This bill adds workforce and affordable housing programs to the current list of realty transfer tax eligible expenditures for New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties.
This Act directs state agencies to collaborate on the development and implementation of “clean construction preferences” that will allow for the incorporation and consideration of sustainability and carbon impact data in the award of public works contracts.
This Act requires the Department of Transportation to issue an entrance permit to a private or public utility upon presentation of a satisfactory entrance permit application where the private or public utility owns or has an easement for the entrance location.
This Act makes minor changes to licensing and registration of limited lines travel insurance producers and travel retailers and establishes a comprehensive framework for the sale and marketing of travel insurance. Specifically, the legislation establishes uniform meanings of key terms; allows travel products to continue to be offered in a manner that provides a seamless consumer experience and cost-saving efficiencies; clarifies impermissible and prohibited sales practices, and the applicability of the state’s unfair trade practices law; requires several consumer disclosures; clarifies that travel insurance may be sold via individual, group, or blanket policies; clarifies current practice with respect to premium taxes; and clarifies that travel insurance is generally classified and filed as an inland marine line of insurance.
This Act adds clarity to the statutory changes made by Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 151 of the 151st General Assembly related to driver’s licenses for foster children. This Act clarifies that during the initial 6 months of a Learner’s Permit, a foster parent is liable for the negligent driving of the foster child up to the limits of the foster parent's applicable insurance coverage. This Substitute differs from the original bill in that it clarifies the language that refers to the insurance coverage and clarifies such language in both the new subsection and in the existing Code.
In 1995, the General Assembly directed the Code Revisors to gender neutralize or otherwise ensure that a solely masculine or feminine designation never occurs unless it could only apply to one gender. The Code Revisors followed this direction and worked to ensure that laws enacted after 1995 were gender neutralized during the codification process. The Code Revisors also began working through the Delaware Code in existence in 1995 to gender neutralize existing law, a process that is not yet complete. Since 1995, the more common legislative drafting technique is to draft laws so that they are gender silent. Gender silent drafting techniques include substituting the noun for which the masculine or feminine pronoun refers. Thus, instead of drafting a law to say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if he or she deems him or her qualified”, following gender silent techniques the law would say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if the Governor deems the individual qualified.” This technique has the added benefit of providing clarity as many times use of multiple masculine or feminine pronouns can result in confusion as to which noun the pronouns refer. This Act serves two purposes. First, Section 1 of this Act directs and authorizes the Code Revisors to use gender silent techniques to ensure masculine or feminine pronouns are not used in Delaware Code unless the usage requires otherwise. Second, the goal of Sections 2 through 141 of this Act is to complete the process of removing purely masculine pronouns by using gender silent techniques, except in instances where it could not be determined which noun the masculine pronoun applied to.
This act designates rescue dogs as the official state dog.
This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that requires the Governor to select judicial candidates from a list provided by a Judicial Nominating Commission. Although the Governor currently selects judicial nominees through a Judicial Nominating Commission created by Executive Order, this bill codifies the Judicial Nominating Commission into the State Constitution. The Judicial Nominating Commission shall consist of 12 members appointed by the Governor, provided that 4 members reside in New Castle County; 4 members reside in Kent County; and 4 members reside in Sussex County. No member shall hold elective constitutional office during the member’s term on the Commission.
While the exact number of nurse vacancies in Delaware fluctuates, healthcare providers agree that the current shortage is unsustainable. Nursing shortages lead to error, higher morbidity, and mortality rates. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) outlines a number of contributing factors impacting the current national nursing shortage. One was a lack of nursing school faculty - including the preceptors that provide supervision and instruction for clinical practice. Since Delaware’s nursing education programs must require clinical learning experiences provided by these preceptors, nursing students have difficulty completing the required coursework necessary for degree and licensure. Section 1. This bill provides a nonrefundable tax credit of up to $1,000 and up to $5,000 for individual qualifying preceptors and clinical preceptors. Section 2. This Act shall be effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2024.
This bill is the Cover All Delaware Children Act. Many children who are undocumented do not have access to routine or preventative healthcare, including vaccinations and physicals, because they cannot afford the services. Instead they may rely upon emergency room visits when untreated conditions worsen. Providing publicly funded healthcare coverage to low-income children greatly improves their health and long-term outcomes. Medicaid coverage is linked to fewer chronic conditions, better overall health, improved oral health, and fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits. This Act directs the Department of Health and Social Services to develop and operate a limited medical assistance program for children in Delaware who are not otherwise covered, including children who are not documented. A child resident in the state whose family income is low enough that they would qualify on that basis for Medicaid or CHIP coverage, but is not eligible for Medicaid or other federally funded coverage, is eligible for coverage and medical care under this Act. The coverage would be co-extensive with that provided by CHIP and Medicaid, except that it would not include in-patient care at a hospital or other healthcare facility. The Act also directs the State to submit a plan amendment to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services so that the state can take advantage of the federal CHIP option to include coverage of pregnant women regardless of immigration status.
This Act creates the following new tax brackets for taxable years after December 31, 2023.
This Act prohibits restrictive covenants that prohibit or unreasonably restricts the owner of real property from installing or using a clothesline. The average electric dryer requires 2.1 kilowatt hours (kwh) to complete each load of laundry, although, depending on the settings, this may be as much as 6 kwh per load. This translates to significant CO2 emissions and costs. Seven states have enacted laws that protect the ability of a homeowner to use a clothesline. This Act does not affect the enforceability of any conservation easement or historic preservation covenant or prevent reasonable restrictions on clotheslines if the restriction is necessary to protect any of the following: 1. Public health and safety, such as ensuring safe access to and rapid evacuation of a building. 2. Buildings from damage. 3. Historic or aesthetic values, when an alternative of reasonably comparable cost and convenience is available. This allows communities flexibility to adopt reasonable restrictions that fit the needs and characteristics of their neighborhoods, such as restricting clotheslines to private backyards or requiring them to be retracted when not in use. This Act also revises the heading of § 318 of Title 25 to clarify that § 318 applies to restrictive covenants and roof mounted systems for obtaining solar energy.
