This Act provides the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association with the authority to establish fees for officiating. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This is a housekeeping bill to codify the existing practices with administering the Municipal Street Aid program.
Section 1 provides that unpaid taxes shall become first liens against property of the owner for a period of ten (10) years from the date of the assessment. Section 2 reduces the term upon which a homeowner, heir, executors and assigns can redeem property sold at a sheriff sale from one (1) year to 60 days from the date the sale is approved by a Court of law to make the language consistent with Title 9, Section 8729 of the Delaware Code.
This Act grants legal guardians the standing to petition or oppose a petition to change minors' surnames.
This bill creates two new vehicle license plates promoting and supporting both saltwater and freshwater fishing in the State of Delaware. The proceeds associated with The Delaware Sport Fishing License Plate, has a mission of undertaking initiatives that will enhance the pleasure of both saltwater and freshwater recreational fishing throughout the State of Delaware.
Section 1 through 4 of this Act establish interim standards and criteria in order to permit redevelopment projects to move forward while revised regulations are being drafted. The interim standards set forth in this Act would effectively "sunset" upon the adoption of regulations governing redevelopment. The redevelopment regulations, upon formal adoption, would supersede the provisions of the Bill. Section 4 corrects an oversight in prior legislation, which extended the time frame for Department review of delegated projects from 3 to 5 years, but failed to extend the effective date of delegation from 3 to 5 years. Section 5 codifies current and proposed regulations as they pertain to stormwater management to ensure consistency. Section 6 is intended to clarify the procedural status of supporting materials published by DNREC to facilitate compliance with the Regulations, in light of the Order of the Delaware Supreme Court in Baker v. DNREC, No. 552, 2015 (April 15, 2016), affirming the Memorandum Opinion of the Honorable T. Henley Graves of the Superior Court, dated October 7, 2015. Consistent with the Delaware Administrative Procedures Act, regulatory guidance documents, interpretive rules, and general statements of policy adopted pursuant to this exception must still be published in the Delaware Register of Regulations, in order to provide notice of the changes. The language confirming the exemption is drawn from federal administrative law, 5 U.S.C.A. §553, and equivalent provisions of the New Jersey Code, 52:14B-3a, governing such supporting materials. The regulatory guidance documents, interpretive rules, and general statements of policy may not be used by DNREC to impose new or additional requirements on regulated parties, and may not be used, instead of the Code provisions and the Stormwater Regulations, as a basis for enforcement. Such materials are therefore not regulations, and not are not subject to the notice, hearing, or comment procedures of the Administrative Procedures Act or Title 7, or the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Rather, DNREC is free to publish periodic updates and revisions of its technical manuals, checklists, forms, and policy memos, to assist regulated parties in compliance with the Regulations. Section 7 creates a sunset date for sections 1, 2, and 5 to give the Department additional time to fully enact regulations. It is the intent that sections 1, 2, and 5 will sunset upon having a finalized version of Sediment and Stormwater Regulations.
This bill allows children under the age of 18 to be transferred to the Department of Corrections only after adjudication and an imposition of a sentence of incarceration. Currently, Delaware permits juveniles charged with adult offenses to be held in default of bail in the custody of the Department of Corrections. The trend nationwide is to hold juveniles charged with adult offenses in juvenile facilities pretrial as these facilities provide educational and rehabilitative programs.
This Act provides that all current employees, prospective employees, contractors and subcontractors of the Department of Labor with access to federal tax information shall be subject to appropriate background checks to ensure that the Department of Labor complies with obligations imposed by § 6103(p)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and by the Internal Revenue Service in Publication 1075.
This Act draws attention to the types of discipline used in schools by capturing data about out-of-school suspensions and publishing that data, in an effort to help schools identify areas where the data regarding out-of-school suspensions indicates there is room to reduce such suspensions. This Act is meant to increase transparency, improve overall school climate, resulting in improved student outcomes. The collection and publication of this data will also help the Department of Education and community partners identify opportunities to provide greater supports to schools, students, and their families. According to data provided by the Delaware Department of Education (“DOE”), thousands of Delaware students receive out-of-school suspensions each year for minor infractions, such as being unprepared or late for class, dress code violations, and disrespectful behavior. In 2013, only 2% of out-of-school suspensions were for serious offenses such as weapons, drugs, or serious violence. Out-of-school suspensions do not address the root causes for the misbehavior, and only serve to put the students further behind in class. Furthermore, DOE data shows that, in 2013, African-American students made up only 32% of the student body, but accounted for 62% of out-of-school suspension, and students with disabilities made up 13% of the student body, but accounted for 24% of out-of-school suspensions. Federal discipline guidance, developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, instructs schools to commit to regular evaluation of school discipline policies and practices, and monitor progress toward the schools’ climate and discipline goals. The federal process requires schools to collect and publicly report disaggregated student discipline data and solicit feedback from students, staff, families, and community representatives. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Substitute Bill makes the following changes to Senate Bill No. 85: 1. References the existing definition of "disruptive behavior" in Title 14. 2. Includes "disability" as a category for data collection. 3. Extends by 1 year the years stated in the requirements to retain the same time frames. This is necessary because this Act will be enacted in 2018, not 2017 when it was drafted. 4. Clarifies what information is required for reports and provides deadlines for the required plans and reports. 5. Clarifies that schools must develop plans and strategies with stakeholder input. 6. Clarifies content for professional development.
This Act permits the Superior Court to consider petitions out of sequence where the Attorney General consents and the Court determines consideration to be in the interest of justice. To ensure this exceptional sequencing provision is employed judiciously, the Court will only consider the consent of the Attorney General authorized by Delaware Department of Justice leadership (Attorney General, Chief Deputy Attorney General, State Prosecutor, or Chief County Prosecutors) in response to requests of Office of Defense Services leadership (Chief Defender, Chief Deputy Defender, Chief Conflicts Counsel) where a petitioner is represented by the Office of Defense Services, and in all other circumstances in response to privately retained counsel. This special authorization ensures individual petitioners do not unwittingly forego or disrupt their single opportunity for sentence review and further ensures consistency in modifications to sequencing.
Section 1 of the Act addresses statutes under Chapter 49 of Title 10 and (i) amends the title of section 4915 (but makes no substantive changes to the statute); and (ii) modifies section 4916 to provide that plans similar to the Delaware College Investment Plan and the Delaware Achieving a Better Life Experience Plan, but created under the laws of other states, are similarly exempt from the execution or attachment process in Delaware. Section 2 of the Act modifies section 6504 of Title 10 by: (i) providing that advisers and protectors under section 3313(a) of Title 12, and designated representatives under section 3339 of Title 12, are among those persons who may have a declaration of rights or legal relations in respect to the subjects currently enumerated in the statute; and (ii) making minor grammatical clarifications. Section 3 of the Act transfers certain statutes affecting the construction of trusts’ governing instruments from Chapter 2 of Title 12 (which governs wills) to Chapter 33 of Title 12 (which governs trusts) so that these statutes will be more readily accessible as a part of Delaware’s nationwide trust practice, and therefore cross-references the transferred statutes for purposes of the construction of wills. Section 4 of the Act addresses statutes under Chapter 33 of Title 12 and (i) clarifies that the definitions of section 3301 also apply to Chapters 35, 39, and 45 of Title 12, and to any other Delaware laws specifically incorporating section 3301 or the laws of trusts generally; (ii) clarifies that the definition of “fiduciary” as used in other sections of Title 12 also includes advisers or protectors acting in a fiduciary capacity under section 3313(a) of Title 12 and designated representatives acting in a fiduciary capacity under section 3339 of Title 12; (iii) defines in section 3301 the term “nonfiduciary” as used in other sections of Title 12; (iv) clarifies that sections 3302 and 3303 authorize sustainable investment strategies; (v) clarifies that section 3302’s protections of fiduciaries who do not have control over assets, or whose control is subject to the direction of a direction adviser, also apply to fiduciaries whose control is subject to the direction of a co-trustee or to fiduciaries whose co-trustees have exclusive authority over investment decisions; (vi) clarifies section 3313 such that only loans not in the nature of distribution decisions are considered to be investment decisions for purposes of directed trusts; (vii) modifies section 3313 by adding a new subsection (g), which provides that persons accepting appointment, or serving, as trust advisers submit to personal jurisdiction of this State, thereby paralleling the Uniform Trust Code; (viii) clarifies that under section 3313A, an excluded co-trustee is a fiduciary only with respect to powers from which such co-trustee is not excluded, and thus is not a fiduciary as to powers from which such co-trustee is excluded; (ix) clarifies that section 3317’s requirement for co-fiduciaries to keep each other informed also extends to nonfiduciaries with powers relating to a trust; (x) clarifies that section 3317’s protections for fiduciaries and nonfiduciaries providing information to co-fiduciaries or co-nonfiduciaries also extend to fiduciaries and nonfiduciaries receiving information from cofiduciaries or co-nonfiduciaries; (xi) clarifies that section 3323’s “majority rules” provisions relating to decisions among three or more co-fiduciaries also extend to decisions among three or more co-nonfiduciaries, and apply to powers vested in three or more such persons by a governing instrument or by law; (xii) transfers certain statutes affecting the construction of trusts’ governing instruments from Chapter 2 of Title 12 (which governs wills) to Chapter 33 of Title 12 (which governs trusts), and specifically to section 3330 (whose title is accordingly clarified), so that these statutes will be more readily accessible as a part of Delaware’s nationwide trust practice; (xiii) clarifies that section 3330 applies to trusts’ governing instruments generally (and not just wills or trust instruments); (xiv) clarifies that nonjudicial settlement agreements under section 3338 may resolve or address the removal of a trustee; (xv) clarifies section 3341 to provide that where substantially identical powers of appointment exist between two merged trusts, such powers applicable to the surviving trust before the merger shall extend to all of the assets within the surviving trust after the merger, unless the instrument of merger specifies otherwise, and also to clarify that section 3341 does not address the validity or effect of written instruments executed before trust mergers that purport to exercise powers of appointment over trusts; and (xvi) clarifies that modification of a trust under section 3342 permits both the addition of new provisions that were not included in the governing instrument previously as well as the modification of existing provisions that were included in the governing instrument previously. Section 5 of the Act addresses statutes under Chapter 35 of Title 12 and (i) reorders section 3524 to clarify when accountings for testamentary trusts are required to be filed with the Court of Chancery; (ii) modifies section 3528, such that exercises of powers to invade principal or income or both of a trust under that section need only be signed, and no longer need be acknowledged or filed with the records of the trust; (iii) modifies section 3536 so that a trustor may release a beneficial interest that is contingent on surviving the trustor’s spouse, so as to accelerate the next succeeding beneficial interests, thereby overturning Delaware common law to the contrary; (iv) clarifies the execution requirements for a trust’s governing instrument under section 3545; (v) clarifies section 3547 to define contingent successor remainder beneficiaries, define when such beneficiaries are more remote than others, and define when such beneficiaries may virtually represent more remote such beneficiaries; (vi) consistent with the Uniform Trust Code, modifies section 3547 to permit holders of general powers of appointment and the broadest form of nongeneral powers of appointment to virtually represent takers in default absent a conflict of interest; (vii) modifies section 3547 to allow a parent to virtually represent an unborn beneficiary (consistent with the Uniform Trust Code), and to provide that a virtual representative who represents a minor or incapacitated or unborn beneficiary and who, under the statute’s existing language, may therefore also represent an unborn or unascertainable person who has an interest in the trust substantially identical to that of the minor or incapacitated or unborn beneficiary represented by such virtual representative, may now also represent a minor or incapacitated or unborn person who has an interest in the trust substantially identical to that of the minor or incapacitated or unborn beneficiary represented by such virtual representative; (viii) clarifies section 3547 to provide that for purposes of virtually representing a trust that is a beneficiary of another trust, a trustee of an existing beneficiary-trust, or those who would be the beneficiaries under the terms of a beneficiary-trust not yet in existence, may virtually represent such beneficiary-trust; (ix) clarifies the definition of “trustee” in section 3580 for purposes of Subchapter VII of Chapter 35; (x) clarifies that sections 3585 and 3588 govern statutes of limitations applicable to any person interested in a trust (and not just beneficiaries) and to any claim against a trustee (and not just breach of trust claims); (xi) modifies the statute of limitations applicable to claims against a trustee from two years after a report is sent to a person to one year after such report is sent, to align such period with the Uniform Trust Code (unless the trust’s governing instrument specifies a period longer than one year, in which case the governing instrument shall control); and (xii) clarifies that section 3588 does not require consideration for indemnifications of trustees. Section 6 of the Act clarifies, within Section 505 of Title 25, that exercises of nongeneral powers of appointment to a donee’s revocable trust, for the benefit of proper objects of the power, are not rendered invalid by such appointment, and thus are deemed to create a separate trust within such revocable trust that is not subject to the creditors of the donee, the donee’s estate, or the donee’s revocable trust. Section 7 of the Act repeals sections 2725 and 2728 of Title 18 because they have been superseded by recent amendments to section 4915 of Title 10. Section 8 of the Act provides effective dates.
The Delaware National Guard is a crucial partner in the preparedness, planning and in conducting operations in the event of radiological incidents. This Act’s modification to § 181 corrects an unintended flaw from a previous change to Title 20, affecting the manner in which National Guard members are paid for Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) events. The previous change in Title 20 impedes the National Guard’s efforts to recruit personnel, who have developed a high level of proficiency achieved through consistent monthly training. The change allows the Delaware National Guard to ensure ample participation and encourage returning members to build upon previous training and processes. This request has no impact to the State’s general funds as it is paid through Special Funding provided by Public Service Enterprise Group. This Act’s modifications to § 185 updates the requirements for the employment and administration of state employees working for the Delaware National Guard. The Delaware National Guard has administered their state employees similar to the federal military technician program which includes dual status and non-dual status technicians. In the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the non-dual status federal technician position was eliminated and technicians were converted into Title 5 employees. The change in the federal law impedes the employment and administration of some state employees. The change allows for the proper employment and administration of all Delaware National Guard state employees.
