Rep. Kendra Johnson

This Act will enable New Castle County to collect delinquent sewer service charges under the procedures established by Chapter 87 of Title 9 for the collection of delinquent county taxes. Under the existing method for New Castle County established by Chapter 22, Subchapter II (Monition Method of Sale in New Castle County), of Title 9 for the collection of delinquent sewer service charges, a jury trial must be held if the property owner or an interested party submits an affidavit of defense denying the service charges in whole or in part. In addition, under Section 2211 of Title 9, County Council must first levy the delinquent sewer service charges as an assessment prior to the institution of any legal proceedings. This Act removes the existing sewer monition method of sale in its entirety and will enable New Castle County to collect delinquent sewer service charges in the same manner as taxes are collected under the less burdensome and more efficient monition method of sale established by Chapter 87 of Title 9.

This Act will prohibit political subdivisions of this State from requiring real estate licensees to obtain an additional business license or pay taxes in order to list property for sellers or represent buyers for the purchase of real estate.

This Act allows Sussex County, by duly enacted ordinance, to impose a local lodging tax of no more than 3 percent of rent on rooms in a hotel, motel or tourist home located in the unincorporated areas of the County. Such funds may only be used in Sussex County for the capital and operating costs of beach nourishment, waterway dredging, economic development, tourism programs, recreational activities, and water quality and flood control projects.

This bill requires the State food safety standards for restaurants to include a system for requiring healthy beverages to be offered as the default beverage with a combination children’s meal inclusive of a drink, sold together at a unit price. It does not prohibit the restaurant’s ability to sell, or a customer’s ability to choose, a substitute or alternative beverage as-requested by a customer. This effectively creates an “opt in” instead of an “opt out” for many sugar-rich drink choices for children. This bill also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Concurrent Resolution establishes a task force (“Task Force”) to study and make recommendations regarding the policies, rules, structure, and regulations of the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services ("Division"). The Division provides home and community-based services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Task Force will consider, have access to, and make recommendations on several matters, including: (1) Wages and turnover rates for direct support professionals. (2) Design of systems changes and performance measures. (3) Other trends, analyses, and recommendations. (4) A synopsis of provider violations, probation, appeals, and ultimate outcomes from 2015 through 2019. The data provided to the Task Force are not records or proceedings for the purposes of § 1768 of Title 24, commonly known as “peer review privilege.” The release of data for the purposes of the Task Forces’ work does not waive the privileged nature of the data, which must already omit information that may identify a specific patient or provider before it is provided to the Task Force. This Concurrent Resolution is the result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee deciding not to review the Division in 2020 and instead allow the Division time to undergo a more brief method of review. This process was initially created as an advisory council through Senate Bill No. 154 of the 150th General Assembly, but was later determined to be better achieved through a task force.

This bill would allow Delaware residents two new deductions from personal income tax. The first is a deduction from taxable income of up to $2,500 for contributions to a “529” College Savings Plan. The second is a deduction from taxable income of up to $5,000 for contributions to a “529A” Savings Account – a special account for meeting the needs of certain individuals with disabilities. Under this Act, a Delaware resident taxpayer would be eligible for the deduction regardless of whether they made a contribution to a 529 or 529A plan sponsored by the State of Delaware or another state or institution, so long as the plans met federal criterion.

In our modern society, a criminal record can limit a person’s opportunities and the quality of life they can achieve for themselves and their families for years, and even decades, after that person has completed the terms of the criminal sentence imposed. Even the existence of an arrest record with no conviction can limit job opportunities, housing, access to higher education, credit, and access to jobs that require professional licensing. The General Assembly has expanded the availability of expungement for juvenile adjudications of delinquency quite dramatically in recent years, in recognition that people can and do change and move beyond mistakes of their past. The intent of this Act is to extend that same recognition to some categories of adult records of arrest and conviction. At present, Delaware allows adults to petition to have a record expunged in only 2 circumstances: (1) for an arrest that did not lead to conviction and (2) after a pardon is granted – but for certain misdemeanor offenses only. Under this Act, a person may have a record expunged through a petition to the State Bureau of Identification (SBI) for (1) charges resolved in favor of the petitioner; (2) a record that includes violations only after the passage of 3 years; and (3) some misdemeanors after 5 years. Excluded from this SBI-only expungement process are convictions for any misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, misdemeanor crimes where the victim is a child or a vulnerable adult, and unlawful sexual contact in the third degree. Allowing expungements for arrests without convictions and minor, isolated convictions through an application to the SBI will ease the burden on the courts and the Board of Pardons. This Act also provides that the court may grant a petition for expungement upon a showing of “manifest injustice” in the following situations: (1) 3 years have passed since the date of a single misdemeanor conviction; (2) a person has a single conviction in a felony case and 7 years have passed from the date of conviction or release from incarceration, whichever is later; (3) 7 years have passed since conviction or release from incarceration on misdemeanor domestic violence or misdemeanor conviction with child or vulnerable adult victim. A felony conviction for any of the following crimes is not eligible for expungement through this discretionary only expungement process, but may be expunged by a court following a pardon: Title 11 violent felonies; § 1136 of Title 16 (crimes against a resident of a long-term care facility; § 3913 of Title 31 (crimes against an adult who is impaired due to a physical or mental disability); and any “felony conviction involving physical or sexual assault crimes” as defined in the Beau Biden Child Protection Act. The Department of Justice will have an opportunity to state its position on the expungement petition to the court, and is empowered to seek input from any victim in the case. In all cases, the applicant for expungement must have no prior or subsequent convictions (other than traffic offenses, and underage alcohol or marijuana possession) in order to be eligible. A person is not allowed to apply for expungement under this process if an expungement has been granted within the last 10 years. Fines, fees, and restitution must be paid before an expungement may be granted; however, courts are empowered to waive outstanding fines or convert them to a civil judgement if they are unpaid for reasons other than willful noncompliance. Most Title 21 (traffic offenses), including DUI, are ineligible for expungement under this Act. However, traffic offenses (other than DUIs) will also not operate as a bar to the expungement of other charges. The Act strikes provisions in Title 10 relating to expungement of adult records in Family Court and consolidates them with the Title 11 expungement provisions. Conforming changes are made to cross-references in Title 4 and 16. This Substitute Bill differs from Senate Bill No. 37 as follows: (1) Adds Vehicular Assault in the Second Degree, Incest, Coercion, and Unlawfully Dealing with a Child to the list of crimes that can be expunged only if the individual first receives a pardon. That list previously included only Unlawful Sexual Contact in the Third Degree. (2) Makes clear that an expungement does not result in an individual’s automatic removal from the Child Protection Registry or the Adult Abuse Registry. (3) Adds certain misdemeanor property crimes to the list of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence that may be expunged only through the discretionary expungement process. (4) Permits the State Bureau of Identification to continue to promulgate regulations and impose fees for mandatory expungements under § 4373 of Title 11. This change also makes a technical correction to conform the existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. (5) Gives the Department of Justice additional time to answer a petition for discretionary expungement so that the Department has sufficient time to contact the victim of the crime. (6) Permits the victim of the crime to provide a written statement to the court when a defendant seeks a discretionary expungement and to testify at a hearing if one is held. (7) Requires, as part of the Victims’ Bill of Rights, that the Department of Justice to provide notice to the victim that the defendant is seeking a discretionary expungement; that the victim may provide a statement or testify, if a hearing is held; of the date, time, and place of any hearing; and of the court’s decision on the expungement petition. (8) Makes the following crimes not eligible for discretionary expungement following a pardon: Manslaughter, Murder in the Second Degree, Murder in the First Degree, Rape in the Second Degree, Rape in the First Degree, and Sexual Abuse of a Child by a Person in a Position of Trust, Authority, or Supervision in the First Degree. (9) Includes references to the First Offender Domestic Violence Diversion Program, under § 1024 of Title 10, so that expunged records related to this program may be accessed by criminal justice agencies to determine if an individual is eligible for the program. (10) Permits law-enforcement to access expunged records in any criminal investigation, not just a felony investigation. (11) Permits criminal justice agencies involved in the licensing of individuals to carry a concealed deadly weapon under § 1441 of Title 11 to access expunged records. (12) Makes clear that an expungement does not require the destruction of DNA taken under § 4713 of Title 29. (13) Allows the use of an expunged record in sentencing for a subsequent offense or on application for a pardon of a subsequent offense. (14) Makes clear that it is the State Bureau of Identification’s responsibility to inform federal law-enforcement of an order of expungement. (15) Makes clear that the 10 year waiting period for a subsequent expungement does not apply to an individual who is seeking a mandatory expungement because the case was terminated in the individual’s favor. (16) Removes language that would preclude an individual from obtaining an expungement if the individual has a prior or subsequent driving under the influence offense. (17) Makes an additional conforming change to remove § 1027 of Title 10, which is obsolete based on the change to § 1025 of Title 10. (18) Makes technical corrections, including to correct an internal reference and add an existing section heading to the Act for clarity. Finally, this Act is to be known as the Adult Expungement Reform Act and implementation of the Act is delayed for 180 days to allow State agencies to prepare necessary procedures and forms.

Currently, Family Court has jurisdiction over name changes for minors when considered in conjunction with establishing parentage, as well as adult name resumption related to divorce proceedings. Outside of that context, a name change must be filed in the Court of Common Pleas. This bill provides for Family Court to assume jurisdiction over all minor name change petitions, as recommended by the Jurisdiction Improvement Committee established by the Delaware Supreme Court Order of November 7, 2017. The bill exempts the name change matters in Family Court from newspaper publication requirements. Under the bill, the Court of Common Pleas retains its jurisdiction over other adult name change petitions.

This Resolution honors the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of the Women's Army Corps.

This concurrent resolution encourages the Department of Education to establish RAVE security systems in all public and charter schools.