This Act prohibits municipal ordinances that require the eviction of tenants for criminal activity by a tenant, member of the tenant's household, or a guest. This Act does not change a landlord's ability to exercise discretion and evict a tenant for criminal activity or other material lease violations under § 5513 of Title 25 and is consistent with, and avoids conflicts with, the protections for victims of domestic abuse, sexual offenses, or stalking under § 5316 of Title 25. This Act is a recommendation of the African American Task Force, established under Senate Bill No. 260 (150th General Assembly). In addition, the 2020 Statewide Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, a report produced by the Delaware State Fair Housing Consortium, lists the removal of crime-free housing ordinances and legislation banning such ordinances as one of its goals for ensuring that people within the protected classes have equal access to housing. Currently, at least 6 municipalities in Delaware have crime-free housing ordinances. Generally, these ordinances require landlords to include an addendum on their lease agreements prohibiting a tenant, member of the tenant’s household, or a guest from committing a criminal activity within a specified distance of their unit. If a tenant, member of the tenant’s household, or a guest commits a certain number of criminal activities within a specified time period, the landlord must initiate eviction proceedings. If a landlord does not file to evict the tenant, the landlord may lose their rental license. Crime-free housing ordinances are problematic for the following reasons: 1. The definition of criminal activity is generally vague and open to interpretation, and may include low-level offenses such as trespassing, loitering, and disorderly conduct. 2. The standard for what is considered criminal activity does not require an arrest or conviction, and instead, can consist of merely an allegation or contact with the police. 3. These ordinances penalize victims of crime for seeking help from the police. 4. These ordinances can result in evictions of tenants based upon racially motivated complaints by neighbors. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a charter issued to a municipal corporation.
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This Senate Concurrent Resolution proclaims Monday, June 12, 2023, as “Women Veterans Day” in the State of Delaware.
This Concurrent Resolution recognizes June 15, 2023, as "Delaware Elder Abuse Awareness Day" and encourages all of Delaware's citizens to learn about how to protect and nurture our elderly citizens.
This bill repeals the requirement that the Housing Director provide notice of the allocation of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Housing Development Funds to the state senator, the state representative, and the chief executive officer of the local jurisdiction in which the project receiving the allocation is located. These notification requirements are duplicative of federal requirements to notify a jurisdiction’s chief executive officer of an allocation of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Additionally, such notification requirements are considered to be impediments to fair housing choice. The 2011 and 2020 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice reports, identified the notification requirements as impediments to fair housing. The reports were jointly prepared by Delaware State Housing Authority and local governments that receive HUD funding in fulfillment of their obligation to conduct fair housing planning. Furthermore, the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), a nonpartisan organization that represents state housing finance agencies, discourages the use of notification requirements in their 2017 Recommended Practices in Housing Credit Administration report.
This is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to conserve, protect and maintain Delaware's natural resources, including its water, air, soil, flora, fauna, ecosystems and climate. This Amendment would create an inherent and inalienable right for all Delawareans to a clean and healthy environment. The Amendment would also declare the State, including all of its branches, agencies, and political subdivisions, as trustee of the State's natural resources. By enacting this amendment Delaware would join other States which have or are seeking similar provisions, in their respective Constitutions, creating the same inherent and inalienable rights for their citizens.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes September 2023 as "Prostate Cancer Awareness Month" in the State of Delaware.
This Act does all of the following regarding suspected human trafficking of children: 1. Ensures the sharing of information between the Child Protection Accountability Commission (CPAC) and the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council. 2. Expressly requires a multidisciplinary response to these cases, similar to child deaths and serious physical injury. 3. Even though human trafficking of children is child abuse, specifically delineates it throughout the child abuse multidisciplinary investigative response. 4. Codifies a review panel and oversight committee within CPAC for these cases, with the same authority, subpoena power, and immunities provided to the system that reviews child abuse deaths and near deaths. 5. Establishes that the Office of the Child Advocate will staff the review panel and oversight committee. This Act also makes minor technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Concurrent Resolution commends the 2023 Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year, Dana Carey, and all of the District/Charter Network Behavioral Health Professionals of the Year.
In Chiafalo v. Washington, 140 S.Ct. 2316 (2020), the United States Supreme Court made clear that states have the authority to remove or punish presidential electors who do not adhere to their obligation to vote faithfully for their parties’ candidates. This Act provides Delawareans with confidence that the votes they have cast will be honored when the Electoral College meets to decide the outcome of presidential elections by providing for the orderly operation of Delaware’s Electoral College voting process. This Act adopts the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act, which was approved 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.” This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This bill grants authority to the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to adopt regulations related to the operation of temporary nurse staffing agencies that staff temporary nurses in long-term care facilities in the State and assigns oversight within DHSS to the Division of Health Care Quality. The bill requires temporary nurse staffing agencies to (1) register annually with the Division of Health Care Quality; (2) validate the qualifications of all provided nurses provided; (3) maintain records of all provided nurses' credentials, job requirements, and required immunizations; and (4) provide all such records upon request to DHSS and to the long-term care facility where the employee is placed. The bill also requires temporary nurse staffing agencies to report annually to DHSS regarding various factors, including its employee placements, costs charged to long-term care facilities, and wages paid to temporary nurses.