Rep. Frank Cooke

This Act is the product of the Manufactured Home Owners and Community Owner’s Act Task Force (“Task Force”), established by HR No. 24 of the 149th General Assembly. This Act makes technical and substantive revisions to the Manufactured Home Owners and Community Owners Act that were approved by all voting and nonvoting members of the Task Force. The specific changes are as follows: 1. Chapter 70 of Title 25 is reorganized so that it is easier to read and specific provisions are easier to identify. • Section 7026 is broken into separate sections in a new Subchapter V, with headings to indicate the topic of the different provisions. The reorganized subsections of § 7026 are shown with strike through where the subsection is currently located and underline in the new location, but no substantive changes are made to the subsections. 2. Technical corrections that improve consistency, clarity, and conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including all of the following: • Oxford commas added. • “Shall not” is replaced by “must not” or “may not.” • “Pursuant to [reference to paragraph, statute, title]” replaced by “under.” • “Including, but not limited to,” is replaced with “including.” • Long paragraphs that contain lists are revised into outline form. • Semi-colons at the end of items in a list are replaced with periods. • “And/or” is replaced by “and” or “or.” • “All of the following” or “any of the following” is inserted prior to lists. • Corrects the references to the Department of Justice. • Corrects spelling errors and inconsistent hyphenation and phrasing of terms. • Moves all definitions to the definitions section. 3. Corrections that, while substantive, provide clarity and codify current practices, including all of the following: • Removes the definition of “hold over” because the term is not used in Chapter 70. • Clarifies language regarding the content of a rental agreement summary. • Clarifies language regarding lease renewals. • Clarifies language regarding holdover tenancies. • Eliminates inconsistent language about the amount of notice required before a rent increase. • Provides specific authority for Delaware Manufactured Housing Relocation Authority (“DEMHRA”) to spend funds for DEMHRA’s responsibilities under Subchapter VI. • Corrects an incorrect statement in the penalty provision of Subchapter VI because DEMHRA does not, under existing law, have the authority or responsibility to approve rent increases. 4. The following substantive changes are made: • Requires that a receipt be provided to a tenant for a cash payment of rent within 3 days of the payment and that records of cash receipts for rent be maintained for 3 years. • Revises the procedure for scheduling a meeting when a rent increase is proposed and adds requirements for the content of the notice provided to homeowners of the deadline to request arbitration. • Removes the model bylaws because they are no longer necessary. • Simplifies the amount of relocation assistance provided to home owners. • Explicitly permits relocations assistance for a home moved out of State or to land that is not in a manufactured home community. This Act takes effect 180 days from enactment.

In a case of first impression, the Superior Court ruled, contrary to "common knowledge" of Delaware Criminal laws, that criminal impersonation requires proof that a real person (a human being who has been born and is alive) has been impersonated; in other words, one cannot impersonate a fictitious person. Evans v. State, Del. Super., April 30, 2019. This Act provides that criminal impersonation occurs when one impersonates a real or fictitious person.

This bill places restrictions on the placement of clothing bins. The bill requires a person who places a clothing bin on a property, or has an existing clothing bin on a property, to obtain a permit from the Department of Health and Social Services. The bill also imposes civil penalties on those that violate any provision of this Act and allows for seizure of any violator’s clothing bin at its expense, with an appeal process in the Justice of the Peace Court.

To address concerns regarding the actual and perceived fairness of lottery admissions to choice, charter, and vo-tech schools, this Act requires that a third party approved by the Department of Education and the State Board of Education conduct the lottery. The Department of Education currently has a contract with Data Service Center to perform the choice lottery for all schools and districts in Delaware. There is no cost to the districts or charters.

This Act revises the crime of "unlawfully permitting a child access to a firearm," an existing class A misdemeanor under Delaware law. The offense is renamed "unsafe storage of a firearm" to place emphasis on firearm safety and proper storage. Under the revised statute, a crime is committed when a person intentionally or recklessly stores or leaves a loaded firearm where a minor or other person prohibited by law, or “unauthorized person,” can access the firearm, and the unauthorized person obtains the firearm. The unauthorized person’s use of the firearm to inflict serious physical injury or death is not an element of the offense, but is an aggravating factor. For the purposes of this offense, “stores and leaves” does not include when firearm is carried by or under the control of the owner or another lawfully-authorized user. Under this Act, the offense is a class B misdemeanor if there are no aggravating circumstances. If, however, the unauthorized person uses the firearm to commit a crime, uses the firearm to inflict serious physical injury or death upon anyone, or transfers the firearm to another unauthorized person, the offense is a class A misdemeanor. It is an affirmative defense that the person stored the firearm in a locked container, disabled it with a tamper-resistant trigger lock, or stored it in a location a reasonable person would have thought was safe from access by unauthorized persons. This Act provides an exception for firearms manufactured in or before 1899, or a replica to such firearms, if the replica is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition. This Act also makes technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

At this time, blood lead level screening and testing rates are well below what the Division of Public Health would expect them to be based upon the risk factors that determine when screening or testing is necessary. This bill simplifies the requirements and the process for healthcare providers and eliminates confusion that may be causing the low compliance rate for screening or testing, and defines terms used in the Act. This bill mandates screening, defined as capillary blood test, at 12 and 24 months of age. The bill clarifies insurance coverage for the costs of compliance with the Act. The Division of Public Health is also directed to report on elevated blood lead levels to the General Assembly annually and to develop regulations to implement and enforce the Act within 12 months of being enacted.

This Act increases the penalties for parking in an area designated for a vehicle being used by an individual with a disability. For a first offense this Act increases the monetary penalty from $100 to $200. For a subsequent offense, this Act increases the monetary penalty from $200 to $300. The offenses subject to these increased penalties are included without change in lines 4 through 27 to add context. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act extends the Automatic Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program and the Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Financial Education through December 31, 2024. The Automatic Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program and the Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Financial Education were established by 3 different Acts which each sunset after 2 years, based upon the effective date of each Act. The sunset periods have been extended for additional 2 year periods so that the Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Financial Education sunsets in September 2019; § 5062C and § 5062D of Title 10 sunset in January 2020; and § 5062A of Title 10 sunset in January 2019. In addition to providing a uniform date for the expiration of the entire Automatic Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program and the Office of Foreclosure Prevention and Financial Education, this Act makes the expiration date a new subsection of each statute, so that the effective period of the law is clear and easily identified.

This Act allows the Division of Motor Vehicles to issue special Bicycle Friendly Delaware license plates.

Sections 1 and 2 of this Act make clear that an individual who is the subject of a false report is a victim and is entitled to restitution and the benefits of the Victims’ Bill of Rights. Section 3 of this Act corrects an internal reference to § 1245 of Title 11 based on changes made in Section 1 of this Act. Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.