This Act makes necessary updates to Delaware Code provisions codifying procedures related to the General Assembly to bring these provisions into compliance with current practice and to make technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act makes the following substantive changes to these provisions: (1) In Section 8, repeals a procedure that, after the enactment of the Delaware Constitution of 1897, is no longer part of the legislative process. And, in Sections 17, 18, and 19 makes conforming repeals. (2) In Section 9, updates the amount of additional compensation paid to members of the General Assembly who are elected to leadership positions or appointed to serve on a joint committee, consistent with the amounts authorized under the most recent report of the Compensation Commission. (3) In Section 10, updates the amount of the stipend paid to members of the General Assembly consistent with the amount authorized under the most recent report of the Compensation Commission. (4) In Section 13, updates the process for appointing a bill clerk for the Senate and House of Representatives and the duties of the bill clerk. (5) In Section 14, removes the Passed Bill Committee (“Committee”), which has not existed since the mid-1960s. The Committee’s duties related to management and tracking of passed and enacted legislation are reassigned to the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, who have these duties currently. The Committee’s duties related to engrossing legislation are reassigned to the Division of Research, which has these duties currently. The Division is authorized to correct manifest clerical, typographical, and grammatical errors discovered in the engrossment process and required to proofread the engrossment before release to ensure an accurate engrossment of the amendment to the legislation. (6) In Section 15 and 16, changes references to “print” or “printing” to “publish” or “publication” in recognition of 21st Century methods of distributing information. (7) In Section 22, replaces the requirement that a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution be approved by two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly with a requirement that it be approved by a simple majority vote. The two-third vote requirement is unconstitutional under the Delaware Constitution because it conflicts with Section 10 of Article II of the Delaware Constitution, which provides for the passage of legislation by the concurrence of a majority of members elected to each house. The General Assembly cannot alter the requirement of a majority vote without an amendment to the Delaware Constitution. See Section 512 of Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure (2020).
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This Act provides that the Department of Correction must provide a copy of all policies relating to the accrual and forfeiture of good time to inmates, as well as a quarterly written accounting of good time credit earned and/or forfeited. The requirement that all accrued time must be forfeited upon conviction of any crime within custody, the complete forfeiture will apply only to commission of felonies. Forfeiture of good times for rule violations is changed to apply only to Class I disciplinary violations. The Act also updates § 4322 of Title 11 to allow dissemination of Department of Correction policies and procedures to inmates and the public where such dissemination would not endanger safety or security of a correctional facility, corrections staff, inmates, or the public.
This Act clarifies that of the 6 members of the Delaware Native Species Commission (Commission) that represent stakeholder commercial interests, such as land development, farming, and business, no more than 2 members can represent the same commercial interest. This legislation is necessary for the Commission to have the relevant expertise and perspectives for its work.
This Act renames the Claymont Regional Transportation at First State Crossing in Claymont, Delaware as the "Harris B. McDowell, III Transportation Center" after Senator Harris B. McDowell, III, the longest serving member of the Delaware General Assembly.
The Joint Resolution directs the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and Division of Public Health (DPH) to conduct After Action Reviews to assess the State’s pandemic response. DEMA and DPH are also maintaining the ability to increase personnel and supplies as needed in response to future surges of COVID-19. Additionally, the Joint Resolution directs the Legislative and Executive branches to work together on initiatives to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Act shall be known as the “New Castle County Neighborhood Improvement District Act.” The Act assembles New Castle County resources under “one roof” to focus comprehensively on persistent, and in some cases legacy, neighborhood problems, thereby promoting the possibilities of successfully resolving systemic neighborhood problems. Summary of the Act: • The Act provides for creation of a Neighborhood Improvement District (a “NID”). • Creation of a neighborhood district provides a source of funding for enhanced services in neighborhoods that are especially in need of such services, including, for example, district-wide snow removal, district-wide trash collection, and maintenance of open space. • A primary, but not exclusive, source of funding for the enhanced services is a special assessment on non-exempt properties located within the NID, the primary beneficiaries in the neighborhood. • A NID may be initiated by submission of a voluntary petition by property owners or residents in the district, or by the County, subject to objection by at least 50%, in number, of the non-exempt specially assessed property owners in the district. • A NID will be created and is to exist for only as long as necessary to resolve problems in a neighborhood, and then, after accomplishing its goal of resolving persistent neighborhood problems, it will be subject to dissolution.
Acquiring a driver’s license is an important part of young adults in foster care achieving normalcy and eventual independence. Yet, youth in long term foster care face numerous unique barriers in this endeavor. Not only are there logistical challenges in the process of obtaining a license for teenagers not in parental care, but the automobile insurance industry’s rules can be unaccommodating and financially prohibitive. And, research shows that youth who leave foster care with a driver’s license are more likely to have a successful outcome, avoiding homelessness and incarceration, as reliable transportation is a crucial step to employment. Like Senate Bill No. 151, this Substitute Act seeks to aid youth in foster care by doing the following: (1) Establishing a pilot program within the Office of the Child Advocate (“Office”) that would pay the cost of driver education, licensure and other costs incidental to licensure, and motor vehicle insurance. (2) Prohibiting automobile insurers from using certain factors in determining a foster child’s automobile insurance rates. (3) Prohibiting the DMV from charging certain fees related to licensure for a foster child participating in the Office’s pilot program. (4) Exempting certain individuals from liability for negligence of a foster child. This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 151 as follows: (1) By directing that the Act is to be implemented the earlier of April 1, 2023, or the date of publication in the Register of Regulations of a notice by the Child Advocate that the Act is to be implemented. (2) By setting the date reports from the Office of the Child Advocate are due based on the implementation date of the Act. (3) By directing the Act to expire, or sunset, 2 years from the implementation date of the Act.
This bill ensures equal access to diaper changing tables in restrooms in public buildings regardless of the gender for which the restroom is designed.
This Act makes substantial changes to clarify and modernize § 2347 of the Workers’ Compensation Act, Chapter 23 of Title 19 of the Delaware Code, as follows: (1) Subsection (a) incorporates recent Industrial Accident Board rulings governing the frequency with which petitions to modify workers’ compensation agreements may be raised. (2) Subsection (e) clarifies pleading requirements for petitions to review, which helps the Department of Labor in docketing of Petitions and attorneys in preparing pleadings for filing. (3) Subsection (h) expands methods of service of process of petitions to permit utilization of private mail services, traditional process servers, and electronic service to respondents who are attorney represented. This subsection also explicitly defines what must be submitted to the Department of Labor as proof of service. (4) Subsection (j) codifies the process by which default or “read-in” hearings have proceeded before the Industrial Accident Board under § 2347 for over 30 years. (5) Subsection (k) clarifies whether and to what extent Workers’ Compensation Fund wage replacement benefits are available to injured workers during the pendency of petitions to review. The clarifications provided for both the Department of Labor and the claimant’s bar will streamline the process so that injured workers will experience fewer interruptions or delays in the payment of benefits than under the current law. Also included are protections for the Workers’ Compensation Fund to ensure that there are not overpayments. This Act is the product of the work of the workers’ compensation claimants bar, defense bar, and the Department of Labor, and the underlying intent of this Act is to streamline processes and limit unnecessary litigation that has occurred in recent years as a result of lack of clarity in § 2347. This Act furthers the public policy behind various changes to the Workers’ Compensation Act in the last 15 years to mitigate insurance rates for Delaware businesses while simultaneously ensuring that the interests of the State’s injured workers are protected.
Like Senate Bill No. 35, this Act defines specific violations of wage payment and collection laws under Chapter 11 of Title 19 as wage theft, providing specific penalties for these violations, and creates a new criminal offense of wage theft, with a mechanism for the Department of Labor to refer completed investigations to the Department of Justice for prosecution. Clearly defining wage theft protects Delaware workers and Delaware taxpayers from employers who pay their employees “under the table” because this practice results in lost tax revenue to this State and exposes employees to personal risk in the areas of unemployment compensation and workplace injuries. The civil penalties collected for violations that are wage theft must be used for the enforcement of wage payment and collection laws under Chapter 11 of Title 19 and prosecution of the offense of wage theft under § 841D of Title 11. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 35 differs from Senate Bill No. 35 as follows: • Clarifies that Chapter 11 of Title 19 does not apply to independent contractors. • Defines the term "independent contractor" using the same definition that is used in Chapter 35 of Title 19 and specifically identifying as "independent contractors" a person licensed by the Department of Insurance or registered under Chapter 73 of Title 6 as a broker-dealer, agent, investment adviser, or investment adviser representative. It also allows the Department of Labor to designate additional occupations as an “independent contractor” through regulations. • Does not make any changes to the definitions sections of other chapters in Title 19. • Adds terms and definitions to § 1101 of Title 19 that are used in Chapter 11, with the same definitions for the terms as would have applied under the revisions to § 101 of Title 19 in SB 35. Like Senate Bill No. 35, this Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to give criminal jurisdiction to inferior courts.