This Act allows Civic Associations in unincorporated areas of New Castle County to create garbage collection districts for units in their subdivision or housing development and contract for garbage collection.
This Act reaffirms the Constitutional requirement that the General Assembly appropriate money belonging to the General Fund by making clear that funds received by the State or a State agency from settlements or other final orders or judgments, other than those funds awarded specifically to a party or consumer or as attorneys' fees, or explicitly directed otherwise by law, are to be deposited to the General Fund and may not be transferred or expended until the funds are appropriated by the General Assembly. Included in the exclusion, are all funds that exist in the Delaware Code where the law provides for the money that must go to the specific fund and how the money in that fund may be spent.
The continued existence and dissemination of a juvenile criminal record hampers an individual’s ability to become a successful and productive member of society. These criminal records are a hindrance to employment, education, housing, credit, and military service. This Act streamlines Delaware’s juvenile expungement code by providing the Delaware Family Court the option to immediately order an expungement in the event that a felony case was terminated in favor of the juvenile (i.e. a juvenile was found not guilty, or the charges were dropped). Delaware law currently allows the Court to do this for misdemeanor and violation cases.
This bill appoints the Secretary of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security as Chair of the DPAC and removes the President Pro Tem and the Speaker of the House from the Commission. This bill also makes technical corrections in conformance with the Legislative Drafting Manual and clarifies that members may appoint a designee to serve in their place and at their pleasure.
Individuals who are released from prison face many hurdles as they re-enter the community, including difficulty obtaining identification documents. Lacking identification imposes additional hurdles as these individuals attempt to find housing and employment. This Act requires the Department of Correction to provide individuals who are being released from the custody of the Department of Correction ("DOC"), after 6 months of incarceration following conviction, with a Delaware Personal Credential Card ("Personal Credential"). An individual may present the Personal Credential to receive one free certified copy of the individual's birth certificate and one identification card or driver's license, if otherwise eligible to receive those documents. This Act builds on the pilot that has been in place since 2012, when the DOC partnered with the Division of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Health and Social Services to obtain identification for individuals who volunteer to participate in the I-ADAPT re-entry program. Currently, individuals in I-ADAPT receive a Prisoner Re-Entry card, valid for 1 year, that can be used to obtain to obtain a free copy of their birth certificate, if they were born in Delaware, and a free identification card, if otherwise eligible to receive one.
Currently there are 17 "check-boxes" on the Delaware personal income tax return where taxpayers may designate a portion of their refund or send additional money with their payment due to be credited as a charitable donation to various organizations. The number of organizations has continued to grow over the years without any charities being removed. As a result, a relatively stable total amount of donations is being spread across a larger number of causes, reducing the utility for any single charity and increasing the administrative burden on the Division of Revenue. This bill eliminates the two lowest grossing charitable funds - for the US Olympic Committee and for the Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund, and replaces them with Funds for the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children and the United Way of Delaware. It also adds a provision to the code capping the number of permissible charity check-offs on the return at 21.
This Act has the effect of renaming the Delaware Department of Transportation Welcome Center on Interstate 95 at 530 JFK Memorial Highway, Newark, Delaware as the "Biden Welcome Center" in honor of the Biden family. This gesture is made because of the exemplary service to the State of Delaware the Bidens have provided, and because of their lifelong promotion of this State.
As the self-storage industry continues to grow, it is important for consumers to have the option to insure their items stored in a self-storage facility. Currently, Delaware law does not provide a licensing structure for the sale of self-storage insurance. This type of insurance is becoming more commonplace with the growth in the self-storage industry. This legislation provides a licensing structure for self-storage businesses engaged in the sale of this type of insurance, grants the Insurance Commissioner regulatory oversight over the sales practices for this type of insurance and provides important protections and disclosures for consumers who purchase this insurance product.
This bill creates regulations concerning the use, distribution and education of Benzodiazepine and Non-benzodiazepine Hypnotics. It require Practitioners to obtain consent from a minor’s parent or guardian prior to prescribing these drugs, and require pharmacist to include a cautionary statement explaining the risks associated with the long term use of these drugs.
This Act implements the recommendations of the March 2105 Autism Educational Task Force report regarding § 1332 of Title 14, the Program for Children with Autism and its Special Staff. Enacted nearly three decades ago, this law established a network of educational programs initially within a separate school structure known as The Delaware Autism Program (DAP). Today, this network continues as a combination of both separate school programs and within local school district support services. However, the current model does not reflect current practices in special education, especially regarding inclusive education, and parents’ desire to have their children educated in their local communities. In addition, the increase in students with an educational classification of autism spectrum disorder (“ASD”) has made it difficult for the Statewide Director to provide the level of services and support that once was offered. This Act establishes the qualifications and duties of the Statewide Director and enhances the current mandatory committee structure to include a Parent Advisory Committee, in addition to the Peer Review Committee and Statewide Monitoring Review Board, to increase family input, monitoring, and protections. This Act creates a 3 year pilot program that revises the concept of DAP toward a system in which the statewide Director will work in collaboration with a team of experts to provide technical assistance and training to districts and educational entities. It allows for and provides adequate resources for all students with ASD in Delaware by eliminating the distinction between DAP-approved programs and other in-district options and by providing in-state experts at a lower cost than out-of-state residential treatment and consultants. The pilot program created under this Act makes changes that recognize and support the need for specialized technical assistance and training staff to be available to build capacity for teachers in all districts and other programs educating students with ASD. These changes expand available supports so that excellent, evidence-based training and technical assistance can be made available to all Delaware schools and the students who attend them. The pilot program created under this Act establishes a technical assistance team of educational autism specialists numbering a ratio of 1 for every 100 students (currently estimated at 15 positions). The fiscal mechanism to support the pilot program will be accomplished through mandated district participation that is consistent with the current needs-based funding system in Delaware and by redirecting state spending towards lower cost, community-based supports from out-of-state residential placements. The number of training specialists will be phased in over several years or until the pilot program ends. Finally, this Act is known as "The Alex Eldreth Autism Education Law" in memory Alex Eldreth, who passed away unexpectedly on November 24, 2017, and his dedication to this work.
