applies to City of Wilmington offices, and § 5017 applies to school district elections. • Repeals provisions that unnecessarily repeat requirements in other sections. Section 3 updates § 4972(b) of Title 15 to align with the use of modern scanning devices, to reflect that absentee ballots are the only hand-marked paper ballots that are used in all elections, and to use the updated defined terms in Section 1 of this Act. Section 3 also codifies the current procedure used to adjudicate votes on an absentee ballot if the ballot scanning device is unable to determine the voter’s intent and connects the rules under § 4972(b) with the procedures for tabulating absentee ballots under § 5510 of Title 15. Section 4 revises Chapter 55 of Title 15 to codify the procedures the Department currently follows under Regulation 200 of Title 15 of the Delaware Administrative Code when an absentee ballot is deficient. This procedure requires that the Department indicate on the ballot envelope that the ballot is deficient and to offer the voter an opportunity to cure certain deficiencies before the polls close on the day of the election, allowing the ballot to be counted. Section 4 also revises § 5510(d)(1)b. by adding a reference to the rules for adjudicating absentee ballots under § 4972(b) of Title 15. Sections 5 through 9 of this Act make corresponding changes to other sections in Title 15 to align with the revisions made under Sections 1 and 2 of this Act and modern election practices. Specifically, Section 5 makes corresponding changes to the defined terms regarding candidate residency in § 3114 of Title 15 to align with the revisions under Section 1 of this Act. Section 6 repeals the sentence in § 4508 of Title 15 because it is transferred to § 5010(a)(1)b. of Title 15. Section 7 aligns the language regarding an individual voter’s place of residence in § 4941 of Title 15 with the revisions under Section 1 of this Act. Section 8 revises § 4948 of Title 15, regarding provisional ballots, as follows: • Makes corresponding changes to the defined terms to align with the revisions in Section 1 of this Act. • Makes technical changes to be consistent with existing law, such as clarifying where a different procedure is followed for primary elections and repealing confusing language. • Repeals the requirement that provisional ballots are required when a court orders a polling place to be kept open beyond the normal time for closing so that people voting under that court order can vote for all offices on the ballot. Section 9 revises § 4980 of Title 15 to reference the transferred and revised audit requirements in Chapter 50 of Title 15. Finally, all Sections of this Act include technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act makes technical corrections to the Department of Finance’s existing background check authority to ensure access to FBI criminal history record information. The Department of Finance applied for federal “Rap Back” reporting and was denied, so the unacceptable language is being eliminated to facilitate access. Although the intended impact is the same, this Substitute uses different language than House Bill No. 323 based on feedback from the State Bureau of Identification and DELJIS.

This Act provides that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget must designate 1 or more reserved parking spaces for pregnant persons at certain designated state buildings and facilities. It also prohibits stopping, standing, or parking in the pregnant person’s space. Violations of this Act are exempted from the civil penalty for parking violations that exists in Title 21. This Act takes effect 6 months after its enactment into law. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act adds any act that contains the characteristics of a hate crime to the definitions of crimes for the purposes of the Victims Compensation Assistance Program.

This Act makes several changes to the Delaware Code relating to the Department of Finance (“Department”). Specifically: (1) Section 1 of this Act increases public transparency and clarifies that any officer or employee of the Department, or employee of this State who has access to tax returns or information from tax returns, may disclose information that appeared on the face of an expired license previously required to be displayed under § 2109 of Title 30. (2) Sections 2 and 3 of this Act define a trust fund tax, lists current trust fund tax types, and updates Title 30 to align all assessment and collection timelines for trust fund tax types. (3) Section 4 of this Act simplifies that the requirements that allow the Department’s Division of Revenue to take an extended lookback by removing repealed taxes and clarifying that exceptional underreporting measures are applied only against the tax liability and not other tax calculation elements. (4) Section 5 of this Act updates Title 30 regarding the notice of finality as it relates to trust fund taxes. (5) Section 6 of this Act modifies the filing due date for all 1099 forms to January 31 following the close of the taxpayer’s taxable year. (6) Section 7 of this Act clarifies the definition of “transfer.” (7) Sections 8, 9, and 10 of this Act make retroactive technical changes to the trade name registration process under Title 6.