Sen. Nicole Poore

The State of Delaware previously offered an employer match for state employee contributions to the deferred compensation program. The purpose of the match was to help state employees save and build wealth for retirement and to enable state government to recruit and retain talent by offering a valuable retirement savings benefit. In July 2008, during the Great Recession, the State suspended the employer match to cut costs. Every year since fiscal year 2008, the General Assembly has written in the annual appropriations bill: “It is the intent of the General Assembly that this program be reinstated when funding becomes available.” This Act updates the laws governing the employer match in anticipation of the General Assembly restoring the match this session and increases the maximum match to $20 per pay period. This Act also eases restrictions on which participants are eligible for the match. To help employees who are unable to save for retirement because of their student loan burden, this Act enables a match for employee’s student loan payments with employer contributions to their deferred compensation account. Congress enabled employers to make this type of matching contribution with the passage of the SECURE 2.0 Act, which was included in the Federal Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. This Act provides the Plans Management Board with the discretion to determine which plan the matching contributions should be deposited into.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes Asian American and Pacific Islander Month and celebrates the contributions, culture, and resilience of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the State of Delaware and the United States.

On March 1, 1875, the federal Civil Rights Act was enacted. Following the end of the Civil War and the adoption of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, the goal of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was to guarantee Blacks equal treatment in places of public accommodation and on public transportation. On March 25, 1875, the General Assembly enacted Chapter 194 of Volume 15 of the Laws of Delaware to permit places of public accommodation and public transportation to exclude individuals “whose presence there would be offensive to the major part of the proprietor’s customers and thereby injure the proprietor’s business”. Newspaper reports from the time indicate that this law was specifically designed to “neutralize the effects of” the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Almost 100 years later, in December 1963, the 122nd General Assembly enacted the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law, Chapter 45 of Title 6 of the Delaware Code, to prevent in places of public accommodations practices of discrimination against any person because of race, creed, color, or national origin. As part of this legislation, the 122nd General Assembly provided that “§ 1501 of Title 24, § 902 of Title 28, and § 703 of Title 26 of the Delaware Code of 1953, and all laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed insofar as such inconsistency does occur.” Despite the General Assembly’s intent, these provisions were not repealed at the time and, with the exception of § 703 of Title 26, which was repealed in 1974 with the rest of Chapter 7 of Title 26 as part of reorganization of Title 26, have continued to persist to this day. This Act explicitly repeals § 1501 of Title 24 and § 902 of Title 28, fulfilling the intent of the 122nd General Assembly that § 1501 of Title 24 and § 902 of Title 28 be repealed as inconsistent with the purposes of the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law that General Assembly adopted. This Act also serves to repudiate the State’s past involvement in racial discrimination that occurred in reliance on and under color of laws adopted by this State.

This Senate Resolution respectfully requests the President of the United States award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Jan C. Scruggs.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution proclaims May 2023 as "Community Action Month" in the State of Delaware.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution supports a forthcoming federal resolution recognizing Thomas Garrett as a heroic abolitionist.

This Act adds different levels of criminal liability based on the specifics of a case for directors or managers of facilities who fail to take corrective action to protect patients or residents from criminal activity.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes May 11, 2023 as Delaware Local Government Day in the State of Delaware.

The resolution proclaims May 11, 2023, as "Home Care Advocacy Day" in Delaware.

Delaware is one of a handful of states that has no cap other than unconscionability on interest rates for short-term consumer loans. Under Delaware case law, the unconscionability of an interest rate is decided by a court on a case by case basis. This Act caps interest rates at 20% for short-term consumer loans of $1,000 or less that must be repaid in less than 60 days and motor vehicle title loans. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.