Rep. Danny Short

This Act takes steps to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not denied access to organ transplant procedures based solely on their disability. Historically, individuals with disabilities have sometimes been denied access to life-saving organ transplants based on assumptions that people with disabilities are less worthy of care, or assumptions that the lack support services and/or the ability to follow post-transplant treatment plans. This bill prohibits denying a person with a disability a referral, evaluation and recommendation for transplantation solely on the basis of a non-medically significant disability and notes that persons who have the necessary support system to comply with post-transplant medical requirements should not have the inability to independently comply with those requirements held against them. The Act does not require referrals, recommendations or performance of medically inappropriate organ transplants. It affirms the state's commitment to the elimination of discrimination on the basis of disability.

This Act regulates the practice of art therapy placing control of the profession under the Board of Mental health and Chemical Dependency Professionals and amending Chapter 30 of Title 24 by adding Subchapter V. Professional Art Therapists. The Art Therapy Practice Act will serve and protect the public by defining the scope of practice of art therapy; setting minimum standards of qualification, education, training, and experience for art therapists; and maintaining certain standards in the delivery of art therapy services. This Act also requires the Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency to appoint one or more credentialed volunteer art therapists to advise and assist the Board in matters pertaining to art therapists.

This bill expands the list of felony-level contraband to include narcotics, prescription drugs, and items used to facilitate escape.

Criminal and administrative enforcement of laws and ordinances relating to the condition of real property and abatement of violations thereof is a significant expense of local governments. The growing number of vacant and abandoned properties has increased these costs to local governments. The owners of vacant and abandoned property routinely fail to respond to the issuance of violation notices, citations, and tickets. Thus, the local government, at taxpayer expense, is left to maintain the property in a condition that will protect the public health, safety and welfare and minimize the deleterious effect the unmaintained property has on the local community. When a property owner fails or refuses to maintain real property according to minimum code standards, the costs incurred by local government for enforcing its codes and abating violations thereof, should be borne by the property owner rather than the taxpayers. Thus, this bill is intended to clarify that costs associated with enforcement of local laws and ordinances relating to the condition of real property and abatement of violations of those laws and ordinances shall be a lien against the property subject to the enforcement action. Recoupment of costs associated with the enforcement of building, property maintenance, zoning, drainage, sewer, housing, or sanitation codes is a lengthy and expensive process for local governments. This bill clarifies that local governments may include the amount of the lien on the local tax billing of the property subject to the enforcement action may collect the lien in the same manner as other property taxes.

With the implementation of land banks in the State of Delaware, an increasing number of vacant and abandoned properties will be brought to sheriff’s sales. Many of these parcels will be dilapidated and require investment to render the house habitable. Blight will only be ameliorated if the bidders upon such property acquire it intending to invest in the property, thereby improving the housing in the neighborhood and eliminating blight. If bidders at a tax lien sale have failed to pay taxes when due and have failed to maintain the condition of other real property they own in the same jurisdiction, it is not likely that they intend to invest in and improve the condition of additional property they acquire. Instead they are speculating on a turnaround in the neighborhood based upon the investment and efforts of others. Under current law, New Castle County, or any municipal government, may disapprove of the winning bid for any tax lien sheriff’s sale, at the election of the governmental entity initiating the tax lien sale, for any public purpose or reason. This bill allows any county or municipality to additionally require that bidders at such tax lien sales certify, prior to bidding, that they do not have a record of failing to maintain other real property in which they own an interest, do not have outstanding liens owed to governmental entities in excess of $1,000 at such other property, and do not hold properties that have been vacant for 18 consecutive months unless there is active construction on the property.

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.

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.

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.

This legislation eliminates front footage calculations as the sole method of collecting sewer assessments for county sewer users. It provides a broad list of possible methods of determining the amount of the sewer assessment for each property, including, but not limited to front footage, usage, fixtures, Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs) or other factors. The methods are the same as those currently in Chapter 67 of the Delaware Code for sewer charges.

This legislation revises § 5006 of the Insurance Code to track the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s Model Holding Company Act with respect to the Commissioner’s power to examine insurers and have access to books and records of insurers in order to ensure compliance with the Holding Company Act.