Rep. Danny Short

This concurrent resolution thanks the Career and Technical Student Organizations for their presentation of geraniums. This concurrent resolution also extends the General Assembly's best wishes for continued success to these exemplary students.

The intent of this act is to promote agritourism activities within this State by broadly defining what constitutes agritourism.

This act will be known as the Extreme Crimes Protection 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 is the second leg of a constitutional amendment that would add the Chief Magistrate to the Court on the Judiciary. Like all judges within the state, the judges of the Justice of the Peace Court are subject to the jurisdiction of the Court on the Judiciary. This amendment makes it so that the presiding judge of each of the six state courts serves as a member.

Seeking to address the pervasive problems of littering and illegal dumping in Delaware, this concurrent resolution would create the Delaware Anti-Dumping and Anti-Littering Solutions Task Force. The task force would be charged with developing actionable strategies for curtailing littering and illegal dumping in The First State and delivering a report to the General Assembly and the governor as to how these policies could be implemented and financed. The task force would be required to report no later than April 1, 2018.

This concurrent resolution designates the month of May 2017 as “Lyme Disease Awareness Month” in the State of Delaware.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes The Committee of 100 on the 50th anniversary of its founding.

This Act explicitly allows ground effect lighting equipment on motorcycles. This extra lighting would increase motorcycle safety by enhancing their visibility.

This bill clarifies the General Assembly’s intent last session in amending the state’s habitual offender law, specifically (a) that the changes made by the General Assembly were intended to affect minimum mandatory sentences, not sentences where judges had already exercised complete discretion, (b) that the changes were not designed to reduce minimum mandatory sentences associated in the Delaware Code with specific crimes (e.g. illegal gun possession), and (c) allows the sentencing judge to impose probation after the minimum mandatory sentence required by this section.

This Act is the second leg of a Constitutional amendment to lengthen the time period during which the Governor must appoint a judicial officer following the occurrence of a vacancy, thereby giving the Governor and State Senate more flexibility in the consideration of vacancies occurring when the State Senate is not in session while preserving the Delaware tradition of quickly filling judicial vacancies. The first leg, Senate Bill No. 275 from the 148th General Assembly, was adopted by two-thirds of the members elected to the General Assembly and publicized in accordance with Article XVI, § 1 of the Delaware Constitution. From 1897 until 1983, the Delaware Constitution provided that the Governor shall submit his or her appointment to fill a vacancy to a constitutional court within 30 calendar days of a vacancy when the State Senate was not in session. In 1983, the timeframe for the Governor to make an appointment when the State Senate was not in session was lengthened to 60 days, a timeframe for the Governor to make an appointment when the State Senate was in session was added and set at 60 days, and a provision permitting judges to hold over in office for 60 days after their term expired was added. Since 1897, the number of constitutional courts and the number of judges on those courts has increased. As a result, the Governor must now call special sessions of the State Senate for the consideration of judicial nominees more frequently than in the past. This Act provides more flexibility to the Governor and State Senate in two respects. First, it extends the 60 day period after the occurrence of a vacancy to a 90 day period. The 90 day period strikes a balance between the need to have judicial positions filled quickly to avoid operational disruptions in the court system and the desire to have more flexibility when the General Assembly is not in session. Second, the Act clarifies that the Governor and State Senate may consider a nomination 30 days prior to the occurrence of the vacancy. The Constitution was previously silent on the consideration of nominations prior to the occurrence of a vacancy. This Act also modifies the time period during which an incumbent judicial officer whose term has expired may hold over in office after the expiration of his or her term from 60 days to 90 days to match the vacancy timeframes. This Act confirms that an incumbent judge whose term has expired has the option to hold over in office for that 90 day period, but is not required to do so. Finally, this Act makes additional technical corrections to conform existing law on lines 42 through 44, line 46, lines 56 through 58, and line 60 to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.