This Act requires that consumer contracts which contain automatic renewal provisions, also known as “evergreen clauses”, must clearly and conspicuously disclose the terms of the automatic renewal and procedures for cancelling the renewal. In contracts that renew after 12 months or more, the provider of goods or services must provide an additional written notice to the consumer no less than 60 and no more than 30 days before the time for cancellation expires, along with information on how to cancel. This provision allows businesses to continue the practice of using automatic renewals, while seeking to ensure consumers are fully aware of the terms of the contract and are not caught off guard by a renewal buried somewhere in the fine print. Violation of the terms of this Act can result in an award to the consumer of treble damages plus attorneys fees and may also be addressed through the authority of the Consumer Protection Unit of the Department of Justice pursuant to provisions in subchapter IV. A business will not be held liable if it can show that it has put in place policies and procedures to comply with this Act, and that any violation of the renewal provisions was the result of an error, and that any funds collected from a consumer in violation of the Act have been refunded.
Sponsored bills
This bill lowers the blood alcohol content requirement for driving under the influence from .08 to .05.
This Bill requires all statewide and other candidates that may appear on the general election ballot to disclose whether or not all their State and Federal personal income tax returns are filed and any tax due has been paid and whether or not all their real property taxes have been paid.
This Act clarifies that the representative appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services to the Human Trafficking Interagency Coordinating Council shall serve as the Council’s temporary chair for the purposes of organizing the initial meeting of the members. A permanent Chair and Vice Chair are to be elected at the first organizational meeting and shall be elected annually thereafter from among the members of the Council.
This bill updates Title 26 relating to the requirements for obtaining a certificate to operate in Delaware as a new electric transmission utility. This bill uses language similar to certificate requirements for water, wastewater, and other utility services under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission (“Commission”). Due to recent changes in federal law, certain projects will now be available to entities both in and out of state. In order to perform this type of work in Delaware, a company will need to obtain a certificate from the Commission. Currently, there are no qualifications defined for the Commission to assess the impact a project of this nature will have on Delaware and its citizens. This bill will provide the Commission with the necessary authority to assess that impact and revoke a certificate in the future for good cause.
This bill corrects the duration of revocation to match § 4177C(d)(2) and will make it possible for all applicants who are required to participate in the Ignition Interlock Device program to be eligible to submit an application for an indigent plan. This bill also changes the required offender reporting to IID service providers to a monthly basis allowing for early intervention of repeat violators.
Enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act amended the Individuals with Disability Education Act (“IDEA”) by mandating that special education teachers must have obtained full certification and may not be working under emergency certifications. The Delaware Department of Education must stop issuing emergency certifications in special education in order for for the State to continue receiving $36 million in federal IDEA funding for our schools. This Act creates a mechanism that is in compliance with federal requirements to enable educators to obtain a certificate of eligibility in the areas of special education. Educators will be able to meet federal requirements while being enrolled in an approved, alternative routes to certification program. This Act will allow local education agencies to staff special education classrooms while ensuring the educators are receiving high quality training working toward their standard certificate in the appropriate area of special education. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Concurrent Resolution recognizes January, 2018 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in Delaware.
This Act conforms Delaware’s deadlines for filing certain information returns to those established in the Internal Revenue Code. In an effort to combat identity theft and taxpayer fraud, federal filing dates were recently changed. For example, starting in 2017 the federal deadline for an employer to file aggregated W-2 data with the IRS will be January 31, which is the same date on which W-2s are distributed to individual taxpayers. Prior to this change, the IRS did not receive W-2 data until March 1 meaning that there has been a one-month window in which it could not readily confirm the authenticity of W-2s filed with taxpayers’ returns. Like other states and the IRS, Delaware has had to devote considerable resources to combating fraud and identity theft. By conforming to the new federal standard, Delaware will have data on hand that will help identify and isolate fraudulent filings. As the State’s employers will already be required to comply with the new federal deadlines, conforming Delaware’s filing dates will result in no additional administrative burden.
This act clarifies that the felony of Possession of a Deadly Weapon by a Person Prohibited shall not apply to persons who are prohibited from possessing a deadly weapon solely by their possession of a personal use quantity of marijuana, when such possession qualifies as a civil penalty under Title 16. This bill addresses the legal issue in State v. Murray (Del. Super. 2017).