Rep. Mike Smith

This Concurrent Resolution commends the 2024 Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year, Shannon Gronau, and all of the District/Charter Network Behavioral Health Professionals of the Year.

With 60% of U.S. households living paycheck to paycheck, 40% of Americans having less than $300 in savings, 33% of Americans having saved nothing for retirement, 95% of Americans having not saved enough for retirement, and 87% of American teens admitting not understanding their finances, financial literacy education in Delaware high schools is needed. This Act, which may be cited as “The Equity and Inclusion in Financial Literacy for All High School Students in Delaware Act”, requires high schools to provide, at a minimum, a half credit course on financial literacy. And, beginning with students entering grade 9 in the 2025 through 2026 school year, successful completion of the course will be required to obtain a high school diploma. This Act requires the course to include instruction which meets the financial literacy standards for high school students adopted by the Department of Education and on all of the following financial literacy topics: (1) Introduction to behavioral economics, including enabling students to understand the impact of life experiences on personal money management decisions and habits. (2) Enabling students to understand the benefits of disciplined and regular savings to achieve financial goals and the power of compounding returns and interest. (3) Introduction to the why and how of different types of risk assessment and investing strategies that lead to sustainable and long-term financial success and a self-sufficient retirement, including introduction and explanation of the Delaware EARNS Program established under Chapter 38 of Title 19. (4) Enabling students to understand personal budgeting. (5) Enabling students to understand and manage credit and debt, including credit scores; types of credit to include credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, student loans, payday loans, and title loans; the benefits and methods of debt avoidance and repayment; and the rule of 72. (6) Enabling students to understand financial institutions, including banking services, brokerage services, account fees, and the difference between fiduciary and non-fiduciary advisors. (7) Enabling students to understand personal and payroll-related taxes and their impact on disposable income. (8) Enabling students to understand career options, including college vs. trade or technical school and entrepreneurship vs. employment. (9) Enabling students to understand philanthropy. (10) Insurance options.

Like Chapter 19 of Title 10, covering judicial officers, and a similar provision pending for correctional officers, this Act allows law enforcement officers to submit a written request that their personal information not be publicly released. The written request may be submitted directly by a law enforcement officer to a person or government agency or the law enforcement agency employing the officer may submit a written request on behalf of the officer. This Act also directs the law enforcement agency employing covered law enforcement officers to develop a policy and procedure for law enforcement officers to apply for the employer to submit a written request on behalf of the law enforcement officer. The employer would also be required to enroll a law enforcement officer who opts into the employer’s process to enroll the law enforcement officer in the services for an online privacy vendor. This Act applies to law enforcement officers who serve on or after its enactment date and takes effect 180 days after its enactment into law.

This legislation, the State Spending Accountability Amendment, is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that would reform the state budgeting process. This amendment would continue the Budget Stabilization Fund, established in 2018 under Executive Order 21, issued by Governor John Carney. It also seeks to continue the state Benchmark Index and state Benchmark Appropriation, established by the same executive order, which will expire at the end of the Carney administration in January 2025. This amendment would further hold the General Assembly accountable for responsibly managing state spending growth by instituting new protocols. It would create the 8-member Budget Accountability Review Commission (BARC) and establish a set of procedures to ensure the state operating budget complied with the state Benchmark Index and state Benchmark Appropriation. These benchmarks could be exceeded when extraordinary circumstances presented themselves.

This Act is enabling legislation that establishes the framework and requirements for a competitive mobile sports wagering market in Delaware under the authority of the Lottery Director. Sports wagering is now legal in 38 states, and 29 states have legalized mobile sports wagering using computers or other Internet-connected devices, including the neighboring states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Pursuant to this Act, the Lottery Director is authorized and directed to commence the Internet sports lottery by administering a solicitation and request for applications process to license qualified operators that have entered into a market access agreement with one of Delaware’s existing video lottery agents. Each video lottery agent is authorized to partner with a maximum of two prospective Internet sports lottery operators, and certain minimum requirements for applicants are established in the legislation as part of the criteria the Lottery Director will develop to evaluate proposals from applicants. The Lottery Director may disqualify applicants that fail to provide required information. Further, the Director is not required to license applicants that are deemed not to be qualified. Licensed Internet sports lottery operators are required to pay a $500,000 fee for an initial 5-year license to offer Internet sports lottery games in Delaware, and operators must return proceeds from their operations at a rate of 18% of the operator’s monthly adjusted gross sports lottery receipts. Licensed operators will also contribute 1.5% of their monthly adjusted gross sports lottery receipts to purses for allocation under the direction of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission or the Delaware Harness Racing Commission, as applicable. Licensed Internet sports lottery operators must also contribute additional purses to cover any deficit in the event total purse revenues in any fiscal year from all sports lottery and Internet sports lottery operations are less than the total purses paid in the last 12 months prior to the start of the Internet sports lottery. Licensing fees collected from operators are allocated to the General Fund. Proceeds returned to the State by Internet sports lottery are allocated first to the Lottery Office’s costs and administrative expenses. Thereafter, $400,000 or 3.5% of the proceeds returned to the State, whichever is greater, is allocated to DSAMH for programs for the treatment, education, and assistance of compulsive gamblers and problem gambling. The balance of the proceeds remaining are allocated to the State Lottery Fund for the benefit of the State. The Act provides the Lottery Director with authority to regulate and provide for the security and effective administration of the Internet sports lottery. Minimum duties of licensed Internet sport lottery operators are established in the Act, including, among other requirements: (i) employing a monitoring system to identify betting irregularities; (ii) reporting suspicious activity to the Director; (iii) maintaining sufficient cash balances and daily records of receipts; and (iv) keeping current in all payments and obligations to the Director. Violations are subject to enforcement under existing statutory provisions. The Act directs the Lottery Director to implement the Internet sports lottery as soon as reasonably possible, but not later than 150 days after enactment. The Lottery Director is authorized to issue conditional or probationary licenses during initial implementation of the Internet sports lottery and may issue emergency regulations to the extent necessary to implement the Act. Final regulations for the Internet sports lottery are to be promulgated within 1 year after enactment. Finally, Section 8 of the Act provides that the Act’s provisions do not apply to any vendor awarded a contract by the Lottery Office to provide an online casino and sports gaming platform for Delaware’s three licensed video lottery agents pursuant to that certain Request for Proposal issued by the Lottery Office on January 12, 2023, entitled “Internet Wagering System and Services Solution [FIN23001-IWSSS]” or any renewal or successor contract thereto. This Act expands the definition of “Sports lottery” to include amateur and electronic sporting events. This Act requires a 3/5 vote because it creates a fee.

This Act permits wine producers holding a valid license within this State or another state to obtain a license and ship wine directly to Delaware consumers so long as it is done through a common carrier with a carrier permit. This Act requires that wine producers pay the taxes normally due for wines; limits the amount of wine that a direct shipper of wine can sell to a single household to 3 9-liter cases per year. This Act requires the signature of a person 21 years of age or older before delivery of the wine and to receive training regarding how to deliver wine responsibly.

Maddy summaryThis bill formally recognizes June 6, 2024, as the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy during World War II. It directly affects the state of Delaware by officially designating this date for commemoration and honoring the state's specific contributions and sacrifices, including veterans like Thomas Maloney and those who lost their lives. The resolution does not change laws or create new programs; instead, it serves as a symbolic gesture to acknowledge the historical significance of the event and the bravery of the Allied forces.

This concurrent resolution recognizes and commends speech-language pathologists and audiologists throughout this State for their work with citizens of this State to lead independent, productive, and fulfilling lives.

This Act directs phased in unit funding for every school or district to have an athletic trainer. A school or district with less than 3 sports teams must submit an application to the Department of Education should it wish to receive partial funding for an athletic trainer position. The State Board of Education may review any objection to the Department’s decision.

This Act requires the Department of Elections to review every political committee’s contribution and expense report and to note the report, on the Department’s website, as either “Submitted but Not Reviewed” or “Reviewed and Final”. If the Department discovers any violations of this chapter, it must work with the candidate to rectify the violations. Once the violations are corrected and the candidate submits an amended report the report’s status shall be updated on the Department’s website and clearly marked as “Reviewed and Final”. This Act will apply to all contribution and expense reports submitted after February 1, 2025.