Currently, the ability of the Department to take licensure action (i.e., suspension, revocation, limitation) is, in certain cases, contingent upon the public school employer first taking employment action (i.e., dismissal, termination). The Department believes that its ability, as the agency issuing professional teaching credentials to educators, to undertake licensure action should be separate from any action by the public school employer. Further, the Department seeks to expand the circumstances in which the Secretary may automatically suspend teaching credentials, specifically to include situations involving felony crimes against a children or where there is a clear and immediate danger to student safety or welfare. This bill removes the requirement of employment action before disciplinable offenses may be handled by the Department, making this licensure disciplinary structure consistent with how other licensed professions are handled in this State. The bill also creates the power to impose temporary emergency suspensions in those rare instances where a teacher poses a threat to student health, safety, or welfare. Finally, this bill creates the confidential letter of concern that is non-disciplinary and may be used in those instances where a teacher’s behavior is not in violation of the code, but indicative of a practice that is a matter of concern. These two provisions also make teacher licensure discipline more similar to other licensed professions in the State.
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This Act creates a training minimum wage and a youth wage that is not more than $0.50 less than the minimum wage rate that becomes effective January 1, 2019. The increase in the minimum wage to $8.75 is also effective January 1, 2019.
This bill provides for a residential electrician license. A residential electrician license allows for a person to conduct residential electrical work without having to be under the direct onsite supervision of a licensed master electrician, master electrician special, limited electrician, limited electrician special or journeyperson electrician. Electricians with a residential electrician license are permitted to perform electric work performed on or within a residential dwelling or building prior to the dwelling or building being connected to the electric grid, or work to or beyond the breaker panel or fuse box in a residential dwelling or building, or residential low voltage electric work.
This Act expands the total number of vice-chancellors on the Court of Chancery to 6 and makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Resolution recognizes the importance of the 2020 census and calls on state and local government to commit to a complete count. Federal dollars are often based on the population count of each state and it is vitally important to ensure that the State of Delaware is fully counted to ensure accuracy in the disbursement of federal dollars. The Resolution calls upon the Governor to establish a “Complete Count Commission” for the purpose of ensuring the State of Delaware is fully counted in the 2020 census.
This Act promotes diversity of housing in Delaware by acknowledging that not all residential units warrant the same Voluntary School Assessment. Currently, single family residential subdivision projects are subject to the same per unit Voluntary School Assessment as an apartment project, regardless of size and number of bedrooms. The current framework can place an undue burden on multi-family and smaller unit residential projects. This Act seeks to mitigate this burden for redevelopment plans by eliminating the Voluntary School Assessment for one-bedroom apartment units, such that the per unit Voluntary School Assessment would be charged only for each residential unit containing two or more bedrooms, and further by reducing the Voluntary School Assessment cap to 2.5 percent of the total cost of the residential unit. This Act further recognizes that relief in support of the above-mentioned policy is most appropriate for redevelopment projects where any financial burden on the school system potentially caused by reducing the Voluntary School Assessment is mitigated by taxes previously paid to the school district for the prior development.
The Act made changes to motor vehicle franchising practices, by doing the following: (1) Prohibiting a new motor vehicle manufacturer from recovering its costs for compensating its dealers for recalls or warranty parts and service by reducing the amount due to the dealer or imposing a charge. (2) Establishing the process for and method of compensating a dealer for a recall related to a used motor vehicle. (3) Providing a process by which a dealer may protest a franchise termination with the Public Service Commission. (4) Protecting consumer data. (5) Making technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Substitute Act incorporates these changes and makes an additional change to § 4903(b) of Title 6.
This bill makes a technical correction to House Bill 53 enacted earlier this session. It would make the original intent clear that these firework devices can be sold and used on July 4, December 31, and January 1.
This bill is intended to facilitate the growth and expansion of Delaware licensed craft alcoholic liquor companies within the State by permitting them to ship product manufactured on their licensed premises to entities under common ownership and control, as defined. This bill is not intended to unconditionally except craft alcoholic liquor companies from the traditional “three-tier” system.
The Certification of Adoption of Sustainability and Transparency Standards Act (the “Act”) establishes a voluntary disclosure regime to foster dialogue around sustainability and responsibility among participating Delaware business entities and their various stakeholders. Because issues relating to sustainability and responsibility are fact-specific and fact-intensive and may vary greatly depending on, among other things, the size of the entity, the nature of its business and operations, and the industry in which it operates, the Act does not prescribe specific standards, measures of performance or criteria for evaluating performance. Rather, consistent with the enabling approach of Delaware business laws generally, the Act requires the governing body of each entity seeking certification under the Act to adopt principles, guidelines and standards to guide its business activities in a sustainable and responsible manner, as well as metrics for assessing whether it has met its objectives. Although Section 5003D of the Act grants the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware (the “Secretary of State”) the authority and discretion to provide the form of application for certification under the Act, the Act does not contemplate that State officers will make qualitative judgments regarding the standards or metrics that an entity adopts. The Act also does not contemplate or require that State officers determine qualitatively whether an entity has been operated in a sustainable and responsible manner. The Secretary of State's certification is focused on information acknowledged by an authorized representative of the entity regarding its adoption of procedures to operate sustainably and responsibly and its commitment to disclose, at least annually, such procedures. To that end, Section 5003D of the Act requires an entity applying for certification under the Act to make disclosures regarding the sustainability and responsibility standards it has adopted, the metrics it uses to evaluate whether it has met those standards, and its performance in meeting those standards. The Act is entirely voluntary. The decision whether to seek certification is in the sole discretion of each entity. The Act imposes no obligations on any Delaware entities that have not elected certification. (Of course, any person or entity that misrepresents an entity's certified status may be subject to civil or criminal fines or penalties.) The Act does not impose fines or penalties on entities that elect not to seek certification, nor does it impose penalties or fines on entities that, having become certified, fail to satisfy their own performance standards. Moreover, the Act specifies that fiduciary liability shall not be imposed as a result of, among other things, the decision whether or not to seek certification or the failure to meet specific sustainability and responsibility standards.