Sen. David B. McBride

This resolution creates the Administrative Law Improvement Task Force, which is charged with reviewing Delaware’s Administrative Procedures Act and other related statutes for the purpose of making recommendations to modernize Delaware’s administrative tribunal process, including judicial review of administrative tribunal decisions and processes for disputes involving land use and real property, including the Landlord Tenant Code.

This Act alters various fees assessed by the Delaware Secretary of State. The Act provides that most changes to the fees and taxes assessed will take effect on August 1, 2017; however increases to the maximum franchise tax and the late penalty for the filing of an annual franchise tax report shall take effect for the tax year beginning January 1, 2017, and the increase of the assumed par value multiplier for calculation of the corporate franchise tax and the authorized shares multiplier for corporations with greater than 10,000 authorized shares for calculation of the corporate franchise tax shall take effect for the tax year beginning on January 1, 2018.

Sections 1 and 7 of this Act update from $400 to $800 the threshold which triggers the penalty for insufficient payment of estimated tax. The current threshold has been in place since 2000. Because it has not been modified in almost 20-years, the penalties generated as a result of this low threshold are often trivial amounts, which frustrate taxpayers. However, despite the penalties’ low dollar amounts, they still require significant resources to administer and resolve. Sections 1and 7 also provide for an inflation adjustment for the threshold ensuring that it will automatically keep pace with future economic trends. Section 2 of this Act increases tax rates in all existing brackets by 0.15 to 0.4 percentage points and creates a new bracket of 6.95% at $150,000. Section 3 of this Act raises the eligibility age from 60 to 65 in one-year increments over a five-year period for the $12,500 exclusion from income of pensions and other retirement income. Section 4 of this Act eliminates itemized deductions and increases the standard deduction amount from $3,250 to $5,000 for single and married taxpayers filing separately and from $6,500 to $10,000 for taxpayers filing joint returns. In addition, Section 4 reduces from $110 to $85 the amount of the personal credit. Lastly, Section 4 raises the eligibility age from 60 to 65 in one-year increments over a five-year period for the extra, age-based personal credit. Sections 5 and 6 of this Act update cross references.

This Act provides for the expense of State government after June 30, 2017, on a temporary basis as appropriated under the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget and for granting authority to continue appropriation lines in the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget, the Fiscal Year 2017 Bond and Capital Improvements Act, and the Fiscal Year 2017 Grants-in-Aid Act.

This Resolution recognizes June 27, 2017, as “Staff Appreciation Day” in the Delaware State Senate.

This concurrent resolution recognizes and honors the young women of Delaware participating in the 2017 session of Delaware Girls State.

Delaware's Community College System, operated by Delaware Technical and Community College (“the College”), plays a critical role in the State's economy by providing workforce development and transfer education that connects Delawareans with good paying jobs within the State and region. This Act gives the College’s Board of Trustees the authority to issue bonds to finance the cost of major and minor capital improvements, deferred maintenance, and the acquisition of related equipment and educational technology and establishes the Community College Infrastructure Fund (“the Fund”) to pay the principal and interest on such bonds. This Act adopts the county Vo-Tech structure to finance the Fund by authorizing the College's Board of Trustees to collect a local property tax, subject to a cap. All money raised in a county must be placed in a segregated account and spent exclusively on projects in that county; this eliminates any possibility of applying this Act in an unconstitutional manner. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes Ramadan and Muslim residents of this State as they observe Ramadan.

This Resolution recognizes the young men participating in the 2017 session of Delaware’s Boys State and commends its sponsor, the American Legion Department of Delaware.

This Resolution recognizes the month of November, 2017, as “Lung Cancer Awareness Month” in Delaware.