Sen. Brian Pettyjohn

This Act authorizes the Office of the Child Advocate and Office of the Investigation Coordinator to provide child victim data and information to the Office of Investigative Services during presentence investigations of defendants convicted of felony child abuse, endangering the welfare of a child or death of a child.

This Act codifies that the Child Protection Accountability Commission, in conjunction with the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families, is responsible for developing, maintaining, and conducting child abuse mandatory reporting, multidisciplinary response, and related trainings under this Chapter.

This resolution recognizes the Easterseals/CAI Volleyball Challenge occurring March 9 at William Penn High School and April 20 at Delaware State University, an event that raises funds for an organization providing services and support to Delawareans with disabilities and senior citizens and their families.

This concurrent resolution establishes the Classroom Behavior and School Discipline Task Force.

This is the first leg of a Constitutional Amendment to constitutionally authorize 10 days of early in-person voting in Delaware. Additionally, at least 21 in-person early voting places, with 1 being located in each State Senate District, are required. Further, this Constitutional Amendment requires all administrative or procedural laws, rules, policies, or regulations applicable to safeguarding the security of in-person voting that apply to the general election shall be applicable to in-person early voting days.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes March 5, 2024, as Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated or “Alpha Phi Alpha Day at the Capitol” in Delaware. It honors Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated as an organization that has provided a voice and a strong vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color in the State of Delaware and around the world.

This legislation closes a loophole in the current law which allows 100% of the work being completed on a jobsite to be done by workers only possessing an apprentice license. Currently, under Delaware law, an apprentice license can be acquired with little or no experience in the electrical trade. Recently the State discovered that construction on Delaware’s largest building, measuring more than 3.7 million square feet, that houses over 500 workers and received $3 million in State taxpayer dollars was being built with electrical workers not possessing the necessary licenses. When the job was shut down, the contractor had all the electrical workers acquire apprentice licenses rather than hire experienced, properly trained electricians. A similar violation was discovered at the construction site of an elementary school here in Delaware. The current law only holds the worker responsible and allows the contractor to avoid any fines. This legislation corrects that inequity by also holding the contractor responsible and subject to fines.

This Senate Joint Resolution asks the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to require irrevocable pre-construction decommissioning bonds be posted, developers commit to landfilling decommissioned turbine components in Maryland, and Aircraft Detection Lighting Systems be deployed for any offshore wind project with power transmission lines coming ashore in Delaware’s Coastal Zone as a condition of permit approval. Any permit issued without these terms will be automatically null and void.

This Act creates the Joint Committee on Oversight of Agency Regulations (“Committee”) to engage in review and oversight of regulations adopted by State agencies. Like laws in states such as Colorado and Utah, this Act does all of the following: (1) Requires that all regulations adopted by an agency between each November 1 and October 31 expire at 5:00 p.m. on the following June 30 unless the General Assembly enacts a law to remove the expiration of the regulation. (2) Establishes criteria for the Committee’s review of State agency regulations. (3) Establishes a process for the Committee’s review and oversight of State agency regulations, including the requirement of a staff report, public hearings, and Committee recommendations to the General Assembly. (4) If the Committee recommends a regulation not be allowed to expire, requires the Committee to draft and introduce a bill that removes the expiration of each regulation the Committee recommends not be allowed to expire. (5) The Committee Chair, Vice Chair, and members receive the same additional compensation as the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee.

This Act creates penalties for misrepresentation of a service animal under the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law and misrepresentation of an assistance animal under the Delaware Fair Housing Act. The language of these penalties is different because under both federal and State law, a broader range of animals must be allowed as a reasonable accommodation in housing to an individual with a disability and more disability-related information may be requested, than in places of public accommodation. However, the penalties are the same: a first violation is a civil penalty in the amount of $500 and each subsequent offense is an unclassified misdemeanor. In addition, this Act updates the terms, definitions, and requirements for assistance animals under the Delaware Fair Housing Act to align with federal law and makes corresponding changes to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code. This Act also makes corresponding changes and technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act does not require a greater than majority vote for passage because Superior Court already has jurisdictions over all criminal violations under Chapter 46 of Title 6.