This Resolution recognizes March 19, 2018 as "Women in Public Office Day" in Delaware.
This Act includes Department of Transportation employees who work on interstate, expressway, arterial, and collector roads in the classification of employees who are eligible to receive hazardous duty pay. This Act contains a delayed effective date provision to ensure this Act takes effect in fiscal year 2019. Funding for this Act will be drawn from funds that would not violate Article VIII, § 12. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This bill creates an Abandoned Cultural Property Act. The act allows museums to establish title to property that has been donated or left with the museum after any loan period has terminated and the lender cannot be found. Currently such assets drain the museum resources by taking up space and having to be cared for. Museums need a process by which they can establish clear title to abandoned, unclaimed, or unsolicited property. This law will allow more efficient use of museum funds and will assist museums to conserve, display, and ethically dispose of abandoned, unclaimed, or unsolicited property. This bill is modeled after Indiana's law. Delaware is 1 of only 4 states that has no law relating to Abandoned Cultural Property.
Enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act amended the Individuals with Disability Education Act (“IDEA”) by mandating that special education teachers must have obtained full certification and may not be working under emergency certifications. The Delaware Department of Education must stop issuing emergency certifications in special education in order for for the State to continue receiving $36 million in federal IDEA funding for our schools. This Act creates a mechanism that is in compliance with federal requirements to enable educators to obtain a certificate of eligibility in the areas of special education. Educators will be able to meet federal requirements while being enrolled in an approved, alternative routes to certification program. This Act will allow local education agencies to staff special education classrooms while ensuring the educators are receiving high quality training working toward their standard certificate in the appropriate area of special education. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Bill is the Fiscal Year 2019 Appropriation Act.
This resolution recognizes the Easterseals/CAI Volleyball Challenge occurring March 2-4, 2018, at William Penn High School, an event that raises funds for an organization providing services and support to Delawareans with disabilities or special needs and their families.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes February 2018 as "Self-Care Month."
This Act makes a number of changes to Chapter 21, Title 11 of the Delaware Code, with the goal of modernizing the pretrial process, reducing reliance on monetary conditions, improving the efficiency and outcomes for the criminal justice system, and ensuring the safety of the community. An analysis of data for pretrial detention and bail shows that Delaware’s bail system is failing in two ways: we unnecessarily detain individuals who lack funds for their release, and on the other end of the spectrum, we release defendants who fail to appear or remain law abiding during their period of pretrial release. The Courts, the Department of Correction, the Office of Defense Services, the Attorney General’s Offices, members of law enforcement and the private defense bar, and the Delaware Center for Justice have worked collaboratively to propose the changes embodied in this bill, and will continue to work on further revisions. Specifically, this Act makes the following changes to the bail/pretrial process: - Use risk to determine conditions: Require courts to consider risk by using empirically-based tools to determine whether a defendant is likely to stay out of trouble and come to court, and use that information to make individualized “assignments” of conditions of release. - Defines purpose of release conditions: Limit conditions of release to things that will reasonably assure the defendant will show up in court, and protect victims, witnesses, and community members. - Create more opportunities for conditions to be added or removed: Make release conditions “living documents” that will automatically be reviewed if a defendant does not initially meet them, if a defendant does meet them and then violates those terms, or if the defendant or their custodian makes a motion to modify those conditions. - Empower pretrial officers: Gives Department of Corrections more tools to investigate and address violations of release conditions so the courts can address violations promptly and impose sanctions if necessary. This bill further requires the court to conduct a review of conditions of pretrial release for a defendant who remains detained after 72 hours from the defendant’s initial presentment because of inability to meet any condition of release (including a financial condition). Such a review must happen within ten days of detention.
This bill creates a tax deduction of up to $2,500 for an individual or $5,000 for a married couple for contributions to a qualified 529A savings account, or "ABLE" plan - a special account for meeting the needs of certain individuals with disabilities. The deduction may only be claimed by a taxpayer who makes less than $125,000 or a married couple who makes less than $250,000. It is applicable only to ABLE plans sponsored by the State of Delaware or offered by a consortium of states of which Delaware is a member.
