According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the useful life of the components of typical sewer and wastewater systems ranges from 15 years to 100 years. In light of the long life of sewer and wastewater infrastructure, longer maturities are appropriate for bonds issued to fund such infrastructure. This bill extends the maturity of bonds permitted to be issued by New Castle County from 30 years to 40 years for both sewer and wastewater projects, recognizing the long life of such assets. Extending the maturities of sewer and wastewater infrastructure-related bonds will enable New Castle County to access federal programs that allow for longer-duration repayment periods, such as the Water Infrastructure and Innovation Act and the U.S. Department of Agriculture loan program for sewer, solid waste and stormwater drainage in eligible rural areas. Furthermore, longer maturities reduce the debt service burden on the County’s operating budget. Additionally, this bill removes the requirement that New Castle County advertise bond sales in newspapers, while retaining an obligation to provide published notice of bond sales to New Castle County residents. Municipal bond sales are advertised through national and international electronic platforms that are monitored by institutional investors, rendering print advertising of such sales obsolete and unnecessary.
Senate Bill No. 134 prohibits a food establishment from providing consumers with a single-service plastic coffee stirrer, cocktail pick, or sandwich pick or with ready-to-eat food or a beverage in polystyrene containers. SB 134 also prohibits food establishments from providing single-service plastic straws, unless requested by a consumer. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 134 creates the same restrictions as SB 134, but updates and corrects terms and definitions, and includes additional exceptions for both polystyrene foam food service packaging and plastic straws. Section 1 of SS 1 for SB 134 also makes technical corrections to § 122(3)u. of Title 16, the authority under which the Department of Health and Social Services regulates food establishments. Substantively, SS 1 for SB 134 differs from SB 134 as follows: 1. Defines the term "compostable" using the standards under the Federal Trade Commission's guides for the use of environmental marketing claims and as established by the American Society for Testing and Materials. 2. Revises the term "polystyrene", and how it is defined, to clearly include only polystyrene foam, and also include both processes by which polystyrene foam can be made. 3. Revises the definition of "polystyrene foam food service packaging" to exclude coolers or ice chests used for the processing or shipping of seafood and containers used to contain, transport, or package raw, uncooked, or butchered meat, poultry, fish, seafood, or eggs. 4. Adds the term "food" to the list of terms that have the meaning defined in the Delaware Food Code because the Delaware Food Code definition of "food" includes beverages. 5. Revises the restrictions on providing plastic straws by creating exemptions for plastic straws provided to patients or residents of hospitals or long-term care facilities and for plastic straws that are attached to pre-packaged goods, such as juice boxes. 6. Revised the penalty section to align with the current penalties under the Delaware Food Code. 7. Delays the effective date of Section 2 this Act until July 1, 2023.
This Act continues work started with the passage of HB 222 to ensure blood lead tests for school, child care, and early intervention programs enrollment meet standards and allow for the efficient transmission of blood lead screen data to schools, child care facilities, and early intervention service providers to provide a better opportunity to assist children with different levels of lead exposure. The Act defines the requirement for both a 12-month and a 24-month screening for children enrolled in child care facilities, public and private schools, and early intervention programs while clarifying the failure to obtain a 12-month screening does not prevent enrollment for children who provide proof of a 24-month screening. The Act also establishes requirements making blood lead level data available to school nurses and special education coordinators.
This Act codifies standards for recovery houses to become “certified recovery houses” either through the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (“DSAMH”) or through a Division approved certifying entity. A non-certified recovery house may continue to operate and provide an alcohol and drug free residence to persons recovering from substance use disorders. However, a non-certified recovery house may not: (1) Receive referrals from a state entity or state court; (2) obtain state or local funding; (3) Receive referrals for individuals whose treatment is state or locally funded; (4) represent or imply that it is “certified”. The Division shall maintain a Registry of Certified Recovery Houses. This Act grandfathers existing licensed recovery houses. The Act takes effect upon enactment and will be implemented upon notice, by Division, of promulgation of final rules and regulations, published in the Register of Regulations or 6 months after enactment, whichever occurs first.
This Bill is the Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations Act.
This Resolution provides the official revenue, refund, and unencumbered funds estimates for Fiscal Year 2023.
This Act appropriates $378,613,700 to provide one-time funded projects through the Office of Management and Budget.
This legislation imposes a new, elective entity-level tax on the income of partnerships and S-corporations, each of which are commonly referred to as “pass-through entities” for tax purposes. Prior to this legislation, the income of a pass-through entity was subject to the personal income tax of the owner in proportion to the ownership interest in the entity. In 2017, federal tax law reduced from an unlimited amount to $10,000 the amount an individual can claim as an itemized deduction for state and local taxes paid on an individual taxpayer’s annual tax return. State and local income taxes are commonly referenced to for tax purposes as “SALT” taxes. This 2017 federal limitation on the itemized deduction for SALT taxes included state taxes paid on the income of a pass-through entity and, as a result, materially limited the federal tax benefit of state income taxes paid personally by an owner on the taxable income of a pass-through entity. Consistent with guidance from the United States Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service as published in Internal Revenue Service Notice 2020-75, 2020-49 I.R.B. 1453, this legislation will enable the pass-through entity, rather than the owners of a pass-through entity, to take a federal tax deduction for SALT taxes elected to be paid by the pass-through entity. Accordingly, this legislation, conceptually similar to legislation enacted in more than 25 other states, will mitigate the new federal limitation on the personal itemized deduction for SALT taxes that otherwise would have been paid personally by an owner on the taxable income of a pass-through entity. Generally, the approach undertaken by this legislation follows a two-step process. First, an eligible pass-through entity that elects to pay the new entity-level tax, computes and pays Delaware income tax on income taxable in the State, which income, in the absence of the election, would have been subject to Delaware income tax at the individual level for each member of the entity. All income tax elected to be paid by the pass-through entity is taxed at 8.7%. Second, the electing pass-through entity allocates modified income to its members in proportion to their ownership interest in the entity, for which allocation each member is entitled to a reduction from federal adjusted gross income for individual State income tax purposes.
This Resolution provides the official revenue, refund, and unencumbered funds estimates for Fiscal Year 2022.
This Act establishes the Office of Legislative Ethics for the General Assembly. The establishment of an Office of Legislative Ethics is necessary to ensure that potential violations of Delaware’s laws or allegations of conflict of interest by the members of the General Assembly are fully investigated. The Board of the Office of Legislative Ethics will be made up of five respected members of the community with expertise in law and legislative ethics who will volunteer to serve. The Office of Legislative Ethics will be headed by an Executive Director who will also serve as the lead investigator. Any member of the public will be able to file a complaint or request the Office of Legislative Ethics to commence an investigation and can do so anonymously. The Act provides for the specific procedures to be followed once the Office of Legislative Ethics receives a complaint or request for investigation. The Act further provides for certain reporting to the General Assembly on a quarterly basis. The Act also adds the Office of Legislative Ethics to Delaware’s whistleblower statute, ensuring that public employees who make a complaint to the Office of Legislative Ethics are afforded the same protections as employees reporting suspected violations to other reporting bodies. Finally, the Act removes the Office of Legislative Ethics and the Office of Legislative Ethics Board from the meaning of “public body” within Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act.
It is the policy of this State that meaningful sanctions be imposed upon those who allow dangerous conditions and defects to exist in leased premises and that an effective mechanism be established for repairing these conditions and halting their creation. This Act allows tenants to bring an action of rent escrow to pay rent into the court because of asserted defects or conditions. Alternatively, the tenant may refuse to pay rent and raise the existence of the asserted defects or conditions as an affirmative defense to an action for summary possession or an action for nonpayment of rent. This Act requires the tenant to give proper notice and allow the landlord the opportunity to effect repairs. This Act requires the court to make appropriate findings of fact and to make any order that justice of the case may require, which may include termination of the lease and return of the leased premises to the landlord, order that the action for rent escrow be dismissed, order that the amount of rent be reduced in amount determined by the court to be fair and equitable, or order the landlord to make the repairs or correct the conditions complained of by the tenant.
This Act establishes an independent and nonpartisan Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the position of the Inspector General. The OIG will protect the health and safety of Delaware residents, assist in the recovery of misspent or inappropriately paid funds, and strengthen government integrity and the public trust in government operations by doing all of the following: 1. Investigate the management and operation of state agencies to determine if there has been waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, corruption, or other conduct that is harmful to the public interest. 2. Coordinate with other agencies, recommend corrective actions and statutory revisions, and, if necessary, make referrals to law enforcement. 3. Provide reports to the Governor, Attorney General, and General Assembly, and these reports will be available to the public on the OIG website. The Inspector General will be selected through a process that requires a Selection Panel to provide 3 names to the Governor for consideration. The Governor will select a nominee from these 3 names for appointment as Inspector General and submit the nominee for confirmation by the Senate. Under this Act, the Selection Panel work must begin upon enactment and the work of the Office of the Inspector General must begin by March 1, 2023.
