Rep. Quinton Johnson

This Senate Concurrent Resolution does all of the following: (1) Recognizes Diwali as an important festival. (2) Recognizes and appreciates religious diversity in India and the United States. (3) Supports the friendship and cooperation between the United States and India. (4) Acknowledges the onset of Diwali and expresses its warmest wishes to those celebrating Diwali in Delaware, the United States, India, and throughout the world.

The Delaware Marijuana Control Act regulates and taxes marijuana in the same manner as alcohol. It allows adults over the age of 21 to legally possess and consume under 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use. It does not permit people to grow their own marijuana. Section 1: Amends Chapter 47 of Title 16 to provide that the offenses and penalties under Uniform Controlled Substances Act do not apply to marijuana-related conduct allowed under the Delaware Marijuana Control Act or the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act, Chapter 49A of Title 16. Section 2: Amends § 4764 of Title 16 to eliminate any penalty for possessing 1 ounce or less of marijuana for individuals over the age of 21 but maintains the existing civil penalty for possession of 1 ounce or less for adults age 18 to 21. Section 3: Amends § 4902A of Title 16 so that the definition of a registered safety compliance facility includes not just marijuana produced for medical use but also marijuana produced under the Delaware Marijuana Control Act. Section 4: This Act creates the Delaware Marijuana Control Act. Subchapter I contains definitions and general provisions. Where definitions or analogous provisions exist in the Delaware Code, the definitions are referenced and the language from existing statutes is used. This section of the Act permits individuals over age 21 to possess, use, purchase, or transport 1 ounce (28 grams) or less of marijuana, no more than 5 grams of which may be concentrated, by individuals 21 years of age or older if the individuals are in compliance with this chapter. It permits the operation of marijuana businesses if they operate under licenses granted under this chapter but imposes the same limits on hours and holiday sales as apply to sales of alcohol. It prohibits the use of marijuana in public, by drivers or passengers in vehicles, and prohibits the smoking of marijuana anywhere that smoking tobacco or ecigarettes is not permitted. Marijuana may not be sold in an establishment licensed to sell alcohol. Employers and some owners of residential housing can prohibit the use of marijuana. There are specific provisions imposing the same penalties as with alcohol sales, for individuals under the age of 21 using false identification to purchase marijuana, and for businesses that fail to verify the age of marijuana consumers. This Act creates the Delaware Marijuana Control Act Oversight Committee. This Oversight Committee will coordinate the implementation of this Act with the Medical Marijuana Program, the Division of Public Health, the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, and the public. The Oversight Committee will review the effectiveness of the Delaware Marijuana Control Act in regard to the safe operation of facilities licensed under this Act, the impact of this Act on public safety, and the impact of this Act on public health. The Commissioner must submit an annual report to the Governor and the members of the General Assembly setting forth all matters of interest and all statistics concerning marijuana regulation and control in the State including: the number of licenses of each variety issued with the State; including the name and address of each person licensed to cultivate, manufacture, or sell marijuana or marijuana products in the State; the amount of marijuana and marijuana products sold within the State; and the number of licenses of each kind granted and the number cancelled during the year. Subchapter II creates the Division of Marijuana Control and Enforcement in the Department of Safety and Homeland Security. The powers and duties granted to this Division are substantially the same as those in Title 4 creating the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement but revised to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This includes the identical power to conduct hearings if neighbors protest the license application of establishments that sell marijuana and subpoena power. It requires the Commissioner to coordinate with the Delaware Economic Development Office so that potential businesses licensed under this Act have access to programs, particularly those that support small businesses owned by minorities, women, and veterans. Subchapter III provides the Marijuana Commissioner the authority to adopt regulations to implement this Act and includes specific requirements that marijuana establishments must meet to obtain licenses. Regulations must require that products containing marijuana use of a symbol and a standard measurement to be used on all marijuana products so they are easily identified as containing marijuana and consumers can identify the amount of marijuana in different products; be in opaque, child-resistant packaging; and contain a warning label explaining evidence-based harms from consuming marijuana, including the impact on developing brains. The regulations must also contain security requirements, testing requirements, advertising restrictions, and require that food products comply with State food safety laws. There are separate licensing requirements for retail marijuana stores, marijuana testing facilities, marijuana cultivation facilities, and marijuana product manufacturing facilities. The application fee for licenses is up to $5000, which is the same as the application fee for facilities under the Delaware Medical Marijuana program. There is a $10,000 biennial fee for each license issued under this Act, which is lower than the fee for compassion center under the Delaware Medical Marijuana program. Within 10 months of the effective date of this Act, applications will be accepted from compassion centers and safety compliance facilities registered under Chapter 49A of Title 16 to operate as retail marijuana stores, marijuana cultivation facilities, marijuana product manufacturing facilities, and marijuana testing facilities. Localities have the ability to license and set rules for marijuana establishments. The procedure for appeals and grounds to deny a license are the same as for applications to sell alcohol under Title 4, except that instead of prohibiting someone with any substance abuse felony from obtaining a license, the language from § 4902A(7)(b) of Title 16, is used, permitting an exception if the conviction and sentence served was 10 years or more in the past or the conviction was for something that would be legal under this Act. Subchapter IV creates the Marijuana Regulation Fund. This fund will consist of fees collected, penalties imposed, and taxes collected under this Act. It creates an excise tax on marijuana and apportions the revenue as follows: first to the administrative costs and expenses of the Division of Marijuana Control and Enforcement and then, of the amount that remains, 20% to the Department of Education, 10% to the Department of Health and Social Services for distribution to nonprofit organizations to address barriers to reentry for communities that have been disproportionally affected by past federal and state marijuana prohibition policies, 10% to the Department of Health and Social Services for use in evidence-based, voluntary programs for the prevention or treatment of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana abuse, and 10% to the Department of Health and Social Services for a public education campaign educating youth and adults about the health and safety risks of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Section 5: Creates a State tax deduction for all ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred by a marijuana establishment to reflect the inability of a business licensed under this Act to deduct these expenses from federal taxes and thus state taxes. This creates a more level playing field with other businesses. Section 6: Provides that the initial regulations required under this Act be adopted not later than 9 months after the effective date of this Act.

This bill is intended to facilitate the growth and expansion of Delaware licensed craft alcoholic liquor companies within the State by permitting them to ship product manufactured on their licensed premises to entities under common ownership and control, as defined. This bill is not intended to unconditionally except craft alcoholic liquor companies from the traditional “three-tier” system.

The Certification of Adoption of Sustainability and Transparency Standards Act (the “Act”) establishes a voluntary disclosure regime to foster dialogue around sustainability and responsibility among participating Delaware business entities and their various stakeholders. Because issues relating to sustainability and responsibility are fact-specific and fact-intensive and may vary greatly depending on, among other things, the size of the entity, the nature of its business and operations, and the industry in which it operates, the Act does not prescribe specific standards, measures of performance or criteria for evaluating performance. Rather, consistent with the enabling approach of Delaware business laws generally, the Act requires the governing body of each entity seeking certification under the Act to adopt principles, guidelines and standards to guide its business activities in a sustainable and responsible manner, as well as metrics for assessing whether it has met its objectives. Although Section 5003D of the Act grants the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware (the “Secretary of State”) the authority and discretion to provide the form of application for certification under the Act, the Act does not contemplate that State officers will make qualitative judgments regarding the standards or metrics that an entity adopts. The Act also does not contemplate or require that State officers determine qualitatively whether an entity has been operated in a sustainable and responsible manner. The Secretary of State's certification is focused on information acknowledged by an authorized representative of the entity regarding its adoption of procedures to operate sustainably and responsibly and its commitment to disclose, at least annually, such procedures. To that end, Section 5003D of the Act requires an entity applying for certification under the Act to make disclosures regarding the sustainability and responsibility standards it has adopted, the metrics it uses to evaluate whether it has met those standards, and its performance in meeting those standards. The Act is entirely voluntary. The decision whether to seek certification is in the sole discretion of each entity. The Act imposes no obligations on any Delaware entities that have not elected certification. (Of course, any person or entity that misrepresents an entity's certified status may be subject to civil or criminal fines or penalties.) The Act does not impose fines or penalties on entities that elect not to seek certification, nor does it impose penalties or fines on entities that, having become certified, fail to satisfy their own performance standards. Moreover, the Act specifies that fiduciary liability shall not be imposed as a result of, among other things, the decision whether or not to seek certification or the failure to meet specific sustainability and responsibility standards.

This bill establishes in-person early voting for the State of Delaware. Registered voters will be allowed to vote in-person for at least 10 days prior to an election, up to and including the Saturday and Sunday immediately prior to the election at locations determined by the Commissioner. The Commissioner is also charged with determining whether such voting should occur by voting machine or paper ballot. All other procedures relating to conducting voting are the same as for election day voting. For statewide elections the statute directs that there must be at least one in-person polling place in each county, and an additional location in the city of Wilmington. This Act takes effect on January 1, 2020.

This Act replicates and extends to electric and natural gas utilities the same authority that has previously been granted to water utilities. This authority allows for the implementation of an interim rate mechanism already in existence for water utilities in an effort to reduce volatility and the costs to electric and natural gas customers. By way of background, the General Assembly enacted § 314 of Title 26 of the Delaware Code in 2001 to provide an efficient interim rate mechanism to foster investments in needed infrastructure improvements for water utilities, including those mandated by government agencies. With this Act, the same provisions are now extended to public utilities providing electric and/or natural gas services. Doing so will help address concerns with the frequency and volatility of electricity and natural gas distribution rates, as well as the cost to customers of general rate proceedings. The Act requires annual audits and annual reconciliations and empowers Staff for the Public Service Commission and the Delaware Public Advocate to review such expenditures and raise concerns with the Commission should they exist.

This Act is the first leg of a Constitutional Amendment reflecting the recommendations of the Advisory Panel to the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) on Potential Fiscal Controls and Budget Smoothing Mechanisms established as per House Joint Resolution 8 of the 149th General Assembly (Panel). This Act would build upon the State’s existing appropriation limit methodology by moving the Budget Reserve Account into a newly defined Budget Stabilization Fund, defining rules for deposits to and withdrawals from said Budget Stabilization Fund, and adding a check of the appropriation limit against an index comprised of relevant indicators of growth of the State’s economy. The Panel further recommended that any final adoption of the structural budget reforms included in this Act be accompanied by statutory enactment of structural reforms to the Personal Income Tax by broadening the tax base as initially recommended by the DEFAC Advisory Council of Revenues report dated May 2015 and further detailed in the Panel’s report dated June 1, 2018.

This legislation creates a benchmark for determining when a treatment or service is no longer experimental or investigational. When Medicare determines that a treatment is safe for its population, commercial insurers in Delaware may no longer deny coverage on that basis. This bill will remove inconsistencies for properly-evidenced treatments between payers.

Immunity from liability for individuals rendering emergency care is addressed in many sections of the Delaware Code. There are several separate statutes providing immunity for specific professions and even for lay individuals providing specific types of assistance. Section 6715 of Title 16 provided immunity to “Firemen, policemen or volunteer ambulance or rescue squad members rendering emergency care” until it was transferred to § 6801 of Title 16 in 1971. Section 3001G of Title 16 provides immunity to peace officers who administer naloxone to an individual whom the officer believes is undergoing an opioid-related drug overdose. Currently, 1 statute, § 6801 of Title 16, addresses 3 topics: (1) lay person, Good Samaritan, immunity for rendering emergency care; (2) emergency responder immunity for rendering emergency care; and (3) the establishment of the Advanced Life Support Standards Committee. The current statute does not clearly identify the emergency responders that are provided immunity and, because of changes in how emergency services are funded, could be interpreted to exclude any person receiving compensation for their work, including firefighters and police officers. This Act amends § 3001G of Title 16 to include all public safety personnel and to reference the general immunity statute for public safety personnel, which provides the exact same level of immunity, to avoid potential conflicts between the immunity statutes and provide consistent immunity protection public safety personnel. Section 3001G of Title 16 does not need to specifically provide immunity to lay individuals who administer naloxone under the Community-Based Naloxone Access Program because lay individuals have immunity for administering naloxone under the general Good Samaritan statute, § 6801 of Title 16. This Act clarifies § 6801 of Title 16 by breaking it into 3 different statutes, 1 statute for each topic, but does not substantively change the law because this Act: (1) Clarifies the individuals covered by the statute without conflicting with the other immunity statutes across the Delaware Code. (2) Does not change the acts for which individuals have immunity and thus continues to provide immunity for acts such as administering CPR or naloxone. (3) Does not change who is intended to be covered by the current language § 6801 of Title 16. (4) Does not change the standard for immunity. As in the current law, the individual only has immunity if the individual did not cause the injuries or death wilfully, wantonly, or recklessly or by gross negligence. (5) Clarifies that lay individuals have immunity when rendering emergency care. (6) Clarifies that public safety personnel rendering emergency care have immunity if the individual has current, relevant training or certification. Specifically, this Act: (1) Amends § 3001G of Title 16 to include all public safety personnel and to reference the general immunity statute for public safety personnel and makes technical corrections to § 3001G of Title 16 to conform to the standards of the Legislative Drafting Manual. (2) Revises § 6801 of Title 16 so that it continues to provides immunity to lay individuals, also known as Good Samaritans, who render emergency care. It uses the same immunity standard as in the current § 6801 of Title 16. (3) Moves the immunity for emergency responders to Chapter 97 of Title 16, the Emergency Medical Services Systems Chapter. This allows the definitions in Chapter 97, Title 16 to apply to the immunity provision so it is consistent and clear that public safety personnel mean law-enforcement officers, lifeguards, park rangers, firefighters, ambulance and rescue personnel, communications and dispatch specialists, and other public employees and emergency service providers charged with maintaining the public safety. It uses the same immunity standard as in the current § 6801 of Title 16. (4) Continues to use a general statement of emergency care or rescue assistance rather than list specific acts. This allows the law to cover any situation, whether or not the specific nature of the assistance is anticipated by the General Assembly, and allows for the law to cover new medical treatment or forms of assistance. (5) Provides a definition for the term law-enforcement officers in Chapter 97 of Title 16, where the term is used but not defined. (6) Removes language from the current statute that excludes care provided on the premises of a hospital or clinic because that distinction is not necessary after the statute is separated to clearly define who receives immunity under this statute. In addition, other sections of the Delaware Code provide immunity for physicians, nurses, and physician assistants who provide emergency care, so those individuals no longer need to be included in this section for when they provide assistance outside of their places of employment. (7) Does not require lay individuals to have training to have immunity but does require that public safety personnel have any current training that is required and relevant to the assistance provided to have immunity. This is because public safety personnel acting in their official capacity often receive some form of compensation for the assistance. (8) Moves the Advanced Life Support Standards Committee to Chapter 97 of Title 16 and makes technical corrections to the language in the current § 6801 of Title 16 to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and to accurately refer to the Division of Public Health, but does not make any substantive changes.

This is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide equal rights on the basis of sex. There is no Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. While Congress passed the Amendment in 1972, it was not ratified by the requisite number of states by the 1982 deadline. Delaware, however, was one of the first states to ratify the Amendment. About half of the states across the country have passed Equal Rights Amendments to their state constitutions in order to provide protection against discrimination based on sex. Without an Equal Rights Amendment, women’s rights and protections are limited. This Amendment is necessary to correct a constitutional shortcoming, reduce sex-based disparities and to codify our State’s value of equality.