Sen. Brian Pettyjohn

Senate Bill No. 288 of the 151st General Assembly (Chapter 371 of Volume 83 of the Laws of Delaware) created a pilot program whereby motorcyclists are permitted to use pulsating headlights as a way to alert other drivers of their presence, without allowing the use of flashing lights that would otherwise be used on emergency vehicles. SB 288 contained a sunset clause providing that the pilot program would expire on January 1, 2025, unless the General Assembly took action to extend or remove the sunset clause. This Act extends the sunset clause until June 30, 2030. The main reason for the extension is that many motorcycle owners have and are continuing to replace their lights with LED technology... up until 2024 the technology of a modulating device was not available for the LED lights only standard lighting had that option. To be able to better see if the pulsating lighting is effective the pilot program should be extended to adequately gauge what the new LED systems effectiveness is.

Federal and Delaware law protect the right to vote and the rights of individuals with disabilities to have equal access to voting places and public facilities. Nonetheless, recent information suggests that a substantial number of polling places in Delaware are either inaccessible to persons with disabilities or lack accessible parking, infringing on the right of all eligible persons to vote in this State. This substitute, like House Bill No. 293, requires that the Department of Elections ensure that polling places selected for elections are accessible to voters with disabilities and elderly voters. This substitute adds a provision that in addition to being accessible, the accessibility features are available to voters in any election. Like House Bill No. 293, this substitute allows certain exceptions for states of emergency, or for circumstances in which no accessible polling place in a particular polling area is available and the Election Commissioner ensures that those voters impacted are provided with an alternative accessible polling place or alternative means for casting a ballot upon advance request. This substitute limits the states of emergency that would allow an exception to natural disasters or other emergencies that render a polling place unsafe or unusable. This substitute also adds a provision allowing any person with information that the Department has not complied with this section to file an administrative complaint with the Department.

This Act requires health spas selling subscription services online to provide a prospective buyer of such a subscription the right to cancel the automatic renewal online. The option to cancel is also to be presented on the website in a clear and conspicuous manner to simplify such cancellation for the buyer.

This Act amends Chapter 28 of Title 24 of the Delaware Code to define "successor professional engineer" as a professional engineer who assumes responsible charge of a project, or component of a project, and uses or relies upon the work of the professional engineer who was previously in responsible charge and sealed pertinent documents. The new Section 2832 delineates the acceptable parameters for a successor professional engineer's use or reliance upon work performed by the previous professional engineer in responsible charge. These revisions will both inform licensees of the permissible use of another professional engineer's work and ensure that the recipient of services can identify the responsible professional engineer. The Council for the Delaware Association of Professional Engineers solicited feedback from and held committee meetings with various stakeholders who contributed to drafting of this Act. The Council approved this Act.

This Act requires a landlord who provides a dwelling place to a person as part of their employment compensation to provide them with a disclosure form advising them of the conditions and requirements for occupancy and vacancy of the premises once they are no longer employed for the landlord. The disclosure must inform the tenant employee that the landlord must offer the tenant, within 5 business days of termination by the employer, the opportunity to enter into a written rental agreement, if no rental agreement is in effect already. No offer for a rental agreement is necessary if the tenant employee is terminated for cause. The landlord may condition the rental agreement on the person financially qualifying as a tenant and meeting the landlord’s income, credit, or other financial requirements for renting the unit. This Act also lengthens the time period the landlord must wait before bringing a summary possession action against a formerly employed tenant from 15 days to 30 days unless the termination is for cause.

This Act provides civil and criminal remedies for the wrongful disclosure of deep fakes that depict individuals in the nude or engaging in sexual conduct. It provides the same remedies as those available under: (1) the Delaware Uniform Civil Remedies for Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Images Act, Chapter 78 of Title 10; and (2) a Violation of Privacy offense under §1335 of Title 11. It further provides that when an adult creates a visual depiction of a minor that is nude or engaging in sexual conduct, the adult would be subject to a felony prosecution, rather than a misdemeanor prosecution.

Section 1 of this Act establishes the Legislative Hall Art and History Advisory Commission ("Commission"). The Commission is established to advise and make recommendations to Legislative Council regarding art, monuments, and historical exhibits to be displayed in Legislative Hall or on the grounds of Legislative Hall. Section 2 of this Act ensures that the Commission’s meetings are open to the public.

This Act creates a new elections crime: “use of deep fake technology to influence an election.” Under this statute it would be a crime to distribute within 90 days of an election a “deep fake” – that is an audio or visual depiction that has been manipulated or created with generative adversarial network techniques, with the intent of harming a party or candidate or otherwise deceiving voters. It is not a crime, nor is there a penalty, if the altered media contains a disclaimer stating “This audio/video/image has been altered or artificially generated.” There is also provision for civil injunctive relief for a candidate depicted in a deep fake. There are various exceptions to protect speech, expression, and media rights. A violation of this statute is a class B misdemeanor unless the deepfake is intended to cause violence or bodily harm, in which case it is a class A misdemeanor, or if it is a repeat offense within 5 years, in which case it is a class E felony. Pursuant to § 5101 of Title 15, all offenses under this section are heard in Superior Court. This Substitute bill differs from original House Bill No. 316 in that it adds the caveat “if no visual disclosure is feasible” in relation to disclosures for audio-only media. It adds mobile applications, Internet websites, and streaming platforms to the exceptions under (d)(1) and (d)(2). It explicitly adds a carveout related to the liability shield of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It states that the Act is not intended to restrict the ability of a person to detect, prevent, respond to, or protect against security incidents, identity theft, fraud, harassment, malicious or deceptive activities or any illegal activity, preserve the integrity or security of systems or investigate, report, or prosecute those responsible for any such action.

This Joint Resolution directs the Division of Motor Vehicles to opt into the FMCSA’s federal exemption that allows for first time CDL applicants seeking a school bus only endorsement on their driver’s license. An applicant’s school bus only endorsement would only apply to intrastate operation of a school bus. The Division of Motor Vehicles is directed to implement this policy by May 1, 2024.

This Act implements a recommendation from the December 31, 2023, Report of the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee (RHBAS). Under this Act, the State must continue to offer eligible pensioners first employed by the State as a regular officer or employee (first employed) before January 1, 2025, a plan that is comparable to the current Special Medicfill Medicare Supplement plan. However, for eligible pensioners first employed on or after January 1, 2025, the State may offer different Medicare supplement plans that are not high deductible plans. This Act differs from the RHBAS recommendation because it does not limit the plan for eligible pensioners first employed on or after January 1, 2025, to plans that are comparable to the current Medicare supplement Plan G and Plan L. This difference is because under this Act, the State will not be able to offer a different Medicare supplement plan to any eligible pensioners until January 1, 2040, and details about the Medicare supplement plans that will be available at that time is unknown. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and to align with related legislation.