Delaware Bills

This bill would create a pilot program whereby motorcyclists are permitted to use flashing headlights as a way to alert other drivers of their presence, without allowing the use of flashing lights that would otherwise be used on emergency vehicles. The bill aims to protect motorcyclists on Delaware’s roads and has a sunsetting provision that will allow time for further traffic studies to determine the effectiveness of this pilot program.

Historically, vehicles under the control of the Delaware State Fire Commission have been equipped with emergency lights. This bill amends Section 4106 to clarify and confirm that vehicles of the Delaware State Fire Prevention Commission are emergency vehicles that may be equipped with emergency lights.

This Act continues the practice of amending periodically the Delaware Statutory Trust Act (the “Act”) to keep it current and to maintain its national preeminence. The following is a section-by-section review of proposed amendments of the Act. Sections 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 13 and 15-17. The amendments add business development companies to a number of provisions of the Act that previously applied only to registered investment companies (within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940). Though similar to registered investment companies in many respects, business development companies as a technical matter are not registered investment companies but instead elect to be subject to many of the federal regulations applicable to registered investment companies. Section 2. Section 3804(a) of the Act has been amended to clarify that, except to the extent otherwise provided in the governing instrument of a statutory trust, the trustees or other authorized persons, or the duly authorized agents of such trustees or other authorized persons, may bind a statutory trust to a contract or instrument by entering into such contract or instrument in the name of the statutory trust or in the name of any such person acting on behalf of the statutory trust. Section 4. This section amends Section 3806(b)(7) of the Act to provide that a trustee, officer, employee, manager or other person who may manage the business and affairs of the statutory trust may delegate any of its rights, powers and duties irrespective of whether it has a conflict of interest with respect to the matter as to which such rights, powers or duties are being delegated, and that the person or persons to whom any such rights, powers or duties are being delegated shall not be deemed conflicted solely by reason of the conflict of interest of the trustee, officer, employee, manager or other person who may manage the business and affairs of the statutory trust. The amendments to Section 3806(b)(7) create a different rule than the rule applied in cases such as Wenske v. Bluebell Creameries, Inc., 214 A.3d 958 (Del. Ch. 2019), that a conflicted principal is legally disabled from delegating authority over the subject matter as to which the principal is conflicted even to an independent delegate. Section 5. This section amends Section 3806(i) of the Act to confirm and clarify the broad power and authority of a trustee to delegate any or all of the trustee’s rights, powers and duties to manage and control the business and affairs of a statutory trust, including any core governance functions. In addition, this section amends Section 3806(i) of the Act to provide that a trustee may delegate any of its rights, powers and duties irrespective of whether it has a conflict of interest with respect to the matter as to which such rights, powers or duties are being delegated, and that the person or persons to whom any such rights, powers or duties are being delegated shall not be deemed conflicted solely by reason of the conflict of interest of the trustee. The amendments to Section 3806(i) create a different rule than the rule applied in cases such as Wenske v. Bluebell Creameries, Inc. 214 A.3d 958 (Del. Ch. 2019), that a conflicted principal is legally disabled from delegating authority over the subject matter as to which the principal is conflicted even to an independent delegate. Section 7. This section amends Section 3806 of the Act to add subsection (o) to provide a safe harbor procedure for ratifying acts or transactions that may be taken by or in respect of a statutory trust under the Act or a governing instrument that are void or voidable and waiving failures to comply with requirements of a governing instrument that make such acts and transactions void or voidable. New subsection (o) is intended to provide a rule different from the rule applied in Composecure, L.L.C. v. Cardux, LLC, 206 A.3d 807 (Del. 2018), and Absalom Absalom Trust v. Saint Gervais LLC, 2019 WL 2655787 (Del. Ch. June 27, 2019), that acts or transactions determined to be void generally may not be ratified. The penultimate sentence of new subsection (o) confirms that void or voidable actions may be ratified or requirements may be waived by other means permitted by law, and accordingly, new subsection (o) is not intended to preempt or restrict other valid means of ratifying acts or transactions or waiving requirements or to impair the effectiveness of any valid ratification or waiver previously effected. Section 10. This section adds a provision for the filing of a certificate by a trustee who has succeeded the predecessor trustee of one or more statutory trusts in order to amend the name and address of such trustee in each affected certificate of trust. Section 11. This section amends Section 3811(c) of the Act to clarify that the execution of a certificate by a person who is authorized by the Act to execute such certificate constitutes an oath or affirmation that, to the best of such person’s knowledge and belief, the facts stated therein shall be true at the time such certificate becomes effective, not at the time such certificate is executed. Section 12. This section specifies the fee payable in connection with the filing of a certificate under Section 3807(n). Section 14. This section amends Section 3819 of the Act to make certain clarifying and conforming changes, and to provide that when a beneficial owner is entitled to obtain information for a stated purpose (whether pursuant to Section 3819 or a governing instrument), the beneficial owner’s right shall be to obtain such information as is necessary and essential to achieving that purpose, unless such right has been expanded or restricted in the governing instrument. To the extent current law is that the “necessary and essential” test does not apply by default to (i) a beneficial owner’s right under Section 3819(a) of the Act to obtain information from a statutory trust for a purpose reasonably related to the beneficial owner’s interest as a beneficial owner of the statutory trust or (ii) a beneficial owner’s right under a governing instrument to obtain information from a statutory trust for a stated purpose, new subsection (f) is intended to change that law. Section 18. This section amends Section 3826(b) of the Act to confirm that a signature on a certificate of beneficial interest may be a manual, facsimile or electronic signature. Section 19. This section adds Subchapter III to the Act to add a control beneficial interest acquisition provision for statutory trusts registered under the 1940 Act as closed-end management investment companies or statutory trusts that are closed-end management investment companies that have elected to be regulated as business development companies under the 1940 Act and that in either case have a class of equity securities listed on a national securities exchange registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. § 78a et seq.) or designated for trading on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System (NASDAQ). Section 20. This section provides that the proposed amendments of the Act shall become effective August 1, 2022.

This Act amends the Charter of the Town of Millville. Section 1 of the Act revises the closing time for the closing of the polls on the day of the municipal election, from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. The Town relies on volunteers to serve on the Town’s Board of Elections and as Election Officers, and only a few voters cast their votes after 6 p.m. Section 2 of the Act resolves a potential inconsistency in the Town Charter. Section 8 describes the Town Council’s annual organizational meeting and provides in pertinent part in subsection (b), “The Town Council shall likewise elect a Secretary and a Treasurer from its own number to serve until the first regular meeting after the next Annual Municipal Election.” Striking the one-year term for the Secretary under Section 16(a) avoids a conflict in the exact length of the appointment, in favor of Section 16’s provisions that include all positions and account for the possibility that the time between organizational meetings may technically be longer than one year.

This Act confers upon the Town Manager of the Town of Frederica the powers and authority conferred upon the Receiver of Taxes and County Treasurer for Kent County as set forth in Del.C. 87 specifically permitting the Town Manager to sell delinquent tax payer's real property through the monition process.

This Act amends Section 3-304 of the City of Wilmington’s Charter to allow the City of Wilmington to determine whether, and to what extent, its employees are required to be City residents. This Act does not affect residency requirements for City Council Members.

This bill creates a special license plate for Suicide Prevention, Awareness, and Support in honor of Jason Staley.

This Act requires that the Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance to present a plan to the General Assembly by November 1, 2022 for coverage of doula services by Medicaid providers.

Improving the quality of maternal health care and ensuring full access to it improves health outcomes and reduces preventable pregnancy-related deaths. The United States has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality among high-income countries and wide disparities by race that have been documented since rates separated by race were first published in 1935. Currently, Indigenous and Black women are dying at two to three times the rate of White women, Asian/Pacific Islander women, and Hispanic women. Investigating maternal deaths—specifically by obtaining information beyond vital statistics data—is imperative to understanding why people may die while pregnant, during labor and delivery, and in the postpartum period. (Source: Guttmacher Institute) Maternal mortality review is an essential component for improvement. Delaware added the review of maternal mortality to the duties of the existing Child Death Review Commission in 2008, however, the focus and processes of the Commission need improvement to match our evolving understanding of maternal morbidity and mortality as well as racial disparities. This Act changes the name of the Commission, from “Child Death Review Commission” to “Child and Maternal Death Review Commission” to reflect the intended dual focus of the Commission. The definition of “maternal death” is updated to include death during pregnancy or within a year from the end of pregnancy, and related to, or aggravated by, the pregnancy or birth, including death by suicide. The membership of the Commission is updated to include a midwife, a doula, and a member of a community group focused on women’s health, teen pregnancy, or public health. In making appointments to the Commission, the Governor is directed to consider the racial diversity of the membership. Most of the work of the Commission and death review panels is quite properly, closed to the public, to protect sensitive medical information and other protected personal information. However, to increase access to the work of the Commission, and to provide the Commission with the insight of diverse members of the public and with other public bodies addressing similar issues, the Act requires the Commission to hold at least one annual meeting jointly with the Delaware Perinatal Quality Collaborative to discuss findings, recommendations, and initiatives of that body. The Commission is also required to publicly post its draft report to the General Assembly and Governor and accept written public comment thereon, as well as hold a public meeting in each county to present its draft findings and recommendations and accept public comment.

This substitute bill places responsibility for development of bias and cultural competency training for healthcare employees in a subcommittee of the Delaware Perinatal Quality Collaborative. The subcommittee will develop training guidelines designed for use in all healthcare fields and shall release the initial guidelines by July 1, 2023. The subcommittee will review data every year thereafter and revise the guidelines as necessary.

This Act creates a process for the Commissioner of Elections to determine if a candidate or an incumbent elected official for a State or county elected office are residents of the district or area they represent or seek to represent. This Act does not apply to municipalities. The purpose of this Act is to require all candidates for State or county elected offices and incumbent elected officials to have their primary residential address in the area or district they represent or seek to represent.

This bill establishes voting by mail under the General Assembly’s broad powers under § 1, Article V of the Delaware Constitution to “prescribe the means, methods and instruments of voting”.