This bill implements across-the-board increases to the filing fees associated with Department of Insurance filings, including for insurer Certificates of Authority, producer and adjuster licenses, annual statement filings, and rate and rule filings.
This Act is intended to implement the recommendations in the December 9, 2015 Report of the Work A Day Earn A Pay Task Force. The Act will create a Work A Day Earn A Pay Public Works Jobs Program in Delaware.
This resolution creates the Administrative Law Improvement Task Force, which is charged with reviewing Delaware’s Administrative Procedures Act and other related statutes for the purpose of making recommendations to modernize Delaware’s administrative tribunal process, including judicial review of administrative tribunal decisions and processes for disputes involving land use and real property, including the Landlord Tenant Code.
This Concurrent Resolution recognizes June 2017 as LGBTQ Pride Month in the State of Delaware.
This Act alters various fees assessed by the Delaware Secretary of State. The Act provides that most changes to the fees and taxes assessed will take effect on August 1, 2017; however increases to the maximum franchise tax and the late penalty for the filing of an annual franchise tax report shall take effect for the tax year beginning January 1, 2017, and the increase of the assumed par value multiplier for calculation of the corporate franchise tax and the authorized shares multiplier for corporations with greater than 10,000 authorized shares for calculation of the corporate franchise tax shall take effect for the tax year beginning on January 1, 2018.
This Resolution creates an Adult Use Cannabis Task Force to study issues surrounding the possible future legalization of non-medical, adult use cannabis in Delaware, including local authority and control, consumer safety and substance abuse prevention, packaging and labeling requirements, impaired driving and other criminal law concerns, and taxation, revenue, and banking issues and to submit a report to the Governor and General Assembly by January 31, 2018.
Sections 1 and 7 of this Act update from $400 to $800 the threshold which triggers the penalty for insufficient payment of estimated tax. The current threshold has been in place since 2000. Because it has not been modified in almost 20-years, the penalties generated as a result of this low threshold are often trivial amounts, which frustrate taxpayers. However, despite the penalties’ low dollar amounts, they still require significant resources to administer and resolve. Sections 1and 7 also provide for an inflation adjustment for the threshold ensuring that it will automatically keep pace with future economic trends. Section 2 of this Act increases tax rates in all existing brackets by 0.15 to 0.4 percentage points and creates a new bracket of 6.95% at $150,000. Section 3 of this Act raises the eligibility age from 60 to 65 in one-year increments over a five-year period for the $12,500 exclusion from income of pensions and other retirement income. Section 4 of this Act eliminates itemized deductions and increases the standard deduction amount from $3,250 to $5,000 for single and married taxpayers filing separately and from $6,500 to $10,000 for taxpayers filing joint returns. In addition, Section 4 reduces from $110 to $85 the amount of the personal credit. Lastly, Section 4 raises the eligibility age from 60 to 65 in one-year increments over a five-year period for the extra, age-based personal credit. Sections 5 and 6 of this Act update cross references.
This Act provides for the expense of State government after June 30, 2017, on a temporary basis as appropriated under the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget and for granting authority to continue appropriation lines in the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget, the Fiscal Year 2017 Bond and Capital Improvements Act, and the Fiscal Year 2017 Grants-in-Aid Act.
This Act provides judicial economy in the disposition of Driving Under the Influence (“DUI”) offenses by providing a trial for misdemeanor DUI offenses only in the Court of Common Pleas. This Act permits the Justice of the Peace Court to accept guilty pleas and first offender elections. This Act also requires that any offense properly joined with a DUI offense remains so joined for the purpose of trial. Under current Delaware law, all cases are initiated in the Justice of the Peace Court for the purposes of setting bail. On June 30, 2017, the State’s ability to transfer these cases, provided by House Bill 277 of the 147th General Assembly, sunsets. Thereafter, in matters over which the Justice of the Peace and the Court of Common Pleas have concurrent jurisdiction, only the defendant has a statutory right and mechanism (11 Del. C. § 5303) to transfer to the Court of Common Pleas. A single track for the disposition of DUI offenses also provides a mechanism for all DUI offenders to be considered for the specialized, treatment-focused post-adjudication “DUI Court” in the Court of Common Pleas.
This Act replaces the current multistate nurse licensure compact with an enhanced version. The enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact allows for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to have one multistate license, with the privilege to practice in their home state and other compact states. Under the enhanced version, all nurses practicing under a multistate license must meet a minimum set of licensure requirements, including a fingerprint federal criminal background check. Nurses who fail to meet these requirements will not be eligible for a multistate license, and multistate privileges will be removed from nurses when disciplinary actions are taken against a home state multistate license. If Delaware fails to enact the enhanced nurse multistate licensure compact, Delaware nurses with current multistate licenses will no longer be permitted to practice in states that have enacted the enhanced version. Currently, 13 states have adopted this enhanced Compact and legislation to adopt it is pending in 15 other states.
