Sen. Brian Pettyjohn

This Act is identical to Senate Bill No. 127 from the 149th General Assembly, which was passed by the Senate and reported out of the House Administration Committee. This Act corrects an inadvertent error in Delaware law that has permitted people younger than 18 years of age to vote in final-stage elections. People must be 18 years of age or older to be eligible to vote in a final-stage election such as general elections, special elections, school board elections, and school district referendums. However, people younger than 18 years of age can vote in any preliminary election, such as primary elections, if they will be 18 years of age at the time of the final-stage election.

This Act extends the time period for which a member of the Delaware National Guard may receive funding for certain postsecondary education tuition and fees from 10 years after the date on which the member begins the first course for which funds are granted to 15 years after that date.

This bill allows our wounded warriors or similar veterans' organizations who have been honorably discharged from the armed forces of the United States and have at least a 60% service-connected disability to be able to obtain a license to hunt, trap, and fish in this State without charge.

This Act expands the permitted uses of unclaimed electric cooperative capital credits to include investments in energy services for low income members and energy efficiency, renewable energy, battery storage, electrification and emerging energy technology programs. The bill also amends the annual reporting requirements to include an itemization of the amount allocated each year to low income assistance, energy efficiency and renewable technologies, and non-profit donations.

This Act establishes standards for data security for Title 18 licensees and standards for the investigation of and notification to the Commissioner of a cybersecurity event affecting Title 18 licensees.

This act will increase the numbers of Delaware nursing students eligible for the nursing incentive program by allowing Delawareans pursuing nursing careers at non-profit hospitals located in Delaware to be eligible for the program.

Section 1 of this Act amends Section 903 of Title 13 of the Delaware Code. Substantively, this Act allows persons who are not married but who are cohabitating to jointly adopt a child that is not theirs. The Act also rewrites the statute so as to be more clearly understandable. Section 2 of this Act amends Section 951 of Title 13 of the Delaware Code. It allows persons who are not married but who are cohabitating to jointly adopt a child that is not theirs. The Act also changes the phrase "husband and wife" to "married couple."

This bill enables a key component of the Take Care Delaware program, a partnership between law enforcement and schools to adopt a trauma-informed approach to children who have been identified at the scene of a traumatic event. The Take Care Delaware program, which will start as a pilot, operates by a police officer or emergency-care provider alerting a child’s school about the child’s presence at a traumatic event that the police officer or emergency-care provider responded to. In order to avoid violations of the State Bureau of Investigation’s dissemination statute and the Victim’s Bill of Rights in Title 11, this bill creates a narrow exception to both statutes that allows police officers and emergency-care providers to send the child’s name to their school district or charter school so that the child’s teachers can ensure the child is handled in a trauma-informed way. The Take Care Delaware program is based on the national “Handle With Care” model and includes training and other best practices for law enforcement and schools to prevent and mitigate the negative impact of childhood exposure to trauma.

This Act establishes that the age of offense and not the age of arrest determines jurisdiction for a person facing charges. Currently, if a person commits a delinquent act before age 18 but is arrested after age 18, the offense is automatically heard before the adult court of jurisdiction. See Howard v. State, 612 A.2d 158 (Del. 1992) (Table). This Act reverses this procedure so that if the offense occurs before the age of 18 and the arrest is after a person’s 18th birthday, but before their 21st birthday, the Family Court will have jurisdiction. However, this Act makes clear that this Act does not preclude prosecuting a person to whom the Act applies as an adult, as permitted in Title 10.

This Act allows the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to share accident reports and the data in the reports with the Department of Transportation. This Act also allows the Department of Transportation to provide certain de-identified data from accident reports to limited requestors. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.