Rep. Kerri Harris

This Act repeals the existing Chapter 23 of Title 5 and replaces it with the “Delaware Money Transmission and Virtual Currency Modernization Act.” This Act modernizes the State’s regulatory framework for money transmission and addresses the emergence of virtual currency. The Act allows the State Bank Commissioner to coordinate with other states in the licensing and supervision of money transmitters, utilizing the NMLS system. The Act establishes new safety and soundness standards, including a tiered net worth requirement based on total assets and updates surety bond requirements scaled to a licensee’s average daily money transmission liability. The Act standardizes receipt requirements for both fiat and virtual currency transactions, provides a 10-day refund window for certain transmissions, and establishes specific disclosure rules for payroll processing services. This Act provides a 6-month window for general compliance and a 1-year period for licensees to meet new net worth and permissible investment standards. This Act creates new regulatory framework for virtual currency business activity. It defines virtual currency and virtual currency business activity. It mandates specific consumer disclosures regarding the risks of virtual currency and establishes that virtual currency held by a licensee is a pro rata property interest not subject to the claims of the licensee’s creditors. The Act allows the Commissioner to adopt rules and regulations for the administration of this chapter. The Act is to be implemented the earlier of 1 year from the date of the Act’s enactment or notice from the State Banking Commissioner that final regulations have been promulgated. 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 the general corporation law.

This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 342 by making the following changes: 1. Places the Commission back under the authority of the Division of Small Business and removes references throughout the original bill to the Delaware Tourism Office. 2. Adds authority for the Commission to make recommendations for model permitting language and processes. 3. Allows the Commission to develop a film-ready database of shooting locations, provide assistance in hiring local crews, vendors, and production support, and expand the Commission’s scope to include new media and the digital media landscape. 4. Provides more clarity for what constitutes a conflict of interest by replacing “family” with “close relative” and defining the term. This Act reorganizes the Delaware Motion Picture and Television Development Commission by increasing its membership from 9 to 11 members and modernizing the composition of the Commission to include specific industry and labor representatives. The Act directs the Governor to ensure that the Commission's membership reflects the racial, gender, and geographic diversity of the State. Additionally, this Act establishes governance procedures for the Commission, including the selection of a chair, the establishment of staggered terms for appointed members, and the implementation of a conflict-of-interest restriction for Commission members. The Act also expands the Commission's powers by authorizing it to assist productions in navigating the permitting process, which includes developing a standardized statewide permit application and advocating before relevant permitting authorities. Furthermore, the Act explicitly tasks the Commission with coordinating business attraction functions alongside the Delaware Prosperity Partnership. Finally, the Act requires the Commission to submit an annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly containing specific minimum performance and demographic data.

This Act expands the scope of prohibited extraordinary collection actions to include a large health-care facility levying on tangible personal property of a patient. It also clarifies that any party taking action to collect medical debt must disclose in court pleadings whether the party is a large health-care facility, and makes technical corrections.

This Act increases the salary supplement for school counselors and school nurses from 6% to 12% upon national certification. It further clarifies that salary supplements only apply if the employee is employed in the applicable profession and permits the DOE to identify additional positions subject to a salary supplement in Department regulations. This Substitute includes school social workers in those employees eligible for a 12% salary supplement.

This Act serves to clean up Delaware’s ghost gun law to address issues raised in ongoing litigation. This Act primarily creates a clear path for individuals who legally possessed unserialized firearms prior to the law’s enactment to come into compliance, either by having them serialized through a federally licensed dealer or rendering them permanently inoperable. This Act also clarifies definitions and aligns the law with federal serialization standards, while preserving the underlying prohibition on untraceable firearms.

This Act creates a film production tax credit. It requires companies to obtain, at their own expense, an independent audit certifying eligible expenditures. The audit must be submitted to the Division of Small Business for approval and allocation of credits. The credit is nonrefundable, transferable, and may be carried forward for up to 5 years. The credit may be applied against personal income tax, corporate income tax, bank franchise tax, and insurance premiums tax. All credit transfers must be approved by the Division of Small Business. This Act further authorizes necessary data sharing among agencies. Applicants and transferees consent to disclosure of credit amounts by virtue of applying or receiving a transfer. This Act also grants regulatory authority to the Division of Small Business and the Secretary of State to administer the annual credit cap; prioritize and manage awards; and issue reports relating to awards and utilization with input from relevant state agencies. The Division of Small Business may create alternative audit procedures for small businesses where a full audit would be prohibitively expensive. This Act sunsets on June 30, 2031, and no applications may be submitted after that date.

Current law prohibits persons subject to Family Court protective orders from purchasing or possessing deadly weapons, with some exceptions. This Act extends this prohibition to individuals with out-of-state protective orders as well.

This Act provides guidelines for Delaware schools in addressing elopement of students. This Act requires schools to notify the eloping student’s parent or guardian the same day as the elopement incident. All schools must develop policies and procedures to implement the requirements of this Act.

This Act excludes large energy use facilities from the definition of a qualified facility for purposes of determining eligibility for a tax credit or license fee reduction for the creation of employment and qualified investment in business facilities.

Reverse-keyword court orders enable the government to obtain technology search data without identifying any specific person as to which there is probable cause to believe they have committed or will imminently commit a crime. The profusion of electronic devices and apps in recent years has allowed recordation of numerous details of citizen’s everyday lives, that the government should not be permitted to collect and review at will. Such general searches allow the government to sweep in personal information about hundreds or thousands of people who are not suspected of having committed any crime. These searches are an invasion of privacy, have a potentially chilling effect on civil liberties, and sidestep requirements for individualized suspicion that are otherwise required for a lawful search. This House Substitute for House Bill No. 145 would prohibit law enforcement and courts from requesting, issuing, or enforcing reverse-keyword court orders and reverse-keyword requests, with the exception that reverse-keyword court orders and requests may be utilized to investigate suspected Class A Felonies so long as the search query returns 5 or fewer search hits. It also requires the suppression of evidence derived from an unlawful reverse-keyword search.