Sen. Stephanie Hansen

This Act makes the following changes to provisions required in life insurance policies issued in this State: (1) Specifies that a certified copy of an insured's death certificate, or other lawful evidence providing equivalent information, is acceptable as due proof of death. (2) Requires that interest be paid on the death benefit due under a life insurance policy.

This bill changes the standard of proof necessary to issue a civil gun relinquishment order from the Justice of the Peace Court. The preponderance of the evidence standard is the standard traditionally used in civil matters and is, therefore, appropriate here. This also makes the standard consistent with that required for a Lethal Violence Protective Order, which is highly similar in nature.

This Joint Resolution recognizes the University of Delaware's Center for Environmental Monitoring and Analysis as the official repository of historical and real-time weather and climatological observations for the State of Delaware.

This Act adds one more member, a licensed health care professional knowledgeable in the screening and identification of domestic violence cases appointed by the Council, to the Fatal Incident Review Team of the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. The Act also updates language regarding victims of domestic violence to include survivors. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act authorizes the Division of Motor Vehicles to issue special registration plates to commemorate the Delaware State Education Association centennial. It also allows the Division to collect a 1-time administrative fee of $15 to be deposited into a special fund and used by the Division for administrative costs.

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 Act makes clear that a retail licensee may only purchase authorized product from an importer, also known as wholesaler, except that a retail licensee may purchase up to 20 gallons a day from a premises licensed to sell for off-premises consumption. This Act also clarifies that off-premises licensees may sell untapped kegs for off-premises consumption.

This Act modernizes the process and requirements for issuance of liquor licenses for off premises consumption. The current process and requirements do not consider population growth. Minimum distance requirements are enhanced while increases in population growth will now be considered to arrive at a safety and convenience balance. This Act also grandfathers existing licensees into the current process.

This bill updates the real estate appraisers’ practice act to comply with federal law by clarifying the definition of federally-related transaction and adding a definition for federal financial institutions regulatory agencies. Changes to these definitions would render Delaware’s definitions consistent with federal law. Section two of the bill changes the renewal for appraisal management companies (AMC) from every two years to annually to facilitate the renewal procedure for the Division of Professional Regulation. Section three of the bill eliminates the current allowance in Delaware for a revoked or suspended real estate appraiser to have an ownership interest in an AMC, and section four disallows AMCs from removing an appraiser from its appraiser panel without prior notice. Delaware’s law currently allows AMCs to do so if the appraiser was only added to the panel in the previous 60 days. Federal law does not have any such allowance.

This Act ratifies the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact, 34 U.S.C. §40316 (formerly cited as 42 U.S.C. § 14616), a requirement that allows Delaware to join the Compact as a Party State. The Compact serves as the infrastructure by which states can exchange criminal records for noncriminal justice purposes according to the laws of the requesting state and provide reciprocity among the states to share records without charging each other for the information.