Rep. Eric Morrison

This Act does the following: (1) Makes amendments to the administration of the Ivyane Davis Memorial Scholarship Fund by removing disbursement requirements to allow more flexibility to scholarship recipients, and clarifying that scholarship funds may be used for direct or indirect educational expenses and may not be used to reduce the amount of a waiver under the Delaware Fostering Independence Through Education Tuition Waiver Program. The Act also removes the 1 year residency requirement preceding application for the scholarship. (2) Makes amendments to the administration of the Delaware Fostering Independence Through Education Tuition Waiver Program by codifying responsibility for administering the program with the Office of the Child Advocate (“Office”), and clarifying the responsibilities of the Office and those of the institutions of higher education. The Act clarifies that the waiver applies to both full-time and part-time students and summer and winter classes. The Act also lowers the maximum age of eligibility from 26 to 25, to bring this Program into alignment with the requirements of the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher program. Finally, the Act mandates that Ivyane Davis Scholarships and Chafee Education and Training Vouchers may not be applied to reduce the amount of the waiver and that students eligible for waivers may not apply for or take out loans to reduce the amount of the waiver. (3) Amends the Office of the Child Advocate’s duties outlined in § 9005A of Title 29 of the Delaware Code to include administration of the Fostering Independence Through Education Tuition Waiver Program. (4) Makes technical corrections for uniformity of language and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act prohibits the Family Court from imposing a sentence of incarceration or ordering the suspension of a person’s license for failure to pay court-ordered child support unless it finds that the failure to pay is wilful and not due to an inability of the person to pay the support. This Act also makes technical corrections to correct a typographical error in existing code and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act requires that a candidate’s political committee’s contribution and expense report, provided to the Department of Elections, include the primary employer and job title of each person contributing to the committee. This Act also requires the Department of Elections to provide a telephone number and online form for reporting alleged campaign financing violations. The informant must provide their name and contact information to the Department. The information provided to the Department is not to be considered a public record under FOIA. This Act also allows reporting parties who unintentionally receive a prohibited contribution or make a prohibited expenditure to return or reimburse the contribution or pay the contribution to the State Treasurer. This Act also eliminates the ability of anyone who makes or accepts a prohibited campaign contribution from donating the money to a designated Title 30 charitable organization. The Act requires anyone who knowingly accepts an unlawful campaign contribution to pay the money to the State Treasurer for deposit to the General Fund.

Senate Bill No. 288 of the 151st General Assembly (Chapter 371 of Volume 83 of the Laws of Delaware) created a pilot program whereby motorcyclists are permitted to use pulsating headlights as a way to alert other drivers of their presence, without allowing the use of flashing lights that would otherwise be used on emergency vehicles. SB 288 contained a sunset clause providing that the pilot program would expire on January 1, 2025, unless the General Assembly took action to extend or remove the sunset clause. This Act extends the sunset clause until June 30, 2030. The main reason for the extension is that many motorcycle owners have and are continuing to replace their lights with LED technology... up until 2024 the technology of a modulating device was not available for the LED lights only standard lighting had that option. To be able to better see if the pulsating lighting is effective the pilot program should be extended to adequately gauge what the new LED systems effectiveness is.

Federal and Delaware law protect the right to vote and the rights of individuals with disabilities to have equal access to voting places and public facilities. Nonetheless, recent information suggests that a substantial number of polling places in Delaware are either inaccessible to persons with disabilities or lack accessible parking, infringing on the right of all eligible persons to vote in this State. This substitute, like House Bill No. 293, requires that the Department of Elections ensure that polling places selected for elections are accessible to voters with disabilities and elderly voters. This substitute adds a provision that in addition to being accessible, the accessibility features are available to voters in any election. Like House Bill No. 293, this substitute allows certain exceptions for states of emergency, or for circumstances in which no accessible polling place in a particular polling area is available and the Election Commissioner ensures that those voters impacted are provided with an alternative accessible polling place or alternative means for casting a ballot upon advance request. This substitute limits the states of emergency that would allow an exception to natural disasters or other emergencies that render a polling place unsafe or unusable. This substitute also adds a provision allowing any person with information that the Department has not complied with this section to file an administrative complaint with the Department.

This Act requires health spas selling subscription services online to provide a prospective buyer of such a subscription the right to cancel the automatic renewal online. The option to cancel is also to be presented on the website in a clear and conspicuous manner to simplify such cancellation for the buyer.

This Act eliminates animal noise and noise disturbances from the Noise Control and Abatement Chapter in Title 7. This Act clarifies the authority of the Office of Animal Welfare and Department of Agriculture to enforce all state laws relating to the protection and control of animals with, as occasion requires, the assistance of police officers. This Act also adds restrictions concerning barking dogs with other provisions concerning dogs currently being enforced by the Office of Animal Welfare. This Act does not prohibit municipalities from enforcing their own dog laws or ordinances if they have their own enforcement agency. This Act clarifies that police officers shall assist the Office of Animal Welfare, as occasion requires, with the enforcement of all State and local dog control laws. This Act prohibits the owner or person in possession or control of a dog from allowing the dog to bark for an extended period, defined as continuously for 15 minutes or more, or intermittently for 30 minutes or more. The Act exempts barking dogs if:(1) a person is trespassing on private property;(2) an animal is intruding on private property; (3) the dog is being teased or provoked. The Act exempts dogs located in:(1)animal shelters; (2) pet stores; (3) dog grooming facilities; (4) veterinarian offices; (5) animal clinics. The Act also exempts dogs engaged in:(1) dog training;(2) dog exhibition; (3) lawful performance competitions; (4) hunting; (5) herding. Civil penalties are a written warning for the first violation, $50 for a second violation, if it occurs more than 7 days after the first violation, $100 for a third violation and $150 for all subsequent violations. This Act is effective 1 year after enactment.

This Act is a substitute for House Bill 253. Like HB 253, it requires health insurance companies, including State employee/retiree health plans and Medicaid, to cover annual mammograms for the purpose of early detection for a woman 40 years of age or older, with or without referral from the woman’s health care provider. It also prohibits mammography facilities from requiring that women, 40 years of age or older, provide the facility with the name of a healthcare provider in order to receive an annual screening mammogram. This substitute differs from HB 253 by updating Title 18, Section 3552 of the Delaware for consistency with the rest of the bill. Specifically, it requires insurance carriers to provide coverage for annual mammograms for cancer screening beginning at age 40 rather than age 50 and prohibits carriers from requiring a referral for these annual mammograms.

This Act provides legal protections for financial institutions and other entities that provide financial or accounting services to cannabis-related businesses that are licensed or registered under Delaware law. Specifically, it clarifies that banks, credit unions, armored car services, and providers of accounting services are not subject to prosecution under Delaware law merely by providing lawful services to licensed businesses engaged in the production, distribution and sale of cannabis in Delaware. This Act aims to facilitate the operation of cannabis-related businesses by helping to ensure that such businesses have access to necessary financial and accounting services.

This Act requires a landlord who provides a dwelling place to a person as part of their employment compensation to provide them with a disclosure form advising them of the conditions and requirements for occupancy and vacancy of the premises once they are no longer employed for the landlord. The disclosure must inform the tenant employee that the landlord must offer the tenant, within 5 business days of termination by the employer, the opportunity to enter into a written rental agreement, if no rental agreement is in effect already. No offer for a rental agreement is necessary if the tenant employee is terminated for cause. The landlord may condition the rental agreement on the person financially qualifying as a tenant and meeting the landlord’s income, credit, or other financial requirements for renting the unit. This Act also lengthens the time period the landlord must wait before bringing a summary possession action against a formerly employed tenant from 15 days to 30 days unless the termination is for cause.