Rep. Danny Short

The constitutional requirement to create new legislative districts following the U.S. Census was intended to ensure equal representation at all levels of government. However, Delaware’s current process of redistricting is deeply flawed. It allows the majority party in each legislative chamber to gerrymander state legislative maps in a self-serving attempt to preserve and expand partisan political power. All other considerations have become secondary in this process. This defect is common to many states and some have tried to address the issue by creating election commissions charged with redrawing legislative lines. The challenge in such a system is ensuring that these commissions can conduct their function in a balanced, objective, and non-partisan fashion. This bill proposes a new method that avoids this significant hurdle by leveraging partisan self-interest to create a protocol that results in an equitable outcome. This fresh approach to reapportionment is described in a paper by 3 Carnegie Mellon University professors entitled: “A Partisan Districting Protocol with Provably Nonpartisan Outcomes.” It utilizes a system analogous to a proven, prudent method for instructing 2 children to fairly divide a piece of cake between themselves. The first child cuts the cake, while the second has the option of selecting which piece he or she wishes to consume. In the protocol outlined in this bill, the two competing parties are the partisan caucuses of each General Assembly chamber. The first caucus will initially draw all the legislative districts, observing established legal redistricting standards. The second caucus will have the ability to “freeze” a set number of the districts, locking their boundaries into place. They will then be able to redraw the remaining districts as they wish, delivering the new maps back to the first caucus. This group will then also engage in the freeze and redraw process, with the cycles continuing until all the districts have been defined. With both sides getting equal “bites of the apple,” each has a practical ability to affect the outcome and a reason to work together to achieve a mutually acceptable conclusion. The bill also includes safeguards to ensure public notification and participation in the process, as well as a contingency to allow the judicial branch to draw the new legislative maps should the General Assembly be unable to achieve the task. This legislation assumes calling the General Assembly into special session to approve the finalized maps, providing enough time for the process to be conducted in a deliberative manner.

This Act establishes a Behavioral Health Professional of the year award program throughout the State. Through this legislation, the state will formally honor and recognize the work behavioral health professionals, such as, school counselors, social workers, licensed clinical social workers, school psychologists, and school nurses.

In 2009, New Hampshire was the first state to develop a statewide “Gun Shop Project,” reaching out to gun shops regarding the role they can play in suicide prevention. In the years since, at least 21 other states have implemented similar campaigns. This Act establishes the Delaware Gun Shop Project. The Gun Shop Project’s primary purpose is to develop, create, and provide suicide prevention education materials and training, to be made available for licensed deadly weapons dealers and consumers in Delaware The Delaware Suicide Prevention Coalition will oversee the Gun Shop Project and include the Gun Shop Project’s annual report in the Coalition’s annual report. The Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, which staffs the Coalition, will staff the Gun Shop Project. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This act will be known as the Egregious Crimes Accountability Act. This Act revises Delaware's death penalty statute to ensure its compliance with the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United State Supreme Court in Hurst v. Florida, and by the Delaware Supreme Court in Rauf v. State. In accord with those cases, this Act will require that before a death sentence can be imposed, a jury (unless the Defendant waives their right to one) must first determine unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt: that at least 1 statutory aggravating circumstance exists; which (if any) statutory and non-statutory aggravating circumstances alleged by the State exist; and whether all of the aggravating circumstances found to exist outweigh all of the mitigating circumstances found to exist. This Act also revises Delaware's death penalty statute to comply with the United State Supreme Court's holding in Hall v. Florida, interpreting standards set forth in Atkins v. Virginia. This Act adopts the term "intellectual disability" used by the United State Supreme Court. This Act recognizes developing trends in death penalty jurisprudence and the American Bar Association's Resolution 122A (2006), of August 8, 2006, by prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty upon a person who has been found "guilty, but mentally ill", as defined by Title 11 § 401. This Act also limits the statutory aggravating circumstances to four aggravating circumstances: 1. Mass Murder: The defendant’s course of conduct resulted in the deaths of 3 or more persons where the deaths occurred in a place of public use and the deaths are the probable consequence of the defendant’s conduct. The threshold number of 3 deaths is consistent with the federal definition. 28 U.S.C. § 530C. 2. Repeat Offender: The defendant was previously convicted of another murder. 3. Horribly Inhumane: The murder was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of mind, use of an explosive device, weapon of mass destruction, or poison or the defendant used such means on the victim prior to murdering the victim. 4. Hate Crimes: The murder was committed for the purpose of committing a hate crime. Hate crime is defined in Title 11, § 1304.

On November 3, 2015, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report titled "Elevated Rates of Urban Firearm Violence and Opportunities for Prevention – Wilmington, Delaware" in which the CDC made 2 major recommendations: (1) the creation and adoption of a robust risk assessment tool and (2) an integrated, statewide data collection system. To date, no meaningful action has been taken at any level to implement the CDC's recommendations. This Act adopts the CDC's recommendations and directs the pertinent State agencies to implement these recommendations.

In 2014, the General Assembly created an ignition interlock device program under §§ 4177C and 4177G of Title 21 of the Delaware Code (“IID program”). The IID program provides individuals whose license or driving privileges have been revoked following a conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs the ability to drive during their revocation period while putting measures in place to protect the public. This Act closes a loophole in the IID program that allows a person to avoid installing an IID in certain circumstance and makes changes to §§ 4177C and 4177G to ensure the provisions are consistent and operate in harmony with each other. This Act also adds a provision clarifying the process for the reinstatement of an individual’s license or driving privileges after the individual has been disqualified from the IID program. Finally, this Act makes numerous technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislation Drafting Manual, including to ensure consistency of language throughout the provisions included in this Act.

This Act enables Sussex County to establish ordinances, rules, and regulations regarding property maintenance and penalties for violations of said ordinances, rules, and regulations.

This bill creates a special license plate for World War II veterans.

This Act creates the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force to study and make findings and recommendations regarding whether Delaware should become the point of contact to conduct background checks for firearms transfers.

This Act exempts constables from the limitations on use of seclusion and restraint because some schools employ constables, but constables are not included in the current exclusion that uses the definition of "law-enforcement officer" in § 9200(b) of Title 11. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.