This bill creates a 3-year exemption for public school construction from prevailing wage requirements. Also the public school will prepare cost study comparison reports for the Controller General's Office to compile and report to the General Assembly.
This Concurrent Resolution recognizes the 120th Anniversary of the Constitution of the State of Delaware.
This Act amends the City of Harrington Charter to impose term limits on Mayor (2 terms) and Council Members (3 terms). Further, the City Charter is amended to allow without voter approval the term on debt to be up to 40 years, which is the standard term for USDA loans; and to allow refinancing of debt without voter approval if it saves the City money by reducing the term or interest rate on the debt. Finally, this amendment to the Charter allows financing without voter approval for debt that will not require the principal amount to be repaid. All 3 changes have been approved by City Council Resolutions.
This Act more effectively and efficiently clarifies the enforcement authority of the Department of Agriculture regarding livestock at large. The offenses will now be civil penalties rather than criminal fines, expenses for impoundment will be reimbursed by the violator, and other sources of media can be used to give public notice of impoundment or sale of any livestock at large. This Act is intended to penalize repeat offenders that knowingly let their livestock run at large.
This bill vests the authority for regulating seed in Delaware with the Delaware Department of Agriculture and repeals any inconsistent act or parts of acts.
This Act inserts additional language to clarify that a qualified voter must be 18 years of age on or before the date of the election a vote is to be cast.
Section 1 of this Act provides that the statute of limitations period for a substantial underpayment of a license fee or gross receipts tax will commence at the end of the period for which the license is issued, in order to parallel the normal limitations period for the assessment of an underpayment of this type of tax. Section 2 of this Act provides that notice of a judgment must have been provided to the taxpayer not later than the date of the notice given prior to the revocation of a professional license resulting from non-payment of taxes. Section 3 of this Act conforms Delaware’s deadlines for filing certain information returns to those established in the Internal Revenue Code. In an effort to combat identity theft and taxpayer fraud, federal filing dates were recently changed. For example, starting in 2017 the federal deadline for an employer to file aggregated W-2 data with the IRS will be January 31, which is the same date on which W-2s are distributed to individual taxpayers. Prior to this change, the IRS did not receive W-2 data until March 1 meaning that there has been a one-month window in which it could not readily confirm the authenticity of W-2s filed with taxpayers’ returns. Like other states and the IRS, Delaware has had to devote considerable resources to combating fraud and identity theft. By conforming to the new federal standard, Delaware will have data on hand that will help identify and isolate fraudulent filings. As the State’s employers will already be required to comply with the new federal deadlines, conforming Delaware’s filing dates will result in no additional administrative burden. Sections 4 and 5 of this Act adjust Delaware’s deadlines for filing income tax returns for pass-through entities (partnerships and S corporations) and corporations to be consistent with the new deadlines set forth in the Internal Revenue Code. For tax years beginning after December 31, 2015, the federal deadline for pass-through entities taxed as partnerships and as S corporations to file returns will be March 15 or the 15th day of the third month following the end of the pass-through entity’s fiscal year, while the federal deadline for a C corporation to file an income tax return will be April 15, or the 15th day of the fourth month after the end of the C corporation’s fiscal year. As the State’s business entities will already be required to comply with the new federal deadlines, conforming Delaware’s filing dates will result in no additional administrative burden. Finally, this Act deletes a provision of the Code that was effective only for tax returns due in 1958 and 1959.
This resolution recognizes the month of May as "Poppy Month" in the State of Delaware.
This Act is the second leg of a constitutional amendment that will limit the ability of the State to appropriate Transportation Trust Fund moneys to a purpose other than (1) capital expenditures on the public transportation system, including the road system, grants and allocations for investments in transportation, the transit system, and the support systems for public transportation; (2) payment of the interest and principal on all bonds issued before or after the effective date of this Act and secured by moneys in the Transportation Trust Fund; and (3) other transportation-related purposes, including operating expenses funding the Delaware Department of Transportation, to which moneys in the Transportation Trust Fund are authorized on the effective date of this Act. The first leg, Senate Bill No. 166 of the 148th General Assembly, was adopted by two-thirds of the members elected to the General Assembly and publicized in accordance with Article XVI, § 1 of the Delaware Constitution. This Act essentially creates a lock box on the Transportation Trust Fund that can only be opened by the agreement of three-fourths of all the members of each House through a bill separate from an annual budget act, bond and capital improvement act, or grants-in-aid act. Additionally, if moneys in the Transportation Trust Fund cease to be appropriated for a transportation-related purpose, the moneys may not again be appropriated to such purpose except by the agreement of three-fourths of all the members of each House through a bill separate from an annual budget act, bond and capital improvement act, or grants-in-aid act.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also referred to as “the food stamp program,” assists eligible low-income individuals with the purchase of food. This Act, known as the Delaware Nutritional Improvement Act, seeks to bring the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in line with other state programs and initiatives aimed at improving the health and welfare of Delawareans. SNAP benefits are paid entirely with federal funds, but the costs to administer the program are split between the federal and state government. As is the case with another jointly administered state-federal program – the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) – this Act seeks to require SNAP benefits to be used solely for the purchase of healthy foods identified by the Department of Health and Social Services as having beneficial nutritional value. This will not only improve the efficiency of such expenditures but it should also improve the well-being of recipients, as well as potentially reduce health care expenditures. Using the WIC guidelines as a starting point, this Act instructs the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to draft a list of approved foods. The DHSS shall create the list with the goal of expanding on the WIC designations to improve selection and increase affordability. Under this Act, future SNAP benefits could be used only to purchase items designated as having beneficial nutritional value. Because the SNAP benefits are paid with federal funds, this Act would not become effective until the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture grants a waiver allowing its implementation. The status of this waiver may be obtained from the Director of the Department of Health and Social Services.
