Rep. John A. Kowalko

This Act authorizes the Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Department, or General Assembly, including a House, joint committee, committee, or member of the General Assembly, to request, and requires the Auditor of Accounts conduct or contract for, an audit of a charter school's business and financial transactions, records, and accounts in certain circumstances. In addition, this Act makes clear that the Auditor of Accounts may not charge for an audit conducted or contracted for under this Act.

This act imposes a tax at the rate of 15% of the wholesale cost of a premium cigar. A premium cigar means any roll for smoking that is made entirely of tobacco with a wrapper, binder and filler that is 100 percent leaf tobacco, is hand rolled and contains no filter or tip or any mouthpiece consisting of material other than tobacco or additional tobacco flavoring.

The Delaware Marijuana Control Act regulates and taxes marijuana in the same manner as alcohol. It allows adults over the age of 21 to legally possess and consume under 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use. It does not permit people to grow their own marijuana. Section 1: Amends Chapter 47 of Title 16 to provide that the offenses and penalties under Uniform Controlled Substances Act do not apply to marijuana-related conduct allowed under the Delaware Marijuana Control Act or the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act, Chapter 49A of Title 16. Section 2: Amends § 4764 of Title 16 to eliminate any penalty for possessing 1 ounce or less of marijuana for individuals over the age of 21 but maintains the existing civil penalty for possession of 1 ounce or less for adults age 18 to 21. Section 3: Amends § 4902A of Title 16 so that the definition of a registered safety compliance facility includes not just marijuana produced for medical use but also marijuana produced under the Delaware Marijuana Control Act. Section 4: Amends § Chapter 4 of Title 4 to expand DATE’s duties and powers to the Delaware Marijuana Control Act. Section 5: This Act creates the Delaware Marijuana Control Act. Subchapter I contains definitions and general provisions. Where definitions or analogous provisions exist in the Delaware Code, the definitions are referenced and the language from existing statutes is used. This section of the Act permits individuals over age 21 to possess, use, purchase, or transport 1 ounce (28 grams) or less of marijuana, no more than 5 grams of which may be concentrated, by individuals 21 years of age or older if the individuals are in compliance with this chapter. It permits the operation of marijuana businesses if they operate under licenses granted under Chapter 49A of Title 16, but imposes the same limits on hours and holiday sales as apply to sales of alcohol. It prohibits the use of marijuana in public, by drivers or passengers in vehicles, and prohibits the smoking of marijuana anywhere that smoking tobacco or ecigarettes is not permitted. Marijuana may not be sold in an establishment licensed to sell alcohol. Employers and some owners of residential housing can prohibit the use of marijuana. There are specific provisions imposing the same penalties as with alcohol sales, for individuals under the age of 21 using false identification to purchase marijuana, and for businesses that fail to verify the age of marijuana consumers. This Act creates the Delaware Marijuana Control Act Oversight Committee. This Oversight Committee will coordinate the implementation of this Act with the Medical Marijuana Program, the Division of Public Health, the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, and the public. The Oversight Committee will review the effectiveness of the Delaware Marijuana Control Act in regard to the safe operation of facilities licensed under this Act, the impact of this Act on public safety, and the impact of this Act on public health. The Commissioner must submit an annual report to the Governor and the members of the General Assembly setting forth all matters of interest and all statistics concerning marijuana regulation and control in the State including: the number of licenses of each variety issued with the State; including the name and address of each person licensed to cultivate, manufacture, or sell marijuana or marijuana products in the State; the amount of marijuana and marijuana products sold within the State; and the number of licenses of each kind granted and the number cancelled during the year. Subchapter II creates the Marijuana Commissioner and Appeals Commission. The Commissioner has the power to conduct hearings if neighbors protest the license application of establishments that sell marijuana and subpoena power. It requires the Commissioner to coordinate with the Division of Small Business, Development, and Tourism so that potential businesses licensed under this Act have access to programs, particularly those that support small businesses owned by minorities, women, and veterans. Subchapter III sets up the regulations and licenses under the Delaware Marijuana Control Act. The Marijuana Commissioner has the authority to adopt regulations to implement this Act and includes specific requirements that marijuana establishments must meet to obtain licenses. Regulations must require that products containing marijuana use of a symbol and a standard measurement to be used on all marijuana products so they are easily identified as containing marijuana and consumers can identify the amount of marijuana in different products; be in opaque, child-resistant packaging; and contain a warning label explaining evidence-based harms from consuming marijuana, including the impact on developing brains. The regulations must also contain security requirements, testing requirements, advertising restrictions, and require that food products comply with State food safety laws. There are separate licensing requirements for retail marijuana stores, marijuana testing facilities, marijuana cultivation facilities, and marijuana product manufacturing facilities. The application fee for licenses is up to $5000, which is the same as the application fee for facilities under the Delaware Medical Marijuana program. There is a $10,000 biennial fee for each license issued under this Act, which is lower than the fee for compassion center under the Delaware Medical Marijuana program, with the exception of cultivation licenses that are determined by square footage of the grow rates. Within 10 months of the effective date of this Act, applications will be accepted from compassion centers and safety compliance facilities registered under Chapter 49A of Title 16 to operate as retail marijuana stores, marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana product manufacturing facilities, and marijuana testing facilities. Subchapter IV creates the Marijuana Regulation Fund. This fund will consist of fees collected, penalties imposed, and taxes collected under this Act. It creates the marijuana control enforcement tax on retail marijuana in the amount of 15% that will be appropriated as determined by the General Assembly. Section 6: Creates a State tax deduction for all ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred by a marijuana establishment to reflect the inability of a business licensed under this Act to deduct these expenses from federal taxes and thus state taxes. This creates a more level playing field with other businesses. Section 7: Provides that the initial regulations required under this Act be adopted not later than 9 months after the effective date of this Act.  Section 8: This section allows for the expungement of prior marijuana related offenses as long as the individual has no convictions for violent felonies. Section 9: This section allows the Sunset Committee to review the Oversight Committee in 2024.

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.

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 bill will add a new check-off donation box on the Delaware personal income tax return whereby individuals may choose to donate a portion of their tax refund, or designate an amount in addition to the tax they owe that will be transferred by the Division of Revenue to the Pediatric Cancer Research Fund held by the Delaware Community Foundation, who in turn will deposit the funds to the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation.

This bill creates certificates of rehabilitation, an essential resource states can offer to support reentry, and promote public safety, by lifting statutory bars to jobs, licenses or other necessities such as housing that result from a conviction history. Certificates may be used to provide a way for qualified people with criminal records to demonstrate rehabilitation or a commitment to rehabilitation. At least six states currently have laws authorizing certificates of rehabilitation or other similar means of removing legal barriers arising from a criminal record separate and apart from seeking a governor pardon. This bill creates certificates of rehabilitation to restore the rights of people with criminal records who have paid their debt to society.

This Senate Joint Resolution requires the Public Service Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the Qualified Fuel Cell Provider tariff and Qualified Fuel Cell Provider facilities to identify and evaluate any options that may be available to reduce the burden of this tariff on Delmarva Power ratepayers. This Senate Joint Resolution also requires that a report containing the results of this review be completed and made public within 1 year.

In 2017, 44,889 failure to pay capias issued for people who did not pay a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution imposed for a non-felony offense. In the first 6 months of 2018, there were a total of 5,807 admissions to detention at all Level V facilities. Of these admissions, 129 were for failure to pay only and 595 were for failure to pay and another charge. When a capias is issued for nonpayment of a fine, courts currently may and do impose fees to cancel the warrant. When defendants are late paying their fines, the courts’ clerks also must forward the defendant’s name to the Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles for license suspension. This Act prohibits a court or the Department of Transportation from suspending a driver’s license for nonpayment of a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution and from charging a penalty, assessment, or fee to a defendant for the cancellation of a warrant issued due to the defendant’s nonpayment of a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution. This Act also prohibits a court from imposing an additional fee on a defendant for payments that are made at designated periodic intervals or late, or when probation is ordered to supervise a defendant’s payment. Nothing in this Act precludes the court from filing contempt charges against defendants who willfully fail to pay their fines imposed after their ability to pay hearing. Further, this Act permits a court, before imposing a fine, fee, cost, or assessment, to consider a defendant’s ability to pay the fine, fee, costs, or assessment, whether an adult or a juvenile, is able to pay the fine, fee, cost, or assessment. This Act also provides the courts with discretion to waive, modify, suspend, costs, assessments, fines, and fees even if otherwise deemed mandatory by the Code. Additionally, this Act requires state, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies and volunteer ambulance companies to calculate and report the total sum they receive from fines, fees, costs, assessments and restitution and make a public report of these totals. This Act also creates the Criminal Legal System Imposed Debt Study Group to review the impact court imposed financial obligations have on defendants and survivors of crime and make recommendations to promote access, fairness, and transparency in the imposition and collection of court imposed financial obligations. Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act eliminates the set bargaining unit classifications established in 19 Del. C. § 1311A(b) and allows exclusive representatives of bargaining units to work with the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources to organize or consolidate bargaining units in a manner in which they can agree for purposes of collective bargaining. It also eliminates the requirement that exclusive bargaining representatives of exclusive bargaining units form a coalition for collective bargaining. The Act eliminates the provision allowing for an employee organization to seek to be certified for unrepresented employees. The Act provides that parties may engage in collective bargaining for compensation in conjunction with or separately from collective bargaining for terms and conditions. It requires that the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements be staggered over time while providing that collective bargaining agreements currently in place remain in place until they expire by their own terms. While the Act allows for exclusive representatives to bargain for different pay rate increases, it prohibits the compensation of bargaining units from exceeding the pay ranges for each pay grade as established each year in the appropriations act. In addition, it retains the existing scope of bargaining contained in 19 Del.C. Section 1311A(a). Finally, this Act makes technical revisions to conform with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.