Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton

This Act establishes a new state-level Department of Veterans Affairs led by a cabinet-level Secretary to advocate for and administer programs relating to veterans in the State of Delaware. It is the intent of this legislation that current staff of the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Veterans Affairs will continue their work, but as part of the new Department of Veterans Affairs, with the potential for expanded staff and duties in accordance with annual appropriations. The Department will hire veterans wherever possible. The Commission of Veterans Affairs will continue in its current form. It will continue to oversee the Delaware Veterans Home and will serve in an advisory role to the new Secretary and Department on other matters relating to veterans. The new Department is tasked with developing and proposing strategies for the provision of alternative elder care or the establishment of one or more additional veterans homes to serve the aging veteran population. House Substitute No. 1 to House Bill No. 1 differs from the original in that the Department of Veterans Affairs will for the present remain a part of the Department of State for budgetary, administrative, and operational purposes. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with other executive branch officials, is directed to develop a transition plan to separate from the Department of State and operate as a separate Department by July 1, 2030, or such time as there will be no negative impacts to the funding for veterans programs in Delaware. The plan must be presented to the General Assembly as a Transition Report and approved through a concurrent resolution.

This Resolution directs the Director of the Office of State Planning Coordination, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Secretary of Finance, the Controller General, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of the Department of Technology and Information to provide the Governor and the General Assembly with recommendations on how the State can better support future property tax reassessments, drawing upon recommendations made in the 2008 report resulting from HJR 22 and best practices from neighboring and similar states to Delaware.

This Act requires the tax collecting authority of each county, in the first tax year following a general reassessment, to allow the payment of school taxes under a payment plan of at least 3 equal installments for a residential taxpayer, in a primary residence, whose tax bill increases by $300 or more over the prior year. No late fees, interest, or penalties may be assessed to a taxpayer who enters and complies with a payment plan. The Act also reduces late payment penalties for school taxes in New Castle County to 1% per month, the current penalty for late payment in Kent and Sussex. This Act sunsets 3 years after its enactment into law.

This Act codifies the longstanding authority of Delaware counties and municipalities, under common law, to separately tax different classes of real property if the classification is reasonable and, as required under § 1 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution, the tax rates are uniform for all property in each classification. See Green v. Sussex County, 668 A.2d 770, 776 (Del. Super. Ct. 1995), aff’d 667 A.2d 1319 TABLE (Del. 1995); Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Smith, 131 A.2d 168, 177-78 (Del. 1957); Phila. B & W R. Co. v. Mayor & Council of Wilm., 57 A.2d 759, 765-66 (Del. Ch. 1948); Conrad v. State, 16 A.2d 121, 125-26 (Del. 1940). The City of Wilmington has different tax rates for residential and non-residential properties and upon enactment on July 30, 2025, House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 144 amended the Charter of the City of New Castle to allow varying tax rates based on property classification. This Act clarifies that all municipalities have this authority, avoiding the need for separate legislation amending the municipal charter of each municipality to provide this clarity. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a charter issued to a municipal corporation.

This Act allows any school district located in New Castle County to reset its tax rates for the 2025-2026 tax year and to reissue a tax warrant using different residential and non-residential tax rates. The non-residential tax rate must be at least equal to the residential tax rate and may not be more than 2 times the residential tax rate. The total amount of revenue projected to be collected through use of the residential and non-residential tax rates may not exceed the total amount of revenue the district was projected to collect under its original tax warrant. The districts have 10 business days from the enactment of this Act to reset the rates and issue a new tax warrant to New Castle County. Upon receipt of a new tax warrant, New Castle County will supplement any tax bill already issued for taxpayers in that district and adjust tax bills with an extended deadline for payment of October 30, 2025 for tax bills that change. For any taxpayer who submits payment under the original tax bill and whose total school tax liability is adjusted downward, the difference will be credited against future tax liability unless the taxpayer submits a written request for a refund, in which case New Castle County shall issue a refund. A school district that resets its rates in accordance with this Act may request and borrow from State Division I funds in the event of a cash flow shortfall of local school funds due to the extension of the deadline for tax payments for the 2026 fiscal year.

This Act requires a county to issue a refund to a taxpayer for property tax determined to have been overpaid for that year after an assessment appeal if the amount is $50 or greater. A county may elect to refund or credit the amount against future taxes due when the overpayment is less than $50. Amounts in school taxes determined to have been overpaid by a taxpayer after an assessment appeal will be refunded by the county following the same rule.

This Act is a short-term response to the recent tax reassessment that protects homeowners, who have received substantially increased property and school tax bills for the 2025-2026 tax year, from legal action while the General Assembly and New Castle County explore long-term solutions. Many Delaware homeowners have raised several troubling questions and concerns about the property reassessment process. After the reassessment, the tax burden has drastically shifted to homeowners, which has hit vulnerable groups the hardest, including seniors, low-income families, and long-term residents. This Act requires the tax collecting authority for New Castle County (“County”) to offer payment plans to all taxpayers to pay county property and school taxes assessed to residential properties for the 2025-2026 tax year. After offering the payment plan, the County must give a taxpayer at least 30 days from the date of the offer to enter into the payment plan. If a taxpayer enters into a payment plan and makes payments in compliance with the payment plan, the County may not collect the taxes owed out of the taxpayer’s real or personal property, including by filing a civil action to collect the taxes or by seizing or selling the taxpayer’s property. Additionally, the County may not charge fees, penalties, or interest on taxes owed by taxpayers who make payments in compliance with the payment plan. This Act sunsets on December 31, 2026, unless otherwise provided by a subsequent Act of the General Assembly. But the prohibitions on collecting taxes out of the taxpayer’s real or personal property and on charging fees, penalties, or interest on taxes continue to apply to payment plans that extend on or beyond December 31, 2026, so long as the taxpayer remain in compliance with the payment plan.

This Act requires counties to void all tax bills already issued to taxpayers in the county for the 2025-2026 tax year and to reissue property and school tax bills for the 2025-2026 tax year using the previously assessed value of the real property for all property subject to county taxation under Part V of Title 9 and all property subject to the local school tax under Chapter 19 of Title 14. This requirement does not apply to tax bills for new construction completed during the 2025-2026 tax year. Within 10 days of enactment of this Act, school districts must deliver a new tax collection warrant to the county calculated using the previously assessed value of the real property for school tax, so tax bills for the 2025-2026 tax year can be reissued. The deadline for payment of the reissued tax bills is extended to October 30, 2025, and counties must refund or credit overpayments of taxes for the 2025-2026 tax year to taxpayers who submit payment in accordance with previous tax bill. A school district may request and borrow from State Division I funds in the event of a cash flow shortfall of local school funds due to the extension of the deadline for tax payments for the 2026 fiscal year.

Maddy summaryHB 248 changes Delaware's tax payment rules to allow all three counties (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex) to accept tax payments on a quarterly or monthly basis instead of only annually. This directly affects property owners and businesses paying county taxes by giving them more flexible payment options. The key mechanism is amending Title 9 of the Delaware Code to permit local tax collectors to set up these shorter payment cycles. The bill creates a concrete policy change in how county tax payments are structured, without specifying which tax types are included.

Excess skin and subcutaneous tissue can create a risk of rashes or infections, make walking and movement difficult, and make everyday chores difficult. An example of treatment that removes excess skin and subcutaneous tissue is a panniculectomy. A panniculectomy is an operative procedure that contours, or changes the shape and form, of the abdomen by removing significant excess skin and subcutaneous tissue. Removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue can improve a patient’s health and quality of life. This Act requires individual health insurance plans delivered under Chapter 33 of Title 18 and group and blanket health insurance plans delivered under Chapter 35 of Title 18 to cover medically necessary removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue, including panniculectomies. This Act also requires the State employee health insurance plan and State Medicaid plans to cover medically necessary removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue, including panniculectomies. Medically necessary means as defined in § 3371(8) for individual health insurance plans and as defined in § 3581(8) for group and blanket health insurance plans, State employee health insurance plans, and State Medicaid plans. This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certicates issued, renewed, modified, alterered, amended, or resissued after December 31, 2026.