Sen. Brian Pettyjohn

This Act adds procedural requirements to meetings of the State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC), revises the membership of the SEBC, and requires that the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources inform State employees and retired State employees (eligible pensioners) about changes in benefits coverages affecting eligible pensioners who are receiving or eligible to receive retirement benefits under the state employees' pension plan, including proposed changes. This Act adds the following requirements to SEBC meetings: 1. If the SEBC or a subcommittee is holding a virtual meeting, the chair or vice-chair must attend at the anchor location. 2. The chair of a subcommittee must be a voting member of the SEBC. 3. The SEBC must approve a request for proposals to select a carrier or third-party administrator for the health care insurance plan for State employees or eligible pensioners during an open meeting and that the draft request for proposals must be included with the meeting notice and agenda. 4. Adds standard language for the SEBC regarding the conduct of open meetings by public bodies, including requirements for quorum and when a member designates another individual to attend a meeting. This Act revises the membership of the SEBC by doing all of the following: 1. Removes the Delaware retiree appointed by the Governor and adds 2 members who are Delaware residents eligible to receive health care insurance under Chapter 52 of Title 29 under a pension or retirement plan. The President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives each appoint 1 of these members. 2. Makes the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources a non-voting member of the Committee. 3. Changes the leadership of the SEBC so that only the Director of the Office of Management and Budget serves as chair and the vice-chair is elected annually by the members of the Committee. The vice-chair must be a voting member of the Committee and may not be a cabinet secretary or hold a position of equivalent rank in the executive branch. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act is known as the “Delaware State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC) Transparency and Accountability Act”.

This House Resolution requests that the Department of Education does all of the following to expand and support equity and inclusion in financial literacy for all students in the State of Delaware: 1. Contract with the University of Delaware Institute for Public Administration to conduct a curriculum alignment study for all local education agencies (LEAs). 2. Reports the findings of the financial literacy standards curriculum alignment study to the General Assembly no later than May 1, 2025. 3. Provides assistance to LEAs to improve implementation of existing financial literacy standards. 4. Reports its findings and recommendations to the State Board of Education, the General Assembly, and the Governor.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates July 26, 2024, as "Americans with Disabilities Act Day" in Delaware to honor the anniversary of the federal civil rights law that protects people with disabilities. The resolution does not change any laws or create new regulations but serves as a symbolic gesture to raise awareness about disability rights and inclusion. It encourages the state to inform residents about the importance of equitable treatment for individuals with disabilities and reaffirms a commitment to promoting accessibility.

This Act is a substitute for House Bill No. 147. Like House Bill No. 147, this Act provides a mechanism for the nonprobate transfer of real estate. This is done by permitting an owner of an interest in real estate to execute and record a transfer on death (TOD) deed designating a beneficiary who will automatically receive the real estate on the owner's death without a probate procedure. During the owner's lifetime the beneficiary of a TOD deed has no interest in the real estate and the owner retains full power to transfer or encumber the real estate or to revoke the deed. Like House Bill No. 147, this Act adopts the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act authored by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act has been enacted in 18 states (including Virginia) and the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a substantially similar law has been enacted in 11 states. The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act is pending before 3 state legislatures and has been enacted in New Hampshire and Utah this year. This Act differs from House Bill No. 147 as follows: (1) By making clear that a transfer of death deed takes precedence over any contrary instruction in a will to transfer the same property. (2) By making clear in the optional forms included in this Act, which may be used to create a transfer on death deed or revoke a transfer on death deed, that a transferor is a grantor and a beneficiary is a grantee. This change is made to assist the Recorders of Deeds in integrating the forms in their computerized databases. (3) By authorizing the Registers of Wills to adopt a form to be used by a beneficiary to provide notice of the death of a person whose property has transferred to the beneficiary by transfer on death deed. (4) By authorizing a beneficiary to file with the Register of Wills the death certificate of a person whose property has transferred to the beneficiary by transfer on death deed. (5) By making abundantly clear that which is already permitted under the law of this State, that a person may obtain from the Office of Vital Statistics a death certificate to establish their legal right to property and may disclose that death certificate to the Register of Wills to prove the person’s legal right to property. (6) Under Section 3 of this Act, clarifying that an individual who executed a transfer on death deed does not die seized of the property and, therefore, the property is not required to be included on an inventory and appraisal to the Register of Wills. (7) Making a clarification in § 5402 of Title 30 contained in Section 5 of this Act. (8) Delaying the effect of this Act until 90 days after its enactment into law. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to make technical corrections to the Delaware Constitution. First, this Act makes the language of the Delaware Constitution gender silent. Senate Bill No. 97 (152nd General Assembly), enacted as Chapter 42 of Volume 84 of the Laws of Delaware, directed the Code Revisors to use gender silent techniques to ensure masculine or feminine pronouns are not used in Delaware Code unless the usage requires otherwise. Thus, instead of drafting a law to say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if he or she deems him or her qualified”, following gender silent techniques the law would say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if the Governor deems the individual qualified.” This technique has the added benefit of providing clarity as many times use of multiple masculine or feminine pronouns can result in confusion as to which noun the pronouns refer. This Act would apply this same drafting technique to the Delaware Constitution. This action is consistent with the General Assembly’s amendment of the Constitution in 1999 following the adoption of a law directing the Code Revisors to gender neutralize or otherwise ensure that a solely masculine or feminine designation never occurs unless it could only apply to one gender. Second, this Act makes additional technical corrections identified by the General Assembly's Division of Research. Specifically, these technical corrections include the following: (1) Officially authorizing the headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution as the headings are contained in the “Constitution of the State of Delaware, Adopted 1897, As Amended”, as published by the Delaware Code Revisors in the Delaware Code. The headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution are not original to the Constituiton adopted in 1897. These headings were added during the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code. Since the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, publication of the Constitution has included headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution in the version of the Delaware Constitution published in the Delaware Code. Almost immediately after the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, the General Assembly began enacting new constitutional amendments with headings and amending existing Sections of the Delaware Constitution using the headings provided or making amendments to the headings provided. However, these headings were not officially authorized by the General Assembly. Consistent with § 306 of Title 1 of the Delaware Code, the intent of authorizing all headings in the Delaware Constitution is for the purpose of convenient reference, not as an interpretive tool for the courts. (2) Based on the adoption of headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution, removing existing Section numbers and relying instead on the adopted headings. (3) Consistently using the series (Oxford) comma. (4) Implementing a consistent hierarchy scheme and naming, consistent with the Delaware Code. (5) Implementing a consistent scheme for naming, capitalization, and citing of references to provisions of the Delaware Constitution. (6) Implementing a consistent scheme for numbers used for time, dates, and money by using the numerical form of the number only. (7) Capitalizing consistent with standard capitalization rules. (8) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution” with “this Article”. (9) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution becomes effective” with “May 14, 1951”, which is the date the referenced amendments took effect. (10) Removing usages of “but not limited to”. (11) Removing from § 8 of Article IV a definition providing that “Supreme Court”, as used in § 4 of Article V, means the Superior Court and replacing “Supreme Court” in § 4 of Article V with “Superior Court” for clarity. (12) Removing § 11(c) of Article VIII from the Constitution. This provision was not intended to be included in the Constitution as it was drafted as a separate bill section of the bill that proposed and concurred in the constitutional amendment creating § 11(a) and (b). It was intended to apply only to taxes or licenses fees authorized by the General Assembly but not yet effective and so not intended to be included in the Constitution. (13) Inserting the effective date of the constitutional amendment that enacted § 12 of Article VIII for clarity. (14) Correcting misspellings and misused words. (15) Making corrections to Section headings. (16) Making technical changes to § 4A of Article V, including to remove an “either” that is inappropriately used in a list of more than 2 items. (17) Removing the hyphen in “Lieutenant Governor” and “Attorney General”. (18) Changing references to “the State” to “this State”. (19) Removing usages of “said”. Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates October 12, 2024, as "National Farmer's Day" throughout the State of Delaware to recognize the contributions of local agriculture. The resolution highlights the state's significant farming history and current production, noting that agriculture is Delaware's largest land use and a major source of employment. By officially acknowledging this date, the legislation aims to raise awareness about the role farmers play in providing food and supporting the economy. The measure does not create new regulations or funding but serves as a symbolic recognition of the agricultural community.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates the week of September 15 to 21, 2024, as "Adult Education and Family Literacy Week" throughout Delaware. It is a ceremonial resolution that does not change laws or allocate funding but instead formally recognizes the importance of state programs that help adults improve their literacy and job skills. The measure highlights how these educational efforts support families and community engagement without imposing new requirements or costs.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes July 18, 2024, as the 50th anniversary of the Victims’ Compensation Assistance Program in the State of Delaware.

Maddy summaryThis legislative resolution is a formal request from the State of Delaware asking Maryland to permit the sale of certified Delaware sod within its borders. The bill does not directly change Maryland laws or affect Maryland residents; instead, it serves as a diplomatic appeal to the Maryland government to restore trade reciprocity for Delaware agricultural producers. The text argues that Maryland's current refusal to certify Delaware sod has caused significant financial losses for farmers in both states and urges the removal of these trade barriers. Ultimately, the measure aims to facilitate cross-state commerce by encouraging Maryland officials to allow Delaware-grown sod to be sold legally in the state.

This Act repeals the option of providing health care insurance to state pensioners under Medicare part C, known as a Medicare Advantage Plan. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act is known as "The Delaware Medicare Supplement Selection Act".