Rep. Mike Ramone

This Act requires personal income tax brackets to be annually adjusted for cost-of-living increases. This will prevent tax rate increases resulting from cost-of-living pay increases that push lower income taxpayers into higher tax brackets. This is referred to as "bracket creep". Cost-of-living pay increases are intended to offset inflation and not create a greater tax burden on lower income taxpayers. Social justice requires that lower income taxpayers should not face both inflation and higher tax rates at the same time. This Act will be effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024.

This bill expands the timeframe in which a candidate may withdraw from the presidential primary election, including the option of not holding such an election in the event of only one remaining candidate. The approximate cost of a Presidential Primary election for the State is $1.5 million. This Act expires on December 31, 2024.

This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that imposes a filing deadline for the introduction of new bills. Specifically, this Act prohibits a bill from being introduced after the second Friday in June unless one of the following apply: (1) The bill is the annual budget act, one-time supplemental appropriations act, bond and capital improvement act, or grants-in-aid act. (2) The bill is introduced in a special session. (3) The bill is authorized to be introduced in the House of origin by a motion or resolution of the other House passed with the concurrence of three-fourths of all the members elected to the other House. The purpose of this Act is to prevent the last-minute introduction of legislation that is apt to circumvent the deliberative process required by § 911 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code and the Senate and House Rules. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each House of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution. Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly.

This bill seeks to correct a current bias in Delaware’s election law impacting the outcome of countless races throughout the state. Numerous academic analyses have concluded that there is a considerable benefit to a candidate’s name appearing first on the ballot. In one noteworthy legal proceeding on ballot position bias, the California Supreme Court held that “a significant advantage accrues to a candidate by virtue of a top ballot position.” The High Court further concluded that without incumbents running, approximately 5% of a candidate’s vote share could be attributed to their position on the ballot. California took action in 1975 to eliminate this flaw by randomizing the listing of candidates on its ballots. The Golden State uses a system where a randomized drawing of letters of the alphabet is conducted, with the resulting order of letters constituting a "randomized alphabet" that is used for determining the order of candidates' names on the ballot. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 states have enacted reforms to deal with ballot position bias. Delaware law currently mandates that one political party always appear in the first column on the machine ballots or on the first line of absentee ballots. This bill proposes eradicating ballot position inequity by adopting a randomized system modeled after the one successfully employed in California for nearly five decades.

This act increases from $110 to $330 each personal exemption credit for certain lower income earning individuals.

This resolution recognizes the Easterseals/CAI Volleyball Challenge occurring March 9 at William Penn High School and April 20 at Delaware State University, an event that raises funds for an organization providing services and support to Delawareans with disabilities and senior citizens and their families.

This is the first leg of a Constitutional Amendment to constitutionally authorize 10 days of early in-person voting in Delaware. Additionally, at least 21 in-person early voting places, with 1 being located in each State Senate District, are required. Further, this Constitutional Amendment requires all administrative or procedural laws, rules, policies, or regulations applicable to safeguarding the security of in-person voting that apply to the general election shall be applicable to in-person early voting days.

This Concurrent Resolution honors and recognizes the leadership and achievements of African Americans and urges the celebration of Black History Month.

This concurrent resolution designates the week of February 11-17, 2024, as “Children of Alcoholics Week” and calls upon Delawareans to break the silence and talk to their family and friends about alcoholism.

This Act raises the minimum income to be subject to income tax from $2,000 to $2,500. Also, the current 6 income tax brackets are collapsed into 3 brackets, each with a slightly reduced tax rate for most taxpayers.