Sen. Brian Pettyjohn

This bill addresses an on-going problem relating to background checks for employees, volunteers, and contractors of child-serving entities. Currently, a person working a child-serving entity who obtains the required background check must undergo another background check when that person obtains employment at another child-serving entity even if that background check had recently been completed. This put an undue burden on the employee and the State Bureau of Identification who run the background checks. This bill would allow an employee, volunteer, or contractor who is required to obtain a background check to authorize a child-serving entity to share the results of a background check with another child-serving entity so long as the authorization is in writing and provided to the Office of Child Care Licensing. This bill also requires the Department of Education to establish a procedure to allow employees, volunteers and contractors to authorize the sharing of background checks between child-serving entities.

This Act simplifies Delaware’s drug code with a goal of providing more fairness in its application. This Act removes geographic-based enhancements that disproportionately impact those living in urban areas as opposed to suburban and rural areas. This Act reduces the number of weight tiers from 5 to 3 with adjustments to accompanying sentences while retaining higher felony levels for weights that indicate drug dealing. This Act reflects the reality that the road to recovery from a drug addiction is difficult by removing automatic sentence enhancements based on prior drug offenses, and instead allowing discretion during sentencing to determine when a repeat offender requires substantive additional penalty. Specifically, Sections 1 through 14 of this Act do the following: (1) Eliminate most aggravating factors, some of which may cause Delaware’s controlled substance laws to be applied unfairly, while maintaining an aggravating factor for those who violate Delaware’s drug dealing laws within 300 feet of and on school property. (2) Eliminate enhancements based on the commission of prior drug offenses. (3) Simplify Delaware’s controlled substance laws by reducing the number of weight tiers that are used to categorize the severity of controlled substance offenses. (4) Provide statutory guidance for the weighing and sampling procedures used at criminal trials for controlled substances. Sections 15 through 20 of this Act make conforming amendments to the Delaware Code based on changes made by Sections 1 through 14 of this Act. This Act takes effect 90 days after its enactment into law. Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This act names the Delaware portion of U.S. Route 301 between Route 1 and the Delaware Maryland State line as First Responders Memorial Highway.

This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 24 by requiring a patient to apply for a compassionate use medical marijuana card when a doctor recommends medical marijuana to a patient who does not have a qualifying debilitating medical condition. To apply for a compassionate use card, this Substitute requires: 1. The patient, or it under age 18, the patient’s parent or legal guardian, submit a signed statement attesting to the patient's informed consent to try a treatment that does not have medical evidence of effectiveness. 2. The patient’s physician certify that the patient has a severe and debilitating condition, current standard care practices and treatments have been exhausted, and there are grounds to support that the patient may benefit from this treatment. The physician must periodically re-evaluate the efficacy of the medical marijuana treatment. This Substitute also requires that a registry identification card state the type of card that is issued to clearly identify qualifying adult patients, qualifying pediatric patients, designated caregivers, and compassionate use patients. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act, modeled on similar laws in Virginia and Maryland, requires a health-care provider to provide notice to a patient at the time blood is drawn to perform a laboratory test for Lyme disease that explains the limitations of the test and instructs the patient to see their health-care provider if the patient continues to experience unexplained symptoms. This Act is consumer and patient friendly.

This Bill enables the use of roof or ground mounted solar systems on privately owned residential dwellings by making covenants or other restrictions that effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the installation of solar photovoltaic systems in Delaware void and unenforceable, regardless of the date recorded. This Bill also explains that it is the policy of the State of Delaware to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by encouraging the development and use of renewable resources and to remove obstacles thereto. This Bill further provides for costs and reasonable attorneys' fees to be awarded to the prevailing party in any litigation arising under the provisions of this Section. This Bill does not render void and unenforceable reasonable restrictions on roof or ground mounted solar systems.

This bill clarifies that Delaware law enforcement may enter into agreements to provide mutual assistance to other jurisdictions.

The bill expands the qualified agencies authorized to receive grants approved by the Water Infrastructure Advisory Council to include non-profit corporations, such as the Diamond State Sustainability Corporation (“DSSC”), approved by Public Service Commission as a regulated water or wastewater utility. As a regulated utility, the DSSC assists low and moderate income residents and communities in rural areas of Delaware by acquiring and improving community-owned water and wastewater systems, many of which are aging or at risk of failure, and providing service pursuant to Commission-approved rates. This bill also expands the definition of “treatment works” to include “domestic wastewater” projects in order to allow for grants for community septic and sewage system upgrades.

Currently, non-resident pass-through entities, trusts, and estates are required to pay estimated income taxes anticipated to be due as a result of real estate transactions before each deed is recorded. The payment of estimated income taxes before each deed is recorded has become a burden on entities that transfer multiple parcels and on the Division of Revenue. In order to maximize time and improve personnel efficiencies within the Division of Revenue, this Act provides the Director with the ability to exempt nonresident pass-through entities involved in the sale or exchange of Delaware real estate from the requirement of remitting estimated income taxes due with each deed to the Recorder before the deed is recorded. This act only allows the Director to grant exemptions as to the timing of the payment of estimated income taxes; it does not allow the Director to grant exemptions from paying income taxes.

Daylight saving time has existed in one form or another for over 100 years. In that time, Delawareans have become accustomed to the 8 months of daylight saving time each year. This Act provides for Delaware to permanently remain on daylight saving time. This Act achieves this by doing the following: (1) Requiring, in Section 4 of this Act, that the Governor request that the United States Secretary of Transportation place Delaware in the Atlantic standard time zone if Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland each enact a law requesting the Secretary to place their respective state in the Atlantic standard time zone. The Secretary is authorized under 15 U.S.C. § 261 to define the limits of each time zone and thus may place Delaware in the Atlantic standard time zone. (2) Exercising, in Section 2 of this Act, the discretion granted to Delaware under 15 U.S.C. § 260a to exclude itself from daylight saving time. Section 5 of this Act makes clear that this exclusion takes effect on the first Sunday in November once the United States Secretary of Transportation places Delaware in the Atlantic standard time zone. This results in Delaware permanently remaining 1 hour ahead of eastern standard time.