This bill repeals certain provisions in Title 11 relating to abortion including provisions which treat abortion differently than other medical procedures, and provisions which criminalize women and the sale of medical devices and medicines.
This Act permits an officer to refer a juvenile who is in possession of alcohol or marijuana to the Juvenile Civil Citation Program rather than issue an assessment for a monetary civil penalty. Pursuant to the Juvenile Civil Citation Program, a juvenile may be referred to counseling, treatment, or other appropriate interventions. The bill also removes a provision requiring monetary marijuana penalties to double if unpaid within 90 days.
This Act provides a senior discount for residents and non-residents 62 years of age and older, for a conservation access pass, and a life-time conservation access pass for Delaware residents, 65 years of age and older, consistent with current senior discounts for access fees to Delaware State Parks.
In order to lower the cost of energy and accelerate the adoption of community-based solar photovoltaic systems in the State, this bill eliminates current barriers to such systems and sets up a regulatory process to be implemented by the Public Service Commission with consumer protection provided by the Department of Justice. More specifically, this bill: 1. Allows for multiple types of ownership models, defined as “community-owned energy generating facilities," to exist and compete in the marketplace; 2. Increases the maximum size of these systems to 4 megawatts (MW); 3. Eliminates the requirement that all customers of a system must be located on the same distribution feeder; 4. Eliminates the requirement that all customers of a system must be identified before the system can be built; 5. Provides for the regulation of these systems by the Public Service Commission and sets forth the fee and requirements for a Certificate to Operate; 6. Provides compensation to the system owner for 10% or less of unsubscribed energy; 7. Requires each system owner to certify that it serves at least 15% low income customers; and 8. Provides that the Public Service Commission will engage in rule-making in consultation with the Consumer Protection Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice and promulgate rules and regulations by March 11, 2022.
Subchapter III, Chapter 68, Title 16 of the Delaware Code (“Subchapter III”) was originally enacted in 1982. In 1996, President Clinton signed the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1791 (“Bill Emerson Act”). The Bill Emerson Act preempts Subchapter III to the extent of any conflict, known as “partial preemption”. This Act makes Subchapter III consistent with the Bill Emerson Act by protecting a “gleaner” from civil or criminal liability as it relates to their donation of the gleaned food. Since the Bill Emerson Act only partially preempts state law on this subject, the State is free to provide greater protection than the Bill Emerson Act. Therefore, this Act does all of the following: 1. Extends to those who, in good faith, donate food to state agencies the same immunity from civil or criminal liability that is granted to those who, in good faith, donate food to nonprofit organizations. 2. Specifically includes within the definition of “food” both perishable food and wild game to makes it clear that food, in all of its forms, is covered by this Act. Thus, under this Act, those donating deer to the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Sportsmen Against Hunger program would be immune from civil or criminal liability as it relates to the donation. 3. Protects a person who, in good faith, provides services to a nonprofit organization or state agency related to the processing of wild game that is donated to a nonprofit organization or a state agency. This Act removes the exemption from liability for donation of prepared food from Title 10 so that the exemption no longer appears in both Title 10 and Title 16. The Act also clarifies the authority of Division of Public Health and Department of Agriculture relating to donated food.
This Act creates a tuition reimbursement program for volunteer firefighters, similar to already existing programs for law enforcement officers and National Guard members. Pursuant to this program, active volunteer firefighters may be reimbursed for tuition for 2 undergraduate level courses or one masters level course per semester at any Delaware college or university. The State Fire Prevention Commission is charged with promulgating rules and regulations and administering the program.
Senate Bill No. 78 enhances the qualifications for an individual to serve as a member of a school board or the State Board of Education. Specifically, this Act does all of the following: 1. Requires a prospective member of a school district board or State Board of Education to undergo the background check for child-serving entities and provides authority for the State Bureau of Identification to provide the required background check information to the appropriate entities. 2. Provides that background check information provided under this Act is not a public record under the Delaware Freedom of Information Act. 3. Requires that the Commissioner of Elections determine that an individual does not have any disqualifying convictions before the individual can be a candidate for election to a school board. 4. Requires the suspension of a member of a school board or the State Board of Education if the member is charged with a crime that would disqualify the individual from holding the position if convicted. 5. Requires the suspension of a charter school board member who is charged with a disqualifying offense. Existing law requires potential charter school board members to undergo and pass a criminal background check to serve as a charter school board member. 6. Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. The disqualifying convictions under Senate Bill No. 78 are similar to those that cause an educator to lose their license or certificate and the additional qualifications do not apply to current school board members until the expiration of the member’s current term, unless the member is charged with a disqualifying crime while serving. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 78 differs from Senate Bill No. 78 as follows: 1. Automatically suspends a member of the State Board of Education or a vocational-technical school district board if the member is charged with a disqualifying crime instead of requiring the Governor to suspend the member. 2. Imposes a 10-year period of ineligibility, instead of a lifetime bar, for someone convicted of a violent felony. 3. Removes the section making this Act effective immediately because legislation is always effective immediately, unless otherwise provided, so that section is unnecessary. Senate Substitute No. 2 for Senate Bill No. 78 differs from Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 78 and Senate Bill No. 78 as follows: 1. Changes the permanent disqualification of an individual convicted of a felony offense against public administration to a 10-year disqualification like other felonies. 2. Requires a candidate for election to a school board to have requested the background checks by the deadline to file notice of candidacy but provides the State Bureau of Identification and the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families with 15 days to provide the results of the background checks. 3. Revises § 309 to Title 31 so that background check reports required under this Act are provided to the proper entities and makes additional revisions to § 309 to Title 31 for internal consistency within the statute and for consistency with other provisions of this Act.
The intent of this Act is to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the environment and to raise awareness of the need to properly dispose of balloons. To that end, this Act imposes a civil penalty for the violation of intentionally releasing 5 or more balloons filled with air or lighter-than-air gases, to prevent litter which blights our communities and environment and causes harm to wildlife and marine animals. The release of multiple balloons at 1 time is a single offense under this Act. This Act also establishes that intentionally releasing 1 to 4 balloons at 1 time is littering. Exceptions are provided for the following: - A balloon that is released for scientific or meteorological purposes, on behalf of a governmental agency, or under a governmental contract. - A hot air balloon that is recovered after launching. - A balloon that is released and remains indoors. - A balloon that is filled with water for recreational purposes and recovered after recreation. - A balloon that is negligently or unintentionally released. Under this Act, the intentional release of 1 or more balloons is a civil violation, penalized as follows: - The first violation is subject to a civil penalty of at least $25. - A second or subsequent violation within 2 years of the first is subject to a civil penalty of $75 and up to 8 hours of community service for a second violation within 2 years of the first violation. The mass release of balloons is penalized as follows: - A first violation is subject to a civil penalty of at least $250 and up to 8 hours of community service. - A second or subsequent violation within 2 years of the first is subject to a civil penalty of at least $350 and up to 25 hours of community service. Under this Act, a retail or wholesale establishment that sells balloons must post a notice for customers that the intentional release of balloons is unlawful. All law enforcement agencies in Delaware have the authority to enforce this chapter. The Justice of the Peace Court has jurisdiction over violations of this chapter. This Act also makes a technical correction to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Substitute differs from the original Senate Bill No. 24 by doing the following: - Making clarifications to the synopsis and the notice to be posted by retail or wholesale establishments. - Providing delayed enforcement for individuals who violate the prohibition of littering with 1 to 4 balloons or the mass release of balloons on or before April 30, 2022. Persons who are not individuals, such as organizations, are subject to the penalties under this Act immediately upon the effective date of this Act. This Substitute also makes technical corrections that were missed in the original Senate Bill No. 24.
This act modifies the locations at which sheriff’s sales may be conducted to provide the sheriffs with needed flexibility and to modernize the sheriff’s sale process. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has revealed substantial inflexibility in 10 Del. C. § 4974 as currently adopted, forcing the sheriff of each of the three counties to either hold sheriff’s sales outdoors, find non-governmental venues in which to hold sheriff’s sales or cancel sheriff’s sales. Additionally, the New Castle County Sheriff is considering using an online auction process to conduct sheriff’s sales, as other counties throughout the United States have done, but § 4974 as currently adopted does not permit online sheriff’s sales. Finally, this act removes uncertainty regarding the meaning of the term “public building” as currently used in § 4974 by adopting a definition that is consistent with the Delaware Supreme Court’s definition of that term in Moore v. Wilmington Housing Authority, 619 A.2d 1166, 1174-75 (Del. 1993).
This Act allows the parent or guardian of a military-connected student to preliminarily enroll the student by remote registration in a school district where the parent or guardian is in the active military of the United States or in full-time status during active service with a force of the Delaware National Guard, if the parent or guardian is being transferred to Delaware under military orders and is transferred to or is pending transfer to a military installation within Delaware.
