This Act provides clarification that all individuals currently or prospectively serving as mentors to one or more students through a mentoring program under the Department of Education must submit to state and federal criminal background checks, and that they are subject to continued criminal record monitoring for 1 year.
This Act makes it a crime to knowingly manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, or possess a vehicle security circumvention device, or to aid or permit another to use a vehicle security circumvention device. This Act also requires individuals to report a lost or stolen vehicle security circumvention device to a law enforcement agency within 48 hours of becoming aware of the loss or theft. This Act does not include a special penalty as the Chapter already provides a penalty for misdemeanors, which includes a fine not less than $28.75 nor more than $115, or imprisonment not less than 30 days nor more than 90 days, or both. Additionally, for each subsequent offense the person shall be fined not less than $115 nor more than $230, or imprisoned not less than 90 days nor more than 6 months, or both. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to create a new crime within the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas, Family Court, or Justice of the Peace Court.
In 2013, Congress enacted the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, 34 U.S.C. § 60105, which requires states to report to the U.S. Department of Justice the deaths of individuals who die in the custody of law enforcement. Failure to comply may result in the reduction of certain federal grant funds. In 2024, the Criminal Justice Council, which is responsible for ensuring Delaware's participation in the data collection required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, arranged for the Statistical Analysis Center to serve as the Criminal Justice Center's agent to coordinate and manage the logistics of this data collection. The Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center issued guidance to law enforcement on the requirements of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 and the process and procedures to be used to comply with these reporting requirements. This Act codifies the process and procedures established by the Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center related to the reporting required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013. In addition, this Act requires compliance reporting and provides that a law-enforcement agency that fails to comply with this Act is ineligible for certain funding until the agency complies with this Act.
The purpose of this Act is to protect victims of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment from retaliatory lawsuits that arise when a victim of sexual assault discloses information regarding an act of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment. Specifically, this Act protects assault victims from defamation lawsuits by placing a higher burden of proof on the complainant, even if the complainant is a private figure. It also entitles a prevailing defendant in a defamation lawsuit to attorneys’ fees and costs, actual damages, and punitive damages.
Current law prohibits persons subject to Family Court protective orders from purchasing or possessing deadly weapons, with some exceptions. This Act extends this prohibition to individuals with out-of-state protective orders as well.
This Act adds virtual currency to the money laundering definition in the criminal code and gives the State legal authority to attempt to return virtual currency for victims. It also provides that if money cannot be returned to the victims of the crime, or are outside of the United States, it should be disposed of per order of the Superior Court.
Under current Delaware law, a minor cannot be guilty of the crime of prostitution under § 1342 of Title 11. This Act removes references to minors engaging in prostitution and being prostituted in favor of using the term "exploited" or “exploitation”, which is defined to mean acts by a minor that would constitute prostitution under § 1342(a) of Title 11 if that minor were 18 years old or older. This change is twofold. (1) It creates a separate term to refer to the exploitation of a minor since minors cannot be guilty of prostitution and prostitution is not otherwise defined outside of the offense in § 1342(a) of Title 11, which excludes minors; and (2) Recognizes a growing trend nationally and internationally to remove language that misleadingly implies that children are able to consent to, and participate in, prostitution. The Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children, comprised of representatives from the United Nations, INTERPOL, and organizations working to end the sexual exploitation of children, published a manual containing terminology guidelines for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. While there is no single recommended term, attempts should be made to avoid stigmatizing a child and suggesting that the child had culpability in any acts undertaken. Sections 8 through 11 of this Act update internal references elsewhere in the Code to account for the addition of subsection designations in §§ 1352 and 1353. Sections 12 through 13 of this Act add the definition of “illicit massage establishment” from House Bill 409 and update it to account for the change in terminology that this Act makes. This addition of and update to the definition of “illicit massage establishment” only occurs if House Bill No. 409 is enacted. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act defines terms used in Chapter 66, Title 16 of the Delaware Code for clarity. It also provides the State Fire Prevention Commission with the authority to receive and review criminal history records of applicants and members to determine whether the applicant or member is prohibited from serving as a member of a fire company. An applicant or member is not qualified to serve as a member if the individual’s criminal history record includes a crime listed in this Act, including felonies, specified financial or property crimes, sex crimes, specified crimes against a victim who is acting in the lawful performance of the victim’s duty, or crimes involving controlled substances or designer drugs. This Act updates the criminal history record language in Chapter 66, Title 16 to ensure Delaware law meets the requirements of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in requesting federal criminal history records. This Act also makes technical corrections to make existing law conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act requires that when all or part of the tenant’s rent is paid from a state fund for reentry services, a landlord must assist the tenant in completing a discharge plan to attempt to provide a warm handoff before terminating the tenant’s lease. This Act also closes a loophole in existing law that allows unlicensed or uncertified operators of residential housing to claim exemption from the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, including the procedural requirements for an eviction. Existing laws prohibit someone from losing their housing without notice because • A landlord must comply with the notice and judicial procedure under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Part III, Title 25. • Licensed health care providers must provide discharge planning before an individual is required to leave a residential treatment program under § 1127, § 5161, and § 3004J of Title 16. • Certified recovery homes must make a reasonable effort to connect a resident with appropriate services when terminating the resident’s admission agreement under § 2206A of Title 16. Section 1 of this Act closes a loophole in current law that allows some landlords to claim their tenants are excluded under § 5102(1) of Title 25 from the protections required before eviction under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code without being required to provide discharge planning or connecting the resident with appropriate services. This Act revises 3 of the exclusions by using the modern terms and where possible, the applicable licensing law for this State, to prevent housing providers from claiming exclusion from the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code even if the provider is not licensed or certified to provide services. This Act does not apply to or revise the exclusions to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code under paragraphs (4) through (6) of § 5102 of Title 25, including the existing exclusion for certified recovery houses. Section 2 of this Act creates new requirements under § 5512A of Title 25 if all or part of a tenant’s rent is paid using money from a State reentry fund. Before or with the first payment, the person responsible for payments from the fund must provide the landlord with an explanation of these requirements, contact information, and the model discharge plan. The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), in consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ), must create a model discharge plan. Then, before terminating the tenant’s lease, the landlord must assist the individual in creating a discharge plan that includes shelter or housing and provide notice that the tenant’s lease is being terminated as follows: • To the person making rent payments from the fund. • If the landlord knows that the tenant is under the supervision of the Department of Correction, to the Department of Correction and the local law enforcement agency. If a landlord fails to comply with the discharge planning and notice requirements, the landlord is debarred from receiving payments from any State reentry fund for 1 year. If the landlord is receiving payments from a State reentry fund for any other tenants, those tenants are not responsible for the share of the rent that was paid by the fund and have the option to do any of the following: • Continue the tenancy without payments from the fund. If the tenant chooses to continue their tenancy, the amount of their rent becomes the tenant’s share of the rent, calculated by subtracting the amount paid by the fund from the total rent under the rental agreement. • Terminate the lease immediately. • Terminate the lease with 30 to 60 days notice. These requirements are enforceable by the Department of Justice and also by the Justice of the Peace Court, because the contents of an eviction complaint must include a brief statement of compliance with the requirements under § 5512A(c) and copies of all required notices. Section 3 of this Act is a technical clarification to clarify that “this Code” and “Landlord-Tenant Code” both refer to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code under Part III of this title. Both “this Code” and “Landlord-Tenant Code” are used throughout Chapter 51 through Chapter 59 of Title 25 as abbreviations of the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code and under § 101 of Title 1, “this Code” could also refer to the entire Delaware Code. Section 4 of this Act makes the new requirements for reentry funds under § 5512A of Title 25 applicable to the rental of single rooms in owner-occupied buildings under § 5512 of Title 25. Section 4 also reorganizes the existing language in § 5512 because as 1 sentence, the current language is difficult to understand. This Act takes effect 6 months after enactment to provide time for DHSS and DOJ to develop the model discharge plan and for agencies, including the Department of Correction and local law enforcement agencies, to develop policies and procedures necessary to implement and respond to notification under these requirements. The new requirements under § 5512A of Title 25 apply to rental agreements entered into on or after the effective date of this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act is known as “The Grace Peterson Act”.
This Act adds any act that contains the characteristics of a hate crime to the definitions of crimes for the purposes of the Victims Compensation Assistance Program.
