Sen. F. Gary Simpson

This concurrent resolution thanks the Career and Technical Student Organizations for their presentation of geraniums. This concurrent resolution also extends the General Assembly's best wishes for continued success to these exemplary students.

This Act is the second leg of a constitutional amendment that would add the Chief Magistrate to the Court on the Judiciary. Like all judges within the state, the judges of the Justice of the Peace Court are subject to the jurisdiction of the Court on the Judiciary. This amendment makes it so that the presiding judge of each of the six state courts serves as a member.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes The Committee of 100 on the 50th anniversary of its founding.

This Resolution recognizes the week of April 3-8, 2017 as Auctioneers Week in the State of Delaware, acknowledging the great economic impact and rich history auctioneers have on the State.

This Act explicitly allows ground effect lighting equipment on motorcycles. This extra lighting would increase motorcycle safety by enhancing their visibility.

This Act is the second leg of a Constitutional amendment to lengthen the time period during which the Governor must appoint a judicial officer following the occurrence of a vacancy, thereby giving the Governor and State Senate more flexibility in the consideration of vacancies occurring when the State Senate is not in session while preserving the Delaware tradition of quickly filling judicial vacancies. The first leg, Senate Bill No. 275 from 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. From 1897 until 1983, the Delaware Constitution provided that the Governor shall submit his or her appointment to fill a vacancy to a constitutional court within 30 calendar days of a vacancy when the State Senate was not in session. In 1983, the timeframe for the Governor to make an appointment when the State Senate was not in session was lengthened to 60 days, a timeframe for the Governor to make an appointment when the State Senate was in session was added and set at 60 days, and a provision permitting judges to hold over in office for 60 days after their term expired was added. Since 1897, the number of constitutional courts and the number of judges on those courts has increased. As a result, the Governor must now call special sessions of the State Senate for the consideration of judicial nominees more frequently than in the past. This Act provides more flexibility to the Governor and State Senate in two respects. First, it extends the 60 day period after the occurrence of a vacancy to a 90 day period. The 90 day period strikes a balance between the need to have judicial positions filled quickly to avoid operational disruptions in the court system and the desire to have more flexibility when the General Assembly is not in session. Second, the Act clarifies that the Governor and State Senate may consider a nomination 30 days prior to the occurrence of the vacancy. The Constitution was previously silent on the consideration of nominations prior to the occurrence of a vacancy. This Act also modifies the time period during which an incumbent judicial officer whose term has expired may hold over in office after the expiration of his or her term from 60 days to 90 days to match the vacancy timeframes. This Act confirms that an incumbent judge whose term has expired has the option to hold over in office for that 90 day period, but is not required to do so. Finally, this Act makes additional technical corrections to conform existing law on lines 42 through 44, line 46, lines 56 through 58, and line 60 to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This resolution designates April 6, 2017 as “National Tartan Day” and commemorates the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish-Americans to the United States. When the United States was first formed and the thirteen states selected their first governors, nine were of Scottish ancestry. All the members of the first American cabinet had Scottish ancestry. Delaware’s first governor, John McKinly, was born in Northern Ireland of Scottish descent. Americans of Scottish descent have played a vibrant and influential role in the development of this country. However, not until 1997 was this influence recognized by a single-year U.S. Senate Resolution that appeared in the Congressional Record of April 7, 1997. In 1998 National Tartan Day was officially recognized on a permanent basis when the U.S. Senate passed Senate Resolution 155 recognizing April 6th as National Tartan Day. This was followed by companion bill House Resolution 41 which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on March 9, 2005. President George W. Bush signed a Presidential Proclamation on April 4, 2008 making April 6 National Tartan Day. In April of 2008, then Governor Minner issued a statement celebrating the accomplishments of Scots-Irish Americans in the First State as part of a Scots/Scots-Irish Heritage Month. April 6 commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, which asserted Scotland's sovereignty over English territorial claims, and which was a significant influence on the American Declaration of Independence. Canada has been celebrating "National Tartan Day" since 1993. The idea and motivation for creating a similar American holiday was provided by the Scottish Coalition, a group of national Scottish- American cultural organizations.

Civil forfeiture laws represent one of the most serious assaults on private property rights in the nation today. Under civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize your car or other property, sell it and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets—often without so much as charging you with a crime. This Act protects individual liberty and property rights by standardizing forfeitures across all crimes, simplifying procedures, and addressing counterproductive incentives in the law that distort policing priorities. Importantly, this Act does not change the authority of law enforcement to seize property suspected of being associated with crime or limit in any way prosecutors’ ability to charge and prosecute suspected criminals. Moreover, it ensures that those individuals proven guilty of a crime do not keep the fruits of their crime. In doing so, it strikes the right balance between the individual property rights and public safety.

This Joint Resolution opposes the cost allocation of the Artificial Island Transmission Project as unfair and unduly burdensome to the ratepayers of Delaware and urges PJM to join with Delaware in contesting the cost allocation in the proceedings pending before FERC.

In many circumstances persons who owe child support have received monetary awards in the form of a court settlement, verdict, judgment, or under a worker’s compensation award. This Bill requires a prevailing litigant to advise his attorney or insurance carrier of any outstanding child support arrears owed and directs the attorney, insurance carrier or other paying agent to pay the proceeds up to the arrears owed to DCSS to satisfy any outstanding arrearages owed to the custodian. If child support arrears or retroactive support is owed, the lien, up to the amount of child support arrears or retroactive support owed, must first be paid before any funds (excluding the first $1,000 of net proceeds) may be released to the prevailing party.