Delaware Bills

This legislation expands the list of central contracts currently available to be accessed by state agencies and other allowed organizations to include professional services contracts. The legislation also adds local governments to the list of organizations that can access central contracts.

This Act adopts the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact (“Compact”). The Compact benefits the public by improving continuity of care, increasing license portability for military spouses, and increasing access to physical therapy providers. Under the Compact, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants licensed in a Compact member state may obtain an expedited license allowing licensees to practice in another Compact member state. In adopting the Compact, the state-based licensure system is preserved but communication between states is enhanced. The Compact will be administered by the Physical Therapy Compact Commission (“Commission”) which will process applications for Compact privilege. Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants licensed by the Delaware Examining Board of Physical Therapists and Athletic Trainers (“Board”) may be granted "compact privilege," which will allow them to practice in another member state under the laws and regulations of the remote state. To exercise the compact privilege, a licensee must meet all of the following requirements: 1. Hold a license in the home state with no encumbrances. 2. Be eligible for a compact privilege in any member state. 3. Have no adverse actions within the previous 2 years regarding their license or any Compact privilege. 4. Notify the Commission that compact privilege is being sought in a member state. 5. Pay applicable fees. 6. Be aware of and comply with the laws and rules governing the practice of physical therapy in the remote state. 7. Report adverse action taken by any non-member state within 30 days. The Compact also authorizes the Board to do all of the following: 1. Appoint a qualified delegate to serve on the Commission. 2. Participate fully in the Commission's data system. 3. Notify the Commission about adverse action taken against licensees by the Board.

Section 1 of this Act amends Section 903 of Title 13 of the Delaware Code. Substantively, this Act allows persons who are not married but who are cohabitating to jointly adopt a child that is not theirs. The Act also rewrites the statute so as to be more clearly understandable. Section 2 of this Act amends Section 951 of Title 13 of the Delaware Code. It allows persons who are not married but who are cohabitating to jointly adopt a child that is not theirs. The Act also changes the phrase "husband and wife" to "married couple."

This act designates the Bellanca Cruisair as the official historical aircraft of Delaware.

This Act makes necessary changes to Delaware’s election laws based on the State’s purchase of new voting devices and establishes auditing requirements for the voting devices. The new voting devices will function differently than the existing voting devices and so election law must be updated to conform the law. The new voting devices allow each voter to view a paper ballot with the voter’s selections under glass for the voter to approve before pressing the final button to vote. This Act requires the Department of Elections (“Department”) to audit the results of primary, general, and school board elections and establishes the procedure to be used by the Department. This Act also requires the Department to adopt regulations to govern the procedure to be used if an audit reveals a discrepancy. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act provides a fair bidding environment for contractors who obey the law and protects the interests of workers and taxpayers by implementing recommendations from the review of the Workplace Fraud Act required by Senate Resolution No. 26 of the 149th General Assembly by making changes to the Workplace Fraud Act and creating the Delaware Contractor Registration Act. This Act revises the Workplace Fraud Act by doing all of the following: 1. Creates definitions for the terms “contractor”, "general contractor", "construction manager", "labor broker", "outside of the usual course of business", "place of business", and "subcontractor" and revises the definition of "independent contractor". 2. Explicitly prohibits labor brokers from providing construction services. 3. Allows general contractors, construction managers, and subcontractors to engage other construction companies in the same line of work as the general contractor, construction manager, or subcontractor. The Delaware Contractor Registration Act creates a contractor registration system to effectively regulate employee misclassification by doing all of the following: 1. Requires contractors to pay a small annual fee and apply for a certificate of registration to engage in construction activities in this State. 2. Requires registered contractors to establish compliance with State labor and revenue laws. 3. Requires that all contractors who work on a public works contract comply with the new contractor registration requirement. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Substitute Bill differs from Senate Bill No. 95 as follows: 1. Clarifies the definition of “contractor” and “independent contractor”. 2. Narrows the information required for registration to requirements that are applicable to the contractor and to information the Department of Labor (Department) does not already have. 3. Requires the contractor to disclose if the contractor or a person holding a financial interest in the contractor's business has been convicted of home improvement fraud or new home construction fraud or found to have engaged in a prohibited trade practice. 4. Creates lower registration fees for contractors that do not have public works contracts. 5. Defines the circumstances when the Department can require a surety bond and when the surety bond must be released. 6. Clarifies the opportunity and process to request a hearing if the Department decides to take an action to against a contractor. 7. Makes this Act effective on October 1, 2020 and states that the Department will conduct education and information sessions statewide regarding this Act.

This bill expands upon the existing at-store recycling program regarding the use of single-use plastic bags. The existing requirements will continue, however stores subject to this program will now be limited from providing single-use plastic bags for only specific uses thereby encouraging a shift to reusable bags. The purpose of the bill, as detailed in the preamble, is to clean up Delaware’s communities and watersheds, reduce storm water and trash management costs to taxpayers, and promote the health and safety of watersheds, wildlife and humans, and the ecosystem’s food chain. On January 1, 2021 this bill enacts a ban on stores providing single-use plastic bags at check-out.

This Act addresses the serious problem of individuals dumping large quantities of trash on public and private property, by: • Defining a “substantial quantity” of litter as being more than an amount contained in a standard garbage can. • Providing enhanced penalties for the unlawful dumping of a substantial quantity of litter. • Creating the Litter Investigation and Enforcement Fund (“LIEF”), funded through restitution paid by offenders of this chapter, to support investigations to identify those who violate this chapter. This Act clarifies that a public authority or agency is not required to provide litter receptacles in a park or recreation area that is designated as a carry-on and carry-out facility. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Substitute to Senate Bill No. 5 makes the following changes: • Clearly labels “littering” as a category of unlawful activity distinct from “dumping.” • Adds State parks, State forestry areas, State fish and wildlife areas, federal wildlife refuges, and lands within the State that are administered by the U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, to the list of areas that trigger enhanced penalties. • Establishes LIEF as a subaccount to the already-existing Special Law Enforcement Assistance Fund (“SLEAF”) under Subchapter II, Chapter 41, Title 11. • Requires disbursement of LIEF funds to follow the disbursement procedures already established for SLEAF. • Clarifies that the voluntary assessment alternative applies only to littering offenses. The penalty for dumping includes a mandatory community service obligation, so voluntary assessment cannot apply to dumping. • Updates language to allow courts to accept methods other than check or money order to make payments under this Act.

This bill enables a key component of the Take Care Delaware program, a partnership between law enforcement and schools to adopt a trauma-informed approach to children who have been identified at the scene of a traumatic event. The Take Care Delaware program, which will start as a pilot, operates by a police officer or emergency-care provider alerting a child’s school about the child’s presence at a traumatic event that the police officer or emergency-care provider responded to. In order to avoid violations of the State Bureau of Investigation’s dissemination statute and the Victim’s Bill of Rights in Title 11, this bill creates a narrow exception to both statutes that allows police officers and emergency-care providers to send the child’s name to their school district or charter school so that the child’s teachers can ensure the child is handled in a trauma-informed way. The Take Care Delaware program is based on the national “Handle With Care” model and includes training and other best practices for law enforcement and schools to prevent and mitigate the negative impact of childhood exposure to trauma.

Currently, the SEED program allows students a maximum of 6 semesters to complete an Associate Degree. This Bill allows SEED eligible students who complete their Associate Degree in fewer than 6 semesters to apply the remaining semesters of the grant toward a Bachelor’s Degree at either the University of Delaware or Delaware Technical and Community College.

In January 2019, the Code Revisors provided the General Assembly with a list of potential technical corrections that they identified as they revised the Delaware Code to reflect legislation that was enacted by the 149th General Assembly in 2018 or as they reviewed titles of the Code. While technical in nature, these changes are beyond the authority of the Code Revisors to make and can only be done by the General Assembly through legislation. This Act also includes technical corrections identified outside of the list provided by the Code Revisors. This Act requires a three-quarters vote, erring on the side of caution if any of the sections of the Delaware Code being revised require a super-majority vote. Section 1. This Section corrects a typographical error created in § 512 of Title 4 when House Bill No. 284 was passed after House Bill No. 158 in the 149th General Assembly and House Bill No. 284 did not incorporate the revisions made to § 512 by House Bill No. 158. Sections 2 through 4. These Sections correct errors created by House Bill No. 125 of the 150th General Assembly changing the limit on the number of barrels to 6 million instead of the reference to the Code of Federal Regulations in 5 sections of the Delaware Code. The Code of Regulations limit includes a time period of a calendar year on the number of barrels and that time period was included in 2 of the 5 sections where this was changed. These sections add “in a calendar year” after the number of barrels in the other 3 sections and corrects the spelling for “million” in 1 section. Sections 5 through 6. These Sections replace a reference to § 2728 of Title 18 with a reference to § 4915 of Title 10. The synopsis to Senate Bill No. 195 of the 149th General Assembly explains that SB 195 repealed § 2728 of Title 18 because that section has been superseded by § 4915 of Title 10. Section 7. House Substitute No. 1 to House Bill No. 222 of the 149th General Assembly created lethal violence protective orders. This Section removes the word “emergency” from § 7704 of Title 10 because an order is entered after a nonemergency petition is filed and a hearing is held under § 7704 of Title 10. Section 8. Senate Bill No. 150 of the 149th General Assembly revised the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission. This Section replaces an incomplete sentence with standard organizational language regarding the ability of members to appoint a designee and makes other technical corrections. Section 9. During discussions of Senate Bill No. 10 in the 150th General Assembly, outdated language describing disqualifying felonies for eligibility to vote was identified. This Section corrects the inconsistent language by referencing Chapter 61 of Title 15, which was enacted by the 140th General Assembly and establishes when persons with felony convictions are permitted to vote. This Section also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Section 10. This Section revises § 4944 of Title 15 to correctly identify the State Election Commissioner as the custodian of the names of electors and the spelling of Vice President, errors discovered while drafting legislation for the 150th General Assembly. Sections 11 through 16. These Sections correct the incorrect spelling of Vice President identified while drafting legislation for the 150th General Assembly. Section 17. House Bill No. 248 of the 149th General Assembly did not properly include the existing language in the Delaware Code. This Section revises § 122(3)p.2.B.VI. of Title 16 by including the language intended by House Bill No. 248 and repealing the existing provisions. Section 18. House Bill No. 431 of the 149th General Assembly, as amended, requires nursing and assisted living facilities to offer onsite influenza vaccinations to all employees every year. The Code Revisors interpreted the phrase “of the following year” to mean only 2019, the calendar year after enactment of the Act. This Section revises § 1144 of Title 16 so that it is clear that the vaccinations must be provided every calendar year. Section 19. House Bill No. 409 of the 149th General Assembly, as amended, included the phrase “any of the above” in the first sentence of § 1904 of Title 19. This Section revises this sentence to clarify that it refers to the events earlier in the sentence. Sections 20 through 21. House Bill No. 311 intended to create a 2 year grandfathering of licenses after enactment but the effective date allowed for only 1 year. This Section establishes a 2 year grandfathering period. Section 22. After House Bill No. 46 was passed during the 150th General Assembly, questions arose regarding how to interpret the new provisions. This Section makes revisions to provide clarity. Section 23. This Section repeals § 704(c) of Title 29 because the provisions in § 704(c) are repeated with more detail in § 7331 of Title 15, an error discovered while drafting legislation for the 150th General Assembly. Section 24. Senate Bill No. 227 contains a delayed effective date and a sunset provision. This Section changes the sunset provision so it is 3 years after the effective date instead of 3 years after enactment. Section 25. This Section makes Section 22 of this Act effective the day after House Bill No. 46 is enacted.

This Act makes the possession or consumption of alcohol by an individual under 21 years of age a civil offense. This Act also prohibits including information concerning a civil violation of the underage possession or consumption law on an individual’s certified criminal record.