Sen. Brian J. Bushweller

This Act makes a technical correction to § 7021 of Title 25 so that it is consistent with § 7043 of Title 25. Section 7021 is the original rent increase section. It requires a landlord to provide a minimum 60 days notice of a rent increase and was not revised when § 7043, which requires a minimum of 90 days notice of a rent increase, was enacted in 2013.

This Senate Resolution congratulates the State of Israel on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of its founding.

This Act amends the Delaware Governmental Accountability Act to make the annual budget process part of a performance management system of strategic planning, performance metrics and performance budgeting, dedicated to continuous process improvement that makes government more efficient, reduces costs and eliminates waste in the process and operations that deliver goods and services to taxpayers, customers and employees of State government.

This Act creates a Delaware Manufactured Home Owner Attorney Fund by collecting a $0.50 monthly assessment per lot from manufactured home owners who rent a lot in a community governed by Manufactured Home Owners and Community Owners Act. The fund will be administered by the Department of Justice to contract with an attorney or agency who will provide legal representation and advocacy for manufactured home owners in disputes with community owners. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Some students from disadvantaged backgrounds arrive at school lacking the same vocabulary and word recognition skills of their peers, putting them at a disadvantage when developing literacy skills in primary grades. In analyzing this disparity, studies have shown that the third grade is a critical turning point in educational development and that students who are not preforming at grade level by this point will continue to fall behind their peers at an increasingly rapid pace. This Act will seek to diminish this performance gap by creating a 3-year pilot program for disadvantaged students in primary grades in Delaware public schools. The State will provide $1 million in grant funding per year, over a 3-year period, to support the pilot program. Under the Act, Delaware State University, Delaware Technical and Community College, and the University of Delaware are invited to help collect and analyze data to assess the program.

This is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide equal rights on the basis of sex. There is no Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. While Congress passed the Amendment in 1972, it was not ratified by the requisite number of states by the 1982 deadline. Delaware, however, was one of the first states to ratify the Amendment. About half of the states across the country have passed Equal Rights Amendments to their state constitutions in order to provide protection against discrimination based on sex. Without an Equal Rights Amendment, women’s rights and protections are limited. This Amendment is necessary to correct a constitutional shortcoming, reduce sex-based disparities and to codify our State’s value of equality.

The Bill amends Title 4 to permit licensed Delaware craft distilleries, breweries, and wineries the ability to sell products produced by other Delaware craft distilleries, breweries, and wineries for on-site consumption, only. The products sold must be purchased through the existing three-tier system (i.e., wholesalers or traditional retailers).

This is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide equal rights on the basis of sex. There is no Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. While Congress passed the Amendment in 1972, it was not ratified by the requisite number of states by the 1982 deadline. Delaware, however, was one of the first states to ratify the Amendment. About half of the states across the country have passed Equal Rights Amendments to their state constitutions in order to provide protection against discrimination based on sex. Without an Equal Rights amendment, women's rights and protections are limited. This Amendment is necessary to correct a constitutional shortcoming, reduce sex-based disparities and to codify our State's value of equality.

Section 7042 of Title 25 of the Delaware Code lists the completion and cost of any capital improvements or rehabilitation work in a manufactured home community, as distinguished from ordinary repair, replacement, and maintenance, as a factor that may justify an increase in rent but only until the cost of the improvement has been fully recovered. Like Senate Substitute No. 2 for SB 23, this Act clarifies this provision by making the recovery of such capital improvement or rehabilitation work a fee under § 7008, the fee section of this chapter, so that it is a separate charge from rent and provides notice requirements regarding the fee. This Act provides a revised definition of capital improvement and rehabilitation work. This definition is placed in the definitions section of Chapter 70. Chapter 70 defines rent as including fees, preserving a community owner’s ability to enforce payment of the fee. By identifying this assessment as a fee, it is clearly identified as separate from a base rent increase. Senate Substitute No. 3 for Senate Bill No. 23 differs from Senate Substitute No. 2 for Senate Bill No. 22 as follows: 1. It removes lines from the definition of capital improvement or rehabilitation work that conflict with the rest of the definition. 2. It adds the requirement that capital improvement or rehabilitation work must benefit the entire manufactured home community. 3. It limits the correction of deficiencies to comply with changes to building codes or laws enacted after construction was completed. 4. It clarifies that the community owner must still comply with other provisions of the rent justification law, § 7042(a)(1) and § 7043 of Title 25, before imposing this fee. 5. Permits a challenge to the fee to be consolidated with other proceedings challenging a rent increase under § 7042 and § 7043 of Title 25. 6. It adds that the fee must be collected at a rate of 10% of the cost of the capital improvement or rehabilitation work or over the number of years necessary to not exceed 10% of the rent, whichever amount is lower. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

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.