Rep. Sean Lynn

In an effort to ensure the safety and wellbeing of dogs, this legislation improves shelter and tether standards in hazardous weather conditions, including clarifying restrictions on outdoor housing and tethering for dogs during hazardous weather conditions that pose a serious adverse risk to the health and safety of dogs. This bill also aims to improve public safety by prohibiting dogs from running at-large without a leash in public outdoor settings, with the exception of working dogs and permits dogs off leash on private property or where property owner has given the dog owner permission.

This bill permits the owner of a beer garden or food establishment to permit leashed dogs on licensed outdoor patios of food establishments and in beer gardens.

This bill requires all public and charter schools which have students in grades 6-12 to provide free feminine hygiene products in 50% of the bathrooms used by students who can have a menstrual cycle. This bill also requires schools to publish on its website and post in its common areas the locations of the bathrooms where the hygiene products are provided. Finally, this bill provides that each school must consult with its school nurse regarding the products to be provided.

This Act enables Kent County to establish regulations regarding property maintenance and penalties for violations of said regulations.

This Act reconciles discrepancies between § 8705 of Title 9 of the Delaware Code and § 2903 of Title 25 of the Delaware Code, clarifying that all taxes assessed against real estate by Kent or Sussex Counties are governed by § 8705 of Title 9 and that the date on which Sussex County considers a tax delinquent is July 1. The Act also clarifies that the duration of a lien for municipal taxes for a municipalities in Kent and Sussex Counties is 10 years unless a period greater than 10 years is provided for in the municipality’s charter.

This bill establishes the crimes of possession of an unfinished firearm frame or receiver with no serial number, possession of and manufacturing a covert or undetectable firearm, possession of and manufacturing an untraceable firearm, and manufacturing or distributing a firearm using a three-dimensional printer. This bill also makes it a crime to possess a firearm frame or receiver with a removed, obliterated, or altered serial number.

Section 1 of this Act modifies Delaware’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to allow recipients to choose the most beneficial credit to be applied against their Delaware Personal Income Taxes. Under this Act, recipients can choose between a non-refundable credit of up to 20% of the value of the corresponding federal EITC or a refundable EITC credit of up to 4.5% of the value of the corresponding federal EITC. Section 2 of this Act makes the change to Delaware’s EITC effective for the tax year in which the Secretary of Finance provides the Registrar of Regulations with notice that the personal income tax release of the Integrated Revenue Administration System is implemented. This delay in effective date is necessary to ensure that tax law changes can be properly and efficiently implemented in the Division of Revenue’s modernized Integrated Revenue Administration System, which is currently under development. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill allows the Department of Correction to implement prison nurseries, which would allow women inmates that give birth during their time incarcerated the option of raising their infant up to the age of 18 months. Studies have shown that prison nurseries allow a mother and child to bond during this critical time of infancy and in turn lowers recidivism rates of these women inmates. This bill would further take the burden off of the foster care system and reduce the damage done between the mother and child relationship as a result of imprisonment.

This legislation allows the Delaware Commission of Veterans’ Affairs to employ the spouses of veterans and retains the stipulation that the Executive Director of the Commission must be a veteran.

This bill increases the minimum amount of property damage that triggers the mandatory reporting of a vehicular collision to police from $500 to $2,000. This bill also increases the minimum amount of property damage requiring police agencies to investigate from $1,000 to $2,000. This increase makes Delaware more consistent with other states and reflects the Legislature’s intention in 1997 to increase the amount annually by $100.