Rep. Helene M. Keeley

This Act authorizes the Family Court to order the Department of Health and Social Services ("DHSS") to determine whether a child who is 17 years old or older and in the custody of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families ("DSCYF") qualifies for adult mental or behavioral health services. If the child does qualify for adult mental or behavioral health services, this Act authorizes the Family Court to order that DHSS coordinate with DSCYF to develop and implement a transition plan for mental or behavioral health services for the child.

This Act extends Family Court's jurisdiction under Chapter 50, Title 16, over a youth who has a mental condition and requires services or treatment but is not amenable to or compliant with such services. This Act applies only to youths who are under the custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families when they turn 18 years old and, prior to turning 18 years old, were identified as having or diagnosed with a mental condition as defined in § 5001 of Title 16. Jurisdiction under this Act does not require DSCYF to provide foster care board extension payments or stipends to a youth. This Act has no effect on a youth reaching the age of majority at 18 years or on DSCYF's custody over a youth terminating by operation of law when the youth turns 18 years old.

The “Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Investment Act” creates a new Chapter 16 of Title 17 that will accelerate investment in mobile broadband infrastructure and ready the State for the next wave of economic development in the digital economy. In recognition of the shift from landline to wireless communications, the Act authorizes wireless providers access to the State’s rights of way and establishes a Statewide policy for deployment of small wireless cells to meet the growing demand for wireless services which provide Delaware citizens with access to advanced technology, information and 911 services.

This Act allows the Division of Motor Vehicles to issue a conditional license at the request of the Justice of the Peace for a Driving Under the Influence offender whose charge is still pending, but whose license has been suspended by the Division of Motor Vehicles. The conditional license can only be issued on the condition that the offender submit to continuous sobriety monitoring. This Act ensures that a person can enter a sobriety monitoring program, but not face the loss of full licensure that would negate the benefits of entering and participating in such a program.

This amendment to Section 8-200 of the Charter of the City of Wilmington raises some of the threshold amounts for bid requirements in the procurement process. The purpose of the amendment is to improve City of Wilmington procurement procedures, increase public access to City of Wilmington contracting opportunities through the authorization of internet advertising, and authorize the City of Wilmington to participate in cooperative purchasing agreements with other public procurement agencies.

Currently, claims that arise at the death of the decedent are treated the same as claims that arise after the decedent's death. This bill changes how claims that arise at the time of decedent's death are treated by including them in the same class of claims that arise during the decedent's lifetime. By making this change, claims that arise at the death of the decedent would need to be based upon the conduct of the decedent rather than the conduct of the personal representative who, at the time of decedent's death, has not yet been appointed.

Under current educational standards, students are no longer required to be taught cursive writing and many schools have abandoned teaching cursive writing to students. As cursive writing is still an imperative skill in many professions, this bill makes teaching cursive writing a requirement for all public schools in Delaware.

Section 1 of the Act (i) clarifies that the defined term “agents”, as used in chapter 33 of title 12, consistent with common usage of the term, includes all agents defined as such by the general law of agency; (ii) modifies section 3312 to provide that the rules of that section, permitting certain investments and transactions with affiliates, apply in cases where the investment or counterparty to the transaction is affiliated with an agent having discretionary investment authority over a fund either by reason of a delegation to the agent by a fiduciary or by reason of a direct grant of such discretion to the agent; (iii) adds a new section 3313A, patterned upon section 3313, regarding the duties and liability of a trustee in cases where the trust instrument grants another co-trustee exclusive authority to take specified actions on behalf of the trust; (iv) grants trustees the general power to indemnify lenders as customary commercial loan documents sometimes require such indemnities; (v) clarifies the circumstances in which a trustee may merge trusts pursuant to section 3325(29); (vi) corrects typographical errors in sections 3332 and 3333; (vii) clarifies the circumstances in which certain trust beneficiaries may appoint a successor trustee pursuant to section 3336; (viii) makes section 3338 regarding nonjudicial settlement agreements available to charitable trusts and noncharitable purpose trusts subject to certain limitations described therein; (ix) revises section 3341 to address how a trust merger affects a power of appointment exercisable over property of a trust merged with and into another trust; and (x) revises section 3342 to make certain stylistic changes and address the power of an agent or guardian to consent to a trust modification on behalf of a trustor. Section 2 of the Act (i) revises section 3528 to incorporate a provision, appearing in the recently promulgated Uniform Trust Decanting Act, permitting trustees to effect a trust decanting without creating a new separate trust; (ii) modifies the wording but not the substantive terms of section 3541; (iii) clarifies section 3545 regarding the execution requirements for certain trusts; (iv) corrects a typographical error in section 3546; (v) clarifies that a sale or exchange for full and adequate consideration is not a “disposition” for purposes of Delaware’s asset protection trust legislation meaning that (1) a person engaging in such a transaction does not become a settlor of the trust by reason of the sale or exchange, and (2) such a transaction may not be avoided by a creditor; and (vi) adds a new limitations period for actions against a trustee following the trustee’s departure from office. Section 3 of the Act conforms the tax ordering rules of section 61-107, applicable to express unitrusts, with the tax ordering rules of section 61-106, applicable to unitrusts created by means of the conversion procedure described in that statute. Section 4 of the Act revises Delaware’s “tax trap” legislation (chapter 5 of title 25) to create a new method, in addition to the method already available under current law, by which the donee of a power of appointment over trust property may avoid the application of the general default rule of section 501(a) of title 25 providing that interests in property created by the exercise of such power of appointment are deemed to have been created at the time of the exercise of the power. Section 5 of the Act revises section 1636 of title 30 to create a new rule of application, treating the federal taxable income of an electing small business trust as having been set aside for distribution in future taxable years, for purposes of determining the amount of the trust’s section 1636 deduction for federal taxable income set aside for future distribution to nonresident beneficiaries. Section 6 of the Act provides that it shall apply to trusts whenever created.

This bill corrects an unintended consequence of House Bill No. 15 of the 148th General Assembly, signed into law by the Governor on June 24, 2015, by preventing double taxation of premium ceded to a series captive insurance company or protected cell. This bill also precludes premium taxation of series limited liability companies, exclusive of any series thereof, when premium is written only in the series of such of series limited liability companies.

The children of parents who divorce or were never married often share a surname with only one parent, which may lead to confusion or hardship when schools, doctors, or others fail to recognize the child’s connection with the parent with whom the child does not share a similar surname. Parents and children in such circumstances have compelling reason to seek to add a second surname to the child’s name. Delaware law currently provides that a petition to change a minor’s surname should be granted if there are no reasons for not granting the petition. This standard applies to changing a minor’s name, regardless of whether the change is to eliminate and replace an existing surname or simply add a second surname, and also puts the burden on the petitioning parent to demonstrate that the petition should be granted. This Act separates circumstance in which a parent seeks to replace a minor’s surname from those in which a parent seeks to add to the minor’s surname, by establishing a presumption in favor of granting a petition to add a parent’s surname to a minor’s surname either as an additional name or hyphenated with the minor’s previously existing surname. The presumption in favor of granting the petition may be overcome by the opposing parent establishing by clear and convincing evidence that the consideration of several, specific factors demonstrate that granting the petition would cause the minor more harm than benefit. The factors specified in this Act are taken from the larger list of factors which Delaware Courts have developed through case law to consider when determining whether to grant a petition to change a minor’s surname and do not include the factors which are relevant only when a parent seeks to replace, rather than add to, the minor’s surname.