This Senate Resolution pays tribute to Delaware's senior senator, Harris B. McDowell, III, upon his retirement from the Senate after some 44 years of exemplary service.
This Senate Resolution pays tribute and extends a fond farewell to Secretary of the Senate Joy C. Bower upon her retirement after 32 years of distinguished service to the Senate.
Since the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, with Delaware ratifying it in 1901, at least 15 states have added a provision to their state constitution that prohibits the denial or abridgement of equal rights under the law based on race, color, or national origin. In 2019, Delaware amended the state constitution to prohibit the denial or abridgement of equal rights under the law based on sex, but no such prohibition exists as to race, color, or national origin. This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to add race, color, and national origin to the Article I, § 21 of the Delaware Constitution to explicitly declare that protection against discrimination based on race, color, and national origin is one of Delaware's fundamental rights. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because Article XVI, § 1 of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly when the General Assembly amends the Delaware Constitution.
This Act repeals a provision in the State Employees’ Pension Plan that included participants in the Division for the Visually Impaired’s (“DVI”) Business Enterprise Program (“BEP”) in the State pension plan. BEP participants are meant to be independent blind entrepreneurs operating their own vending facilities in federal and state properties, as authorized by the Randolph-Sheppard Act (20 U.S.C. § 107 et seq.). DVI recruits, trains, licenses, and places individuals who are blind as BEP vending facility operators on state or federal properties. Participation in BEP is under permit or contract. Participants are not State employees; including them in the State Pension Plan or payroll system does not comply with the Randolph-Sheppard Act. This Act is a result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee's 2019 review of and task force on the Division for the Visually Impaired. The Rehabilitation Services Administration, the federal agency that monitors BEP, recommended removing blind vendors from all state pension and payroll systems. Once enacted, this Act takes effect as of January 1, 2020. DVI removed BEP vendors from the State’s payroll system as of January 1, 2020. New applications for BEP are not pending as of the date this legislation is released.
This Act limits the use of certain Class B firefighting foams (“Class B foams”) in Delaware. Class B foams are used to put out fires caused by flammable liquids like gasoline, oil, and jet fuel, and can be divided into 2 categories: those with PFAS chemicals and those without. PFAS chemicals include a range of chemistries with differing properties, which have been widely-used for decades in products other than Class B foams, like food packaging, carpets, and other household items, and in firefighting foam. The use of firefighting foams containing PFAS chemicals, however, is an emerging public health challenge to avoid future contamination and reduce exposure to firefighters and Delawareans. Firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals can get into water wells and drinking water supplies, and expose firefighters and others to the chemicals. More studies into the effects of PFAS chemicals are emerging; some of the health effects of exposure to certain PFAS chemicals include pregnancy complications, liver damage, and high cholesterol. The PFAS chemicals in firefighting foams must be weighed against their particularly-effective nature in fighting liquid fires when mixed with water. To that end, this Act prohibits the use of Class B foams containing intentionally-added PFAS chemicals unless the use is for fire prevention or emergency firefighting. Further, this Act permits the use of such foam for training and testing only if the facility in which the training or testing occurs has implemented containment, treatment, and disposal measures to prevent releases of Class B foams containing PFAS chemicals. This Act also makes technical changes to Part IV of Title 16, to more accurately reflect its current structure.
Delaware’s Constitution does not currently require the Governor to inform the General Assembly in advance of issuing extensions to State of Emergency Orders or any executive order extending, amending, guiding or modifying a State of Emergency Order. In that the General Assembly is a separate branch of government, serving as a necessary check on executive power, these constitutional amendments require the Governor to inform the General Assembly no later than 24 hours prior to the issuance of a State of Emergency Order Beyond 14 days, including any executive order extending, amending, guiding or otherwise modifying a State of Emergency Order. In such circumstances the Senator Pro Tempore and the Speaker of the House shall convene four members of the General Assembly, one from each caucus of the House and Senate sitting on an appropriate House or Senate Committee, to review and consider the extension, amendment, guidance or modification to any State of Emergency Order.
This Resolution proclaims June 25th, 2020 as “Korean War Remembrance Day”.
This Concurrent Resolution recognizes the class of 2020’s challenge faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Delaware
In January of 2015, the Office of Civil Rights & Public Trust was created by the Attorney General to establish a centralized office within the Department of Justice for the investigation of matters concerning civil rights enforcement and the prosecution of matters concerning violations of the public trust. This office must remain an independent entity within the Department of Justice to avoid conflicts with other Department of Justice duties and thus effectively enforce laws protecting the public trust and civil rights. Thus, this Act creates the Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust within the Department of Justice which will be separate from the other Divisions within the Department of Justice and have a Director who reports directly to the Chief Deputy Attorney General, to avoid conflicts of interest with the work of the other Divisions. This Act also clarifies the current scope of the Department of Justice’s ability to investigate and bring civil rights actions to protect the civil rights of all Delawareans.
This Act eliminates the state's portion of the realty transfer tax for closings for first time home buyers with a purchase price of $250,000 or less. The bill applies to a home buyer whose gross income is less than $45,000 or in the case of natural person joint purchasers whose combined gross income is less than $75,000.
