Rep. Lyndon Yearick

This bill eliminates the requirement that Justice of the Peace Court constables reside within the State of Delaware. The residency requirement was established when Constables were independent officers, and had their own bonding requirements and penalties for failure to do the business of the Court. Constables are now employees of the Justice of the Peace Court and the residency requirement is no longer needed. The removal of the requirement will allow the Justice of the Peace Court to recruit from a larger pool of candidates and to retain existing trained and skilled employees.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates April 2024 as "Financial Literacy Month" in Delaware to raise awareness about personal finance education. It highlights the importance of teaching financial skills in schools to help students make better decisions about money, college, and careers. The resolution calls for collaboration among educators, businesses, and community groups to promote financial knowledge across the state. While it does not create new laws or funding, it serves as a symbolic recognition of the need for improved financial education.

Maddy summaryThis Senate Concurrent Resolution creates the Delaware Restoring the Family Unit Task Force to study how state laws affect family stability. The group is designed to examine specific policies in taxation, welfare, education, and recidivism to identify any factors that might discourage marriage or family unity. Its members include legislators, state agency heads, and community representatives who will meet to review these issues and submit a report with recommendations by March 2025. Although the resolution was introduced in June 2024, it was defeated by the Senate and did not become law.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a one-time tax credit for small businesses in Delaware that have survived the COVID-19 pandemic. To qualify, a business must have been located in the state and employed 25 or fewer full-time employees as of December 31, 2019, while also being in good standing with tax filings as of January 1, 2024. Eligible businesses can claim a credit equal to 25% of their 2019 gross receipts when filing their 2024 or later state income tax returns, provided they apply by December 1, 2024. The legislation aims to provide financial relief to these specific businesses without speculating on broader economic outcomes.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution directs the DIAA to analyze data regarding the disparity in public and private school team championship sanctioned events.

Because of the serious consequences of the drug overdose epidemic, this Senate Concurrent Resolution respectfully requests a report from the Delaware Department of Education to follow up on the recommendations contained in the 154-page Delaware Drug Prevention Curriculum Task Force Report.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates July 26, 2024, as "Americans with Disabilities Act Day" in Delaware to honor the anniversary of the federal civil rights law that protects people with disabilities. The resolution does not change any laws or create new regulations but serves as a symbolic gesture to raise awareness about disability rights and inclusion. It encourages the state to inform residents about the importance of equitable treatment for individuals with disabilities and reaffirms a commitment to promoting accessibility.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to make technical corrections to the Delaware Constitution. First, this Act makes the language of the Delaware Constitution gender silent. Senate Bill No. 97 (152nd General Assembly), enacted as Chapter 42 of Volume 84 of the Laws of Delaware, directed the Code Revisors to use gender silent techniques to ensure masculine or feminine pronouns are not used in Delaware Code unless the usage requires otherwise. Thus, instead of drafting a law to say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if he or she deems him or her qualified”, following gender silent techniques the law would say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if the Governor deems the individual qualified.” This technique has the added benefit of providing clarity as many times use of multiple masculine or feminine pronouns can result in confusion as to which noun the pronouns refer. This Act would apply this same drafting technique to the Delaware Constitution. This action is consistent with the General Assembly’s amendment of the Constitution in 1999 following the adoption of a law directing the Code Revisors to gender neutralize or otherwise ensure that a solely masculine or feminine designation never occurs unless it could only apply to one gender. Second, this Act makes additional technical corrections identified by the General Assembly's Division of Research. Specifically, these technical corrections include the following: (1) Officially authorizing the headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution as the headings are contained in the “Constitution of the State of Delaware, Adopted 1897, As Amended”, as published by the Delaware Code Revisors in the Delaware Code. The headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution are not original to the Constituiton adopted in 1897. These headings were added during the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code. Since the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, publication of the Constitution has included headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution in the version of the Delaware Constitution published in the Delaware Code. Almost immediately after the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, the General Assembly began enacting new constitutional amendments with headings and amending existing Sections of the Delaware Constitution using the headings provided or making amendments to the headings provided. However, these headings were not officially authorized by the General Assembly. Consistent with § 306 of Title 1 of the Delaware Code, the intent of authorizing all headings in the Delaware Constitution is for the purpose of convenient reference, not as an interpretive tool for the courts. (2) Based on the adoption of headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution, removing existing Section numbers and relying instead on the adopted headings. (3) Consistently using the series (Oxford) comma. (4) Implementing a consistent hierarchy scheme and naming, consistent with the Delaware Code. (5) Implementing a consistent scheme for naming, capitalization, and citing of references to provisions of the Delaware Constitution. (6) Implementing a consistent scheme for numbers used for time, dates, and money by using the numerical form of the number only. (7) Capitalizing consistent with standard capitalization rules. (8) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution” with “this Article”. (9) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution becomes effective” with “May 14, 1951”, which is the date the referenced amendments took effect. (10) Removing usages of “but not limited to”. (11) Removing from § 8 of Article IV a definition providing that “Supreme Court”, as used in § 4 of Article V, means the Superior Court and replacing “Supreme Court” in § 4 of Article V with “Superior Court” for clarity. (12) Removing § 11(c) of Article VIII from the Constitution. This provision was not intended to be included in the Constitution as it was drafted as a separate bill section of the bill that proposed and concurred in the constitutional amendment creating § 11(a) and (b). It was intended to apply only to taxes or licenses fees authorized by the General Assembly but not yet effective and so not intended to be included in the Constitution. (13) Inserting the effective date of the constitutional amendment that enacted § 12 of Article VIII for clarity. (14) Correcting misspellings and misused words. (15) Making corrections to Section headings. (16) Making technical changes to § 4A of Article V, including to remove an “either” that is inappropriately used in a list of more than 2 items. (17) Removing the hyphen in “Lieutenant Governor” and “Attorney General”. (18) Changing references to “the State” to “this State”. (19) Removing usages of “said”. Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI 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 Delaware Constitution.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates October 12, 2024, as "National Farmer's Day" throughout the State of Delaware to recognize the contributions of local agriculture. The resolution highlights the state's significant farming history and current production, noting that agriculture is Delaware's largest land use and a major source of employment. By officially acknowledging this date, the legislation aims to raise awareness about the role farmers play in providing food and supporting the economy. The measure does not create new regulations or funding but serves as a symbolic recognition of the agricultural community.

This resolution urges the Department of Human Resources / Division of Statewide Benefits and Insurance Coverage, to collaborate with a health system partner to work with a technology partner to deliver focused and targeted care protocols to a measurable cohort of the State Employee Group Health Insurance Plan to proactively address the growing problem Diabetes and metabolic syndrome present, thereby improving health and decreasing expenses for the enrollees of the Plan.