Rep. John J. Viola

This Act establishes in-person early voting in Delaware beginning January 1, 2022. Registered voters will be allowed to vote in-person during at least 10 days before an election, up to and including the Saturday and Sunday immediately before the election at locations determined by the State Election Commissioner. This Act also charges the State Election Commissioner with determining whether such voting should occur by voting machine or paper ballot. All other procedures relating to conducting voting are the same as for general election voting. Further, this Act requires that for statewide elections there must be at least 1 in-person polling place in each county, and an additional location in the City of Wilmington.

This resolution celebrates the landmark 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act, supports Taiwan’s signing of a Bilateral Trade Agreement with the United States, reaffirms support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation and contribution in international organizations, and reaffirms support for strengthening and expanding sister-state ties between the State of Delaware and Taiwan.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes September 2019 as "Prostate Cancer Awareness Month" in the State of Delaware

This Senate Concurrent Resolution marks the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the first known Africans in English North America at Point Comfort, Virginia in 1619. It addresses the history of American slavery which grew out of that event, ultimately involving 15 American states including Delaware, and serving as a major cause of the American Civil War. Finally the resolution urges all Delawareans to familiarize themselves with this history and honors African Americans for overcoming this terrible reality to build a culture of extraordinary richness which has enriched all our lives.

This Concurrent Resolution acknowledges June as LGBTQA+ Pride Month and recognizes the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall.

This Act enhances 2 existing agricultural horse racing programs, the Delaware Standardbred Breeder's Program and the Delaware Certified Thoroughbred program, by providing additional funding. Under this Act, horsemen provide half of the additional funds from purse money and the State provides half of the additional funds with matching funds.

This bill makes several updates to the Delaware Interactive Fantasy Contests Act initially signed into law on July 26, 2017, including the permanent removal of the July 1, 2019 sunset date from § 4860, Title 29 and § 2301, Title 30 of the Delaware Code. This bill allows authorized Delaware players to include non-Delaware collegiate athletes on their fantasy sports rosters, clarifies that employees (and certain of their family members) of fantasy sports operators/registrants may engage in non-public interactive sports contests, and allows the Director of the Division of Gaming Enforcement to issue a temporary registration to interactive fantasy sports operators, and eliminates the outdated provision for operators who were awaiting the now available registration application. Finally, this bill sets the registrants’ license fee rate at 15.5%.

This Act authorizes the Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Department, or 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. Such a request must be based on evidence of misuse of State money or a violation of the following State law, or regulation promulgated under the State law: (1) Part I of Title 11 (relating to the Delaware Criminal Code). (2) Chapter 5 of Title 14 (relating to charter schools). (3) Subchapter I of Chapter 58 of Title 29 (relating to the State employees’, officers’, and officials’ code of conduct). (4) Chapter 69 of Title 29 (relating to State procurement). In addition, this Act makes clear that the Auditor of Accounts may not charge for an audit conducted or contracted for under this Act.

The purpose of the Bill is to protect farmers and ranchers from nuisance lawsuits filed by individuals who inhabit areas where agricultural operations lawfully exist, and who exercise nuisance actions to attempt to stop operation and production. This Bill protects farms and agricultural operations that use commonly accepted agricultural practices from being considered a nuisance in areas zoned for agricultural uses and operations that have existed for a period of 1 year or longer. This will enable the State to protect the production of food, fuel and fiber within the state. AR Districts provide for a full range of agricultural activities and protect agricultural lands, as one of the State’s most valuable natural resources, from the depreciating effect of uses deemed objectionable, hazardous or unsightly (Kent County Zoning Code Chapter 205-60 Article VI and Sussex County Zoning Code Chapter 115-19 Article IV). Moreover, AR Districts serve as a transitional buffer zone between agricultural and residential uses and are also intended to protect watersheds, water resources, and forest areas. Kent and Sussex county ordinances permit specified land uses within AR Districts to provide for a wide range of agricultural uses and farm related services while also providing for low-density residential development in areas that are rural in character and where farming may not be the optimum land use activity. New Castle County Unified Development Code (UDC) permits agricultural uses in eight Urban and Suburban-Transition Districts and seven Suburban and Special Character Districts (UDC Chapter 40). Permitted uses within these districts include crop production and animal production, and any other agricultural uses as recognized by Delaware law. Additional uses, permitted for Limited Review, include Farm Market and Clearing activities (UDC Land Use tables 40.03.110 A and 40.03.110 B). It is the express intention of this act to establish as the policy of this State the protection of agricultural operations from nuisance actions, where recognized methods and techniques of agricultural production are applied, while, at the same time, acknowledging the need to provide a proper balance among the varied and sometimes conflicting interests of all lawful activities in Delaware.

Diwali is a 5-day festival of lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains across the world. The dates for Diwali change each year, but it usually falls in October or November. Fireworks are an essential component of Diwali and the third day of Diwali is the height of the festival. In recognition of the many Indo-Americans living in Delaware, this Act permits the sale and possession of sparklers and ground-based sparkling devices during a 30-day period before and including the third day of Diwali and the use of these items on the third day of Diwali.