This Act makes several changes to the civil asset forfeiture proceedings of this state. It repeals the legal presumption that money, negotiable instruments or securities found in close proximity to controlled substances or records or with trace amounts of controlled substances are forfeitable. Such evidence is still admissible and may be considered by the Court in a forfeiture proceeding. It puts the burden of proof on the State to prove all elements of a forfeiture case by a preponderance of the evidence. Under the existing statute, it is the burden of an innocent owner to prove that they did not have knowledge of or consent to the use of their property in an unlawful act. It prohibits the forfeiture of currency less than $500. It prohibits forfeiture unless a criminal charge is brought. It requires the person holding seized property to be financially responsible for all fees associated therewith in the event the property is ordered by the Court to be returned. It allows a claimant property owner who substantially prevails in a forfeiture proceeding to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. The language in this section is modeled after a provision of the federal forfeiture statute, at 28 U.S.C. § 2465 that was put in place in 2000 as part of federal civil asset forfeiture reforms. It aligns forfeiture provisions in Title 11 with the forfeiture provisions in Title 16. It requires the Department of Justice to collect and annually report statistics regarding civil asset forfeiture.
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Due to the rapidly increasing costs of materials and labor, combined with the frequency in which developers have gone out of business or otherwise been unable to complete work required within developments, this Act increases the funding required to be secured by a developer to ensure the developer fulfills the developer's obligations to construct and complete improvements within a subdivision. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act sunsets the Technology Investment Council ("TIC"). The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee ("JLOSC") reviewed TIC in 2022 and, as a result of the review, JLOSC sponsored House Bill No. 357 of the 151st General Assembly. HB 357 updated TIC's statute to streamline operations and prevent redundancies. In February 2024, TIC submitted a memorandum to JLOSC, explaining all of the following: - Redundancies with other State boards or committees, procedures, and efficiencies remain. And, ensuring that TIC has a quorum to conduct business during meetings continues to be a challenge. - Six of the 9 TIC members also serve on the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review ("GEAR") Board, including the Chief Justice, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Secretary of Finance, Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, the Controller General, and the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Technology and Information ("DTI"). - GEAR has a subcommittee specifically dedicated to IT efficiency and releases an annual report detailing the progress in this focus area. - TIC convened only once in 2023. - TIC's goals are achieved through DTI processes and collaboration with agencies, OMB, and GEAR. - With no objection from TIC members, DTI requested that JLOSC support the sunsetting of TIC. For these reasons, the Technology Investment Council is sunsetted under this Act.
Sections 1 and 2 of this Act update Chapter 8 of Title 12, the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act. Section 1 of this Act does the following: (1) Adds a new definition to § 801 of Title 12 to define “cash equivalents”. (2) Amends the definition of “registering entity” in § 801 of Title 12 to confirm that registering entities may include securities dealers, banks, savings banks, trust companies, investment advisers, and other financial institutions that maintain securities accounts for customers. (3) Amends the definition of “security” in § 801 of Title 12 to confirm that interests in or obligations of a corporation; a limited liability company or any series of a limited liability company; a partnership, whether general or limited, or any series of a partnership; and a trust, including a common law trust, a voting trust, a business trust, or a statutory trust, or any series of a trust, constitute a “security” for purposes of the Unform TOD Security Registration Act. (4) Amends the definition of “security account” in § 801 of Title 12 to make ministerial changes to the language of the definition and to expand the definition to include investment management accounts, securities accounts, custody accounts, or other agency accounts for the investment or custody of securities maintained with a bank, a savings bank, a trust company, a securities dealer, an investment adviser, or other financial institution. Section 2 of this Act amends § 805 of Title 12 to confirm that registration in beneficiary form with respect to an uncertificated security or a security account need not include the names of beneficiaries if the names of all beneficiaries are otherwise maintained by the registering entity. This avoids, for example, any requirement for the book entry of an uncertificated security or the name of a security account to include the names of all beneficiaries, so long as the registering entity otherwise maintains the names of such beneficiaries. Sections 1 and 2 of this Act are not intended to override provisions of an entity’s operating agreement or governing provisions, and will take effect subject to any implementing requirements of the agreement or governing provisions, such as transfer or ownership restrictions. Sections 3 and 4 of this Act pertain to “letters of wishes” by trustors and add a new definition to § 3301 of Title 12 and a new subsection to § 3315 of Title 12. Letters of wishes have long been created by trustors as a means of assisting fiduciaries to understand the discretionary terms of the trust’s governing instrument, to understand the application of those terms as intended by trustors, and to assist fiduciaries to exercise distribution discretion. Accordingly, Sections 3 and 4 of this Act acknowledge existing and common practice by affirming that the standard of review of a fiduciary’s decision to consider or not to consider a letter of wishes is the same “abuse of discretion” (within the meaning of § 187 of the Restatement (Second) of Trusts, not §§ 50 and 60 of the Restatement (Third) of Trusts) standard described in § 3315 of Title 12. The new provisions recognize that a letter of wishes is a non-binding document intended to provide guidance and insight into the trustor’s intent relevant to a particular trust. New subsection (c) of § 3315 of Title 12 specifically provides 3 safe harbors for determining that a fiduciary has not abused its discretion, by stating that the following do not constitute an abuse of that fiduciary’s discretion: (1) the fiduciary’s decision not to consider a letter of wishes with respect to an unambiguous provision of the trust’s governing instrument; (2) the fiduciary’s decision not to consider a letter of wishes not meeting the criteria of the new subsection (c) of § 3315 of Title 12; and (3) the fiduciary’s decision to consider a letter of wishes meeting the criteria of the new subsection (c) of § 3315 of Title 12, with respect to an ambiguous provision of a trust’s governing instrument. In addition, the new subsection (c) of § 3315 of Title 12 provides that the letter of wishes is not binding on the fiduciary, that the fiduciary has no duty to follow the letter of wishes, and that the fiduciary’s exercise or non-exercise of a discretionary power does not create an inference that the fiduciary improperly exercised such power or abused the fiduciary’s discretion under § 3315(a) of Title 12. Sections 3 and 4 of this Act, however, are not intended to override the Court of Chancery’s decision in Bishop v. McNeil, 1999 Del. Ch. LEXIS 186, 1999 WL 743489 (Del. Ch. 1999), in which the Court declined to take into account a letter to construe the provisions of an unambiguous governing instrument for a trust because the letter was extrinsic evidence of trustor intent. Thus, Sections 3 and 4 of this Act are not intended to affect the law regarding the Court’s interpretation of unambiguous governing instruments for trusts, for which the Court may not consider extrinsic evidence, or to affect the law regarding the Court’s interpretation of ambiguous governing instruments for trusts, for which the Court may consider extrinsic evidence, including any such letter of wishes. Section 5 of this Act adds new paragraph (32) to § 3325 of Title 12 to provide trustees of trusts with a statutory power to hire, retain, and compensate providers of programs and education for trust beneficiaries that may help prepare the beneficiaries for inheriting wealth, by helping to develop wealth-management skills, enhance beneficiary mental health and well-being, particularly as those areas may be impacted by the trust itself, and to reduce the potential for the trust to disincentivize the beneficiaries’ productivity or impact their mental health or well-being. The trustee may provide these programs and services or may hire and pay third parties or affiliates from the trust estate to provide these services and, in each case, without diminution of the trustee’s regular compensation to which the trustee would otherwise be entitled to receive for serving as trustee. Section 6 of this Act amends § 3339 of Title 12, regarding designated representatives, to do all of the following: (1) Provide specifically that when a trustor appoints a designated representative for beneficiaries, the appointment may be with respect to beneficiaries who are minors, who are incapacitated, who are unborn, or whose identities or locations are not known and not reasonably ascertainable. (2) Make clearer that when notice of the appointment is required to be given to parents of the represented person or to a guardian of the property of the represented person, the requirement applies only to those beneficiaries who are minors or who are incapacitated. Section 7 of this Act adds new § 3345 of Title 12 to enable trustors to create what is to be known as a “Beneficiary Well-Being Trust” by expressly referencing § 3345 of Title 12 in the trust’s governing instrument. Section 3345 of Title 12 recognizes a growing concern of trustors that while there are many advantages to passing wealth through generations in trust, such as tax savings, creditor protection, consolidated investment and management, and protection of assets from imprudent waste, trusts may grow in value so that considerable wealth may become available to the beneficiaries, sometimes before beneficiaries have had an opportunity to learn and know the value of money and the personal and social responsibilities that access to wealth entails. The purpose of the Beneficiary Well-Being Trust is to provide wealth management training and services for the beneficiaries’ mental health and well-being and to educate beneficiaries about their family history and legacy, family values and dynamics, family governance, and philanthropy, all as more fully described in § 3345 of Title 12. The governing instrument of a Beneficiary Well-Being Trust may provide for additional powers, duties, rights, and interests of the beneficiaries, trustees, and advisers to the fullest extent permissible under § 3303 of Title 12. The trustees and advisers of a Beneficiary Well-Being Trust may provide beneficiary well-being programs or may hire and pay third parties or affiliates from the trust estate to provide beneficiary well-being programs and, in each case, without diminution of the trustee’s or adviser’s regular compensation to which the trustee or adviser would otherwise be entitled to receive for serving as trustee or adviser. Section 8 of this Act amends § 3547 of Title 12, regarding virtual representation, to extend the principles of the section by allowing a designated representative of a beneficiary under § 3339 of Title 12 to represent virtually those whom the beneficiary could virtually represent, including, under the circumstances already permitted under § 3547 of Title 12, someone who is a minor, is incapacitated, is unborn, or whose identity or location is not known and not reasonably ascertainable; a presumptive remainder beneficiary of a trust; a contingent successor remainder beneficiary of a trust; the holder of a power of appointment over a trust; or the beneficiaries of a trust that is itself the beneficiary of another trust, if there is not a material conflict of interest between the designated representative and those who are to be virtually represented. Section 9 of this Act provides an effective date for this Act and makes clear that this Act applies to trusts created before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
This Act revises existing animal cruelty laws to include people who knowingly possess, own, buy, sell, transfer, or manufacture animal fighting paraphernalia with the intent to engage in or otherwise promote or facilitate such fighting as guilty of a class E felony. This Act defines “animal fighting paraphernalia” and creates a list of considerations a court may use when assessing whether an item or object qualifies as animal fighting paraphernalia.
This Act enacts the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (ITMC). The Council of State Governments partnered with the Department of Defense and the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) to support the mobility of licensed teachers through the development of this new interstate compact. The ITMC will create reciprocity among participant states and reduce barriers to license portability and employment. The Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact (ITMC) is an interstate occupational licensure compact. Interstate compacts are constitutionally authorized, legislatively enacted, legally binding agreements among states. The ITMC will allow teachers to use an eligible license held in a compact member state to be granted an equivalent license in another compact member state, lowering barriers to teacher mobility and getting teachers back into the classroom more seamlessly. The ITMC utilizes a different model than other interstate occupational licensure compacts. Compact member states submit licenses that are eligible for the compact and meet a set of criteria outlined in the legislation. To be eligible, a license must require a bachelor’s degree and completion of a state-approved program for teacher licensure like a teacher preparation program at a college or university. Furthermore, for a license to be eligible under the ITMC, the license must be unencumbered, which means it is not restricted, probationary, provisional, substitute, or temporary. Teachers holding a compact-eligible license can apply for licensure in another member state and receive the closest equivalent license without submitting additional materials, taking state-specific exams or completing additional coursework. Special carveouts were created for some populations in the ITMC to support equitable access. Due to the mobility patterns of military spouses, the barriers to receiving a license that would be considered unencumbered under the compact are much higher. Teachers meeting the definition of an eligible military spouse will be able to use a temporary or provisional license for the purposes of the ITMC. Career and Technical Education Teaching Licenses often do not require a bachelor’s degree as a requirement for licensure, so the compact allows these licenses to be considered eligible without that requirement. The ITMC will not close any existing pathways to teacher licensure or teacher mobility. The ITMC aims to provide additional tools to state licensing authorities to more efficiently license out of state teachers and get them into the classroom. State licensing authorities will also appoint their state’s representatives to the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact Commission, which serves as the administrative body of the ITMC. In addition to the NASDTEC, the following organizations contributed to the development process for the ITMC: • National Association of Elementary School Principals. • American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. • National Education Association. • Council of Chief State School Officers. • Education Commission of the States. • Southern Regional Education Board. • American Association of School Administrators. • National Conference of State Legislatures. • National Association of State Boards of Education. • National Governors Association. • National Council on Teacher Quality. • National School Boards Association. The ITMC must be enacted in 10 states to become effective. The ITMC has been enacted in 8 states and legislation to enact it is pending in 13 states.
Maddy summaryThis bill updates overtime pay rules for non-exempt employees working for the Delaware Department of Transportation. Starting July 1, 2024, these workers will receive time-and-a-half pay for any hours worked beyond 37.5 hours in a single week. The change applies specifically to the DOT and ensures that overtime compensation begins once an employee exceeds the standard 37.5-hour threshold.
This Act clarifies portions of Chapter 49 of Title 6 and Chapter 63 of Title 21 of the Delaware Code pertaining to motor vehicle dealers. These additions and modifications are intended to further improve our State’s franchise laws and ensure that Delaware consumers have a stable, reliable, convenient, and competitive retail network for automobile sales and service. This Act is an effort to continue to ensure that the relationship between dealers and the manufacturers and distributors is as fair and equitable as possible and provides the highest level of consumer protection. The Act includes the following provisions: Definitions. The Act amends § 4902 of Title 6 and clarifies the definitions of “motor vehicle” and “new motor vehicle” to reflect technological advances and changes in industry business practices in the state, and adds a definition of “electric motor vehicle”. The Act defines the new terms “sell,” "selling," "sold," "exchange," "retail sales," and "leases". Warranty and Predelivery Obligations to New Motor Vehicle Dealers. Dealers are required by contract to perform warranty work for manufacturers. The Act amends § 4903 of Title 6 in order to ensure that dealers are fairly paid for performing manufacturer-directed repairs related to warranty repairs, maintenance programs and recall work. Intrusive Audits. Dealers are required by existing law to wait up to 30 days for payment for motor vehicle warranty repairs in order to allow the manufacturer to review and approve payment submissions. Manufacturers are also allowed to later audit such repairs and payments. The Act affords manufacturers a full 6 months to audit warranty claims but will reasonably prevent intrusive and time-consuming audits after 180 days, unless the audit involves cases of alleged fraud. Franchise Termination Compensation. Under existing law, manufacturers must repurchase certain motor vehicles, parts and special tools in the event of the termination of the dealer’s franchise agreement. The Act amends § 4907 of Title 6 and specifies a 90-day timeframe for payment and clarifies that it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to cover the cost of returns. Return of Unnecessary Tools & Equipment. The Act allows a dealer a limited opportunity to return and be reimbursed for the cost of certain tools and equipment that were required as a part of an electric vehicle program or agreement between that dealer and the manufacturer, if the dealer determines within two years after receipt that such tools and equipment are unnecessary or that sales volume and utilization are low enough to prevent the dealer from realizing a reasonable return on those forced investments. Failure or Refusal of Manufacturer to Accept Returns. The Act amends § 4913 of Title 6 by providing that it violates Chapter 49 for a manufacturer to fail or refuse to accept the return or to fully reimburse a dealer for the cost of parts, tools, equipment, chargers and other infrastructure required under the franchise agreement, or as part of a program, policy, or other initiative related to the sale or service of electric motor vehicles. Sale & Subscription of Over-the-Air Features. The Act allows manufacturers to directly sell options, add-ons, features, improvements and upgrades by remote transmission to consumers, provided that the dealers are afforded an equal opportunity to sell the same products and services, and further provided that the manufacturer reasonably compensates the dealer for direct sales or subscriptions to the dealer’s customers for a specified period of time. Association Standing. The Act adds a new § 4920 to Title 6 on the subject of Association Standing. Franchise laws have been enacted in all 50 states to recognize compelling state interests in protecting consumers and in regulating the disparity in bargaining power between motor vehicle manufacturers and their franchised dealers. Because dealers have a single source for their new motor vehicles, parts and accessories, many are reluctant to raise a single voice to object to unlawful activity by their manufacturer. The Act grants statutory standing to a large association of dealers to bring a legal action, in very limited circumstances, to ensure compliance with applicable law. Licensing. The Act amends provisions of §§ 6301 and 6302 of Title 21 of the Delaware Code related to the Sale of Motor Vehicles. The Act adds definitions of “new motor vehicle,” “new motor vehicle dealer,” “used motor vehicle,” and “used motor vehicle dealer” to § 6301. Section 6302 is amended to provide that a manufacturer, importer, or distributor who was licensed as a motor vehicle dealer is not eligible to receive any additional licenses. The Act is supported by the Delaware Automobile and Truck Dealers’ Association, Inc.
Early, sustained exposure to peanut and egg proteins in the infant diet significantly reduces the risk that an infant will develop a peanut or egg allergy, saving lives and future health care costs. Following multiple clinical studies, the current guidance of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, which is followed by pediatricians, recommends that by age 6 months, all infants should be introduced to both peanut and egg protein and that unless contraindicated, all infants should regularly consume peanut and well-cooked egg protein until they reach the age of 1 year, to reduce the risk of developing peanut or egg allergies. This Act requires that all health insurance plans subject to requirements under Delaware law, including Medicaid, provide coverage, at no cost when prescribed to infants, of at least 1 early peanut allergen introduction dietary supplement and at least 1 early egg allergen introduction dietary supplement. This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2025.
This Act ensures that educators hired after the effective date of this Act, who earned graduate degrees prior to becoming educators, receive credit on the salary schedule for those degrees regardless of the specific subject area of those degrees. Once an individual is employed as an educator, in order to receive credit for any graduate degrees earned after that time, such degree must be in the subject area in which the educator is employed.