This bill provides technical changes and also creates the Committee on Employment and Social Services consolidating the work conducted by the Welfare Employment Committee and Social Service Advisory Council created by Executive Order Six-Eight signed by then Governor Michael N. Castle.
This Act fulfills recommendations made by the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee by doing the following: (1) Establishing 2 new, nonvoting members to serve on the State Board of Education ("Board"). The new members are a former Delaware Teacher of the Year and a Delaware 11th or 12th grade student. (2) Defining the duties of the Board’s Executive Director. (3) Clarifying that the Executive Director is selected by the Board; is an employee of the Department of Education, subject to all of the Department’s employment policies and procedures; but serves at the pleasure of the Board. (4) Requiring the Board to rotate its meetings among the 3 counties of this State in such a way to facilitate parents’, teachers’, and other community members’ attendance. (5) Establishing the circumstances under which a Board member may be removed, using language standard to boards and commissions in this State. (6) Requiring the Board to permit public comment on each agenda item prior to voting on the item and in proximity to the time at which the Board discusses the item. An exception is provided if, under Delaware law or Department or Board rules, the item has a formal comment period or a process for making a record in an administrative matter that has closed before the Board’s discussion of the agenda item. Examples of matters that qualify for the exception include charter school applications or formal reviews, amendments to Department of Education and Professional Standards Board regulations, and student appeals. The intent of the exception is to exclude Board actions that are quasi-judicial in nature and therefore not appropriate to open to public comment. This Act also corrects 2 internal references and makes other technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act adds the requirement that vehicles stop at railroad signals for all on-track equipment. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
In December 2016, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement issued final regulations titled "Flexibility, Efficiency, and Modernization in Child Support Enforcement Programs," 81 Fed. Reg. 93,492 (Dec. 20, 2016) (codified at 42 C.F.R Pt. 433). This Act updates to whom Delaware's Division of Child Support Services can send child support payments, in compliance with the federal regulations.
Section 1 through 4 of this Act establish interim standards and criteria in order to permit redevelopment projects to move forward while revised regulations are being drafted. The interim standards set forth in this Act would effectively "sunset" upon the adoption of regulations governing redevelopment. The redevelopment regulations, upon formal adoption, would supersede the provisions of the Bill. Section 4 corrects an oversight in prior legislation, which extended the time frame for Department review of delegated projects from 3 to 5 years, but failed to extend the effective date of delegation from 3 to 5 years. Section 5 codifies current and proposed regulations as they pertain to stormwater management to ensure consistency. Section 6 is intended to clarify the procedural status of supporting materials published by DNREC to facilitate compliance with the Regulations, in light of the Order of the Delaware Supreme Court in Baker v. DNREC, No. 552, 2015 (April 15, 2016), affirming the Memorandum Opinion of the Honorable T. Henley Graves of the Superior Court, dated October 7, 2015. Consistent with the Delaware Administrative Procedures Act, regulatory guidance documents, interpretive rules, and general statements of policy adopted pursuant to this exception must still be published in the Delaware Register of Regulations, in order to provide notice of the changes. The language confirming the exemption is drawn from federal administrative law, 5 U.S.C.A. §553, and equivalent provisions of the New Jersey Code, 52:14B-3a, governing such supporting materials. The regulatory guidance documents, interpretive rules, and general statements of policy may not be used by DNREC to impose new or additional requirements on regulated parties, and may not be used, instead of the Code provisions and the Stormwater Regulations, as a basis for enforcement. Such materials are therefore not regulations, and not are not subject to the notice, hearing, or comment procedures of the Administrative Procedures Act or Title 7, or the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Rather, DNREC is free to publish periodic updates and revisions of its technical manuals, checklists, forms, and policy memos, to assist regulated parties in compliance with the Regulations. Section 7 creates a sunset date for sections 1, 2, and 5 to give the Department additional time to fully enact regulations. It is the intent that sections 1, 2, and 5 will sunset upon having a finalized version of Sediment and Stormwater Regulations.
This Act allows the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to lease historic structures on State public lands to individuals or corporate entities. The lessee would be required to renovate and maintain the structure up to the applicable National Park Service Secretary of Interior Standards, would be permitted to insure the property and are eligible for Land and Historic Resource Tax Credits. DNREC is required adopt any necessary rules and regulations to implement the Act and may require the lessee to abide by any other lease conditions or commitments, including specific expenditure requirements, which the DNREC deems advisable for the public good. This Act will ensure that DNREC has the authority to enter into curatorship agreements for historic properties in grave need of restoration. It clarifies that DNREC’s Resident Curatorship program which has operated for over a decade is not in conflict with Delaware Landlord Tenant Code and allows for private investment that will revert to the State of Delaware at the conclusion of the agreement. Currently there are four historic Delaware State Park properties available through the program to potential curators and the program has saved three historic structures through curatorship’s at Lums Pond, Cape Henlopen and Fort DuPont State Parks.
This Act acknowledges that the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has been collecting natural resource data for years without the consent of the respective property owners. From the date of this Act forward, the Department must obtain written consent prior to physically entering onto private property for the purpose of collecting Natural Resource Data.
This bill provides for a residential electrician license. A residential electrician license allows for a person to conduct residential electrical work without having to be under the direct onsite supervision of a licensed master electrician, master electrician special, limited electrician, limited electrician special or journeyperson electrician. Electricians with a residential electrician license are permitted to perform electric work performed on or within a residential dwelling or building prior to the dwelling or building being connected to the electric grid, or work to or beyond the breaker panel or fuse box in a residential dwelling or building, or residential low voltage electric work.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution supports the Ad Hoc Committee for Child Support Formula Review's proposed revision to Family Court Rule of Civil Procedure 506.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution creates a Delaware Youth Drug Prevention Curriculum Task Force to examine available drug prevention programs and to recommend a course of action to educate our youth about the dangers of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use to reduce the chance that youth will experiment with these substances.
