This Joint Resolution designates August 31, 2024, as "International Overdose Awareness Day" in the State of Delaware and requires that in observance, the State flag be flown at half-staff at State facilities. By recognizing International Overdose Awareness Day, this Joint Resolution affirms the importance of overdose awareness, remembers those who have died from overdose, and acknowledges the grief suffered from losing a loved one to overdose.
This Act creates the Delaware Grocery Initiative. The Delaware Grocery Initiative is a healthy foods initiative that seeks to provide financial assistance to eligible food resources as designated by the bill. The Act defines food deserts and eligibility requirements for the initiative. The Act authorizes the Division of Small Business to implement the grant and financial support system. This substitute bill does the following: 1. Adds the following terms in the definition section of the Act: Council, food resource, Healthy Foods Retail Initiative, Program, and specialty grocer. 2. Modifies the definition of food desert. 3. Removes terms of grocery store, rural tract, and urban tract in lieu of the new definitions of food resource and food desert. 4. Designates the Division of Small Business, instead of the Office of State Planning, as theagency authorized to implement the Delaware Grocery Initiative and authorizes the Division of Small Business to adopt rules. 5. Replaces the grocery and food desert study with a food access strategy. 6. Subject to appropriation, creates a food access strategy to address food insecurity and requires submission of a report to the General Assembly and the Governor by June 1, 2025.
Under this bill, the Board of Massage and Bodywork may not issue initial certifications to practice as a certified massage technician for applications received after December 31, 2024.
This Bill amends the Charter of the Town of Delmar in multiple respects. In Section 7 of the Charter, which involves Nominations and Elections, every person over the age of 18 years who has resided in the town for 30 days prior to the election will be permitted to vote in the election, as opposed to the previous six-month residency requirement. The Town of Delmar will also adopt the State's Voter Registration System as the source of its list of registered voters but reserves the right to deny any names from the list of voters who have moved from the Town, no longer own property within the Town, or are otherwise disqualified from voting. Section 24 of the Charter is also amended to raise the permissible bond amount to be authorized via resolution by Town Council from one million to 10 million dollars.
This Act simplifies and in some cases increases the civil penalties for violations of laws related to dogs that run at large, dogs that bite a human being or domestic animal while running at large, and dogs that are designated as dangerous or potentially dangerous. It also expands the requirements for keeping or maintaining a dangerous or potentially dangerous dog to include provisions related to licensing, vaccination, microchipping, and leashing. The Act also makes changes to procedures of the Department of Health and Social Services (“the Department”) relating to dogs, including the following: (1) It removes an unused provision requiring that notification of the impoundment of a running at large dog be made to the dog owner in writing. (2) It gives the Department 15 days, rather than 5 days, to file a civil action after impounding a dog and identifying and informing the dog owner. (3) It changes from 48 to 24 the number of hours that an individual can confine a dog that is not the individual’s own before contacting the Department to report the dog. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 269 differs from Senate Bill No. 269 as follows: (1) It removes a provision that would have increased the amount of liability insurance that a dangerous dog owner must carry. (2) It expands the definition of “serious physical injury” to include injuries that pose serious or prolonged impairment to health and serious or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ. (3) It removes inaccurate cross-references from § 3074F and replaces them with references to the entire chapter. (4) It provides that a dog will not be considered dangerous or potentially dangerous if it injures a human being who is teasing, tormenting, abusing, or assaulting the dog’s owner or its offspring, in addition to the dog. The current § 3074F only allows this exception for torment, abuse, or assault of the dog itself. (5) It changes one of the criteria for declaring a dog dangerous to provide that the injury to the human being must be a serious physical injury. (6) It adds the definition of “domestic animal” that appears in § 3071F to § 3041F. (7) Throughout the bill, it changes “person” to “human being” when needed for accuracy and consistency. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 269 Act also corrects minor technical errors in Senate Bill No. 269 and makes additional technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act makes several changes to the civil asset forfeiture proceedings of this state. It repeals the legal presumption that money, negotiable instruments or securities found in close proximity to controlled substances or records or with trace amounts of controlled substances are forfeitable. Such evidence is still admissible and may be considered by the Court in a forfeiture proceeding. It puts the burden of proof on the State to prove all elements of a forfeiture case by a preponderance of the evidence. Under the existing statute, it is the burden of an innocent owner to prove that they did not have knowledge of or consent to the use of their property in an unlawful act. It prohibits the forfeiture of currency less than $500. It prohibits forfeiture unless a criminal charge is brought. It requires the person holding seized property to be financially responsible for all fees associated therewith in the event the property is ordered by the Court to be returned. It allows a claimant property owner who substantially prevails in a forfeiture proceeding to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. The language in this section is modeled after a provision of the federal forfeiture statute, at 28 U.S.C. § 2465 that was put in place in 2000 as part of federal civil asset forfeiture reforms. It aligns forfeiture provisions in Title 11 with the forfeiture provisions in Title 16. It requires the Department of Justice to collect and annually report statistics regarding civil asset forfeiture.
This Act makes the crime of “patronizing a prostitute” a class E felony rather than a misdemeanor where the person from whom prostitution is sought is a minor.
This Act revises §§ 4732 and 4733 of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, Subchapter III, Chapter 47, Title 16 of the Delaware Code, pertaining to the regulation of the manufacture, distribution and dispensing of controlled substances. The revisions provide that out-of-state practitioners who wish to prescribe controlled substances in Delaware pursuant to a practice privilege, interstate compact license, telehealth registration, or military registration, must obtain a Delaware controlled substance registration. This Act will ensure that these out-of-state practitioners are subject to Delaware regulation with respect to prescribing controlled substances to Delaware patients.
Due to the rapidly increasing costs of materials and labor, combined with the frequency in which developers have gone out of business or otherwise been unable to complete work required within developments, this Act increases the funding required to be secured by a developer to ensure the developer fulfills the developer's obligations to construct and complete improvements within a subdivision. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Section 1 of this Act revises the definition of “massage establishment” by repealing the exemption for all business establishments licensed under other chapters of Title 24. This exemption allows a massage practitioner to work in a licensed cosmetology shop that does not hold a massage establishment license. In that situation, the cosmetology shop can have an identified professional-in-charge responsible for the operation of the cosmetology shop and its employees, but that individual is not responsible for the massage practitioners. This means that the professional-in-charge responsible for the cosmetology shop cannot be held responsible for the wrongful actions of a massage practitioner, which adversely impacts the disciplinary process. With this exemption repealed, a cosmetology shop offering massage services is required to have both a massage establishment license and a licensed massage practitioner as the professional-in-charge responsible for the actions of all massage practitioners providing services on the premises. Section 2 of this Act increases the minimum hours of education required for licensed massage therapists for students who begin their massage therapy education on or after July 1, 2024, from 500 hours to 625 hours and makes corresponding revisions to the required curriculum hours for each subject. This increase in hours is required by changes in the federal Department of Education regulations for student eligibility for Title IV financial aid, including the elimination of the “150% rule”. Instead, school hours must match the curriculum hours required for licensure by the state. However, programs that require less than 600 hours are not eligible for Title IV financial aid. This change is consistent with the recommendation of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards that 625 curriculum hours are appropriate to adequately train massage therapists to practice safely and competently. Section 1 of this Act takes effect upon enactment, but Section 2 of this Act takes effect on or before July 1, 2024, to align with the effective date of the federal Department of Education regulations. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act is the Delaware Libraries for All Act. It explicitly adds “public libraries” to the definition of “place of public accommodation” for purposes of Delaware’s Equal Accommodations Law. It also directs the Delaware Library Consortium to develop and adopt common policies concerning collection, development, and other topics in order to ensure equitable access and the right to read for all Delawareans.
This Act creates an annexation process for the Town of Slaughter Beach to extend its boundaries in accordance with § 101 of Title 22 of the Delaware Code. There is an expedited process that requires only the Town Council’s approval if the following conditions are met: (1) All owners of a contiguous territory petition the Town for annexation. (2) If the annexation is advantageous to the Town and the territory proposed for annexation. If less than all the owners of a contiguous territory petition for annexation or if the annexation is determined to be disadvantageous to either the Town or the territory proposed for annexation, then the Town Council must decide whether to hold a special election to vote on the proposed annexation. If the Town Council passes a resolution to hold the special election, then it must proceed with the annexation if it is approved by the special election. Residents of the Town and the territory proposed for annexation who are age 18 years old and older may vote in the special election and have one vote. Property owners in the Town and the territory proposed for annexation may vote in the special election and have one vote regardless of whether the owner is an individual or a business entity and regardless of whether the owner owns multiple properties. If the annexation is approved, within 60 days, the Town Council must record a description and plot of the annexed territory in the Sussex County Recorder of Deeds. If the annexation is not approved, then the territory cannot be considered for annexation for a year from the date of the special election. Anyone opposing an approved annexation must bring an action before 60 days after the publishing or posting of notice of the annexation. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter.
