This Act prohibits a tax rate greater than 50 cents per cigar upon the sale and use of premium cigars.
This Act makes it a crime to fly an unmanned aircraft system to do any of the following: (1) Harass another person on private property. (2) Invade the privacy of another person on private property. (3) Violate or fail to obey a domestic violence protective order. A violation of a crime created by this Act is punished consistent with the existing penalties under § 1334 of Title 11, which are as follows: (1) An unclassified misdemeanor for a first offense. (2) A class B misdemeanor for a second or subsequent offense. (3) A class A misdemeanor if physical injury to a person or damage to property occurs as a result of a violation.
Section 1 authorizes the disinterested members of the Town Council to determine if a council member meets the qualifications to be on council. Section 2 outlines the requirements for publishing a notice of solicitation of candidates for municipal elections, the filing requirement to run for Council, the procedures for resolving disputes over an individual’s qualifications to run for Council, and the notice of election requirements. Section 3 eliminates the prescribed time frame for having the polls open on the day of the municipal election and requires the polls to be open for at least 4 hours. Section 3 clarifies the duties of the Board of Elections, clarifies the qualifications to vote in an election, provides details regarding voting procedures and the conduct of the elections, and specifies the need for the Town to comply with 15 Del. C. Ch. 75 (“Municipal Elections”). Section 4 prohibits council members from taking office sooner than 7 days following the certification of the election. Section 5 eliminates a specific day of the month that the Town Council is required to meet. Section 6 requires the Town Council to act by a majority vote of the entire Town Council (and not just a majority of a quorum present at a meeting). Section 7 corrects an erroneous reference to the Council president and authorizes the Mayor or a member of Council to countersign checks. Section 8 eliminates the requirement that the Town Council appoint a police force. Section 9 authorizes the Town to recover from property owners those expenses incurred by the Town in the collection of delinquent Town taxes. Section 10 authorizes the Town to regulate public parking areas in Town. Section 11 eliminates detailed nuisance abatement procedures and authorizes the Town to adopt ordinances regulating nuisances and dangerous buildings. The Town is authorized to collect from the property owners, in the same manner as it collects delinquent taxes, those expenses incurred by the Town in abating a nuisance or dangerous building.
This Act authorizes the creation and regulation of a new type of limited-purpose bank, the "Business Development Bank." Modeled on Delaware's successful credit card bank laws, this Act would allow Business Development Banks, or "BDBs," to concentrate their resources in the commercial lending space, leverage technology and expertise, and partner with existing banks to serve a broader spectrum of small to medium-sized businesses. This Act would limit the permissible activities of the BDBs to ensure that they cannot compete with existing banks for consumer customers or to provide several other forms of bank or trust services.
This bill allows ground-based and hand-held sparklers and certain other nonexplosive, nonairborne novelty items regulated by the federal government to be sold and used in the State. The bill does not legalize firecrackers, bottle rockets, aerials, or any other device that explodes or shoots into the air. The use of those items that may be sold only to persons 18 years of age and older is limited to July 4th and December 31st of each year and sales are limited to the 30 days prior to the allowable use day. This bill allows paper caps used in toy guns contain 16 milligrams or less of pyrotechnic mixture. The sale of sparklers and most other items permitted under this bill is limited to persons 18 and older. The penalty section of 16 Del. C. §6905 applies to this bill. At least forty-three states allow the sale and use of sparklers and other nonexplosive, nonairborne novelty items that are regulated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Designating February 6, 2018 as "Ronald Reagan Day" in Delaware
This bill would allow for a student to participate in the Inspire Scholarship Program for eight continuous semesters instead of the current six. This would allow a student to use Inspire Scholarships for each of the semesters during a traditional college program.
Delaware’s existing Criminal Code was adopted in 1973 and was based on the Model Penal Code. Since that time, the Criminal Code has quadrupled in size and expanded to other parts of the Code without consideration to the general effects of the change on the Criminal Code’s overall structure, its terminology, or its application, creating numerous inconsistencies, redundancies, ambiguities and contradictions. In 2014, the General Assembly established the Criminal Justice Improvement Committee to review opportunities for efficiencies in the Delaware Criminal Code, including identifying: “disproportionate, redundant, outdated, duplicative, or inefficient statutes” and “crimes that should or should not constitute potential jail time”. The Criminal Justice Improvement Committee Working Group was created to accomplished the Criminal Justice Improvement Committee’s stated goals and has worked diligently for the last three years, in concert with other criminal justice stakeholders, to restore the criminal code to a clear, readable, and proportional code. The recommendations found in their Final Report are the basis for this Act and its companion bill. This Act is one of two bills that seek to bring back clarity and consistency to the Criminal Code. This Act repeals and replaces Title 11, Part I, Chapters 1 through 15 of the Delaware Criminal Code and replaces it with an improved code that is easy to understand, consolidates offenses and introduces rational and proportional sentencing structures. This Act, and its companion bill, will take effect 20 months from the date it is signed, to allow for a smooth integration of the improved code into existing structures, give public and private criminal justice stakeholders an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the improved code, and provide an opportunity to develop for the first time model jury instructions and sentencing guidelines. A Commentary, which explains how the current criminal code relates to the improved code, will be publicly available during this transition period. The 20 months will also give time to introduce technical corrections bills that will make changes to the Code necessitated by the improved code (e.g., update cross references to Title 11, Part I, found in other Titles), as well as incorporate legislative decisions passed by the 148th and 149th General Assembly that were not captured by the improved code.
The Act protects the life of the unborn child at a time when the potential for the child to survive outside the womb increases, especially with the advancement of medical procedures. Also, there is substantial medical evidence that an unborn child is capable of experiencing pain by 20 weeks after fertilization. The Delaware Legislature has the constitutional authority to make this judgment as shown in U.S. Supreme Court decisions as detailed in this Act. In enacting this legislation Delaware is not asking the Supreme Court to overturn or replace the holding in Roe v. Wade. Rather, it asserts a separate and independent compelling state interest in unborn human life that exists once the unborn child is capable of experiencing pain.
Delaware’s existing Criminal Code was adopted in 1973 and was based on the Model Penal Code. Since that time, the Criminal Code has quadrupled in size and expanded to other parts of the Code without consideration to the general effects of the change on the Criminal Code’s overall structure, its terminology, or its application, creating numerous inconsistencies, redundancies, ambiguities and contradictions. This Act is one of two bills that seek to bring back clarity and consistency to the Criminal Code.
