Sen. Jack Walsh

This Act amends §137, Title 17 of the Delaware Code to allow for right of way acquisitions to commence upon the approval of final right of way plans on a parcel by parcel basis. This will improve project delivery by allowing acquisitions on finalized parcels to begin earlier. This Act also adds a requirement for notification to adjoining property owners when parcels with minimal independent utility are available for disposal. This Act amends the reporting date for properties being held for projects, properties deemed surplus, and for excess and unmarketable properties to be submitted by the end of the calendar year, which aligns it with other reporting requirements. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual including moving the series of purposes and means for acquiring property or property rights in paragraph § 137 (a)(1) to a list to make the meaning clearer and easier to cite to.

Presently there is no licensure mechanism in place in Delaware for elevator mechanics. This Act creates a new chapter in Title 24 and establishes a regulatory State Board of Elevator Mechanics consisting of 5 members appointed by the Governor including 1 public member, 1 member representing the elevator industry,1 member primarily engaged in elevator repair or maintenance, 1 representing elevator inspection, consulting or engineering firms, and 1 representing a labor organization for elevator mechanics and apprentices. The Board has the responsibility of formulating rules and regulations consistent with the APA under Title 29. The Board, under its rules and regulations, will establish standards for licensure, as a master elevator mechanic and journeyman elevator mechanic and continuing education requirements. The Act sets forth grounds for discipline including suspension and revocation of a license. A finding that an individual has been found guilty of performing elevator mechanical work without a license, or under false pretense of being licensed, is a misdemeanor subject to monetary fines by the justice of the Peace court. There is a grandfather exception for individuals that have master electrical special elevator licenses at the time of enactment. The implementation date is the earlier of 6 months after enactment or when the Registrar of Regulations has been provided notice that rules and regulations have been promulgated.

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.

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.

Senate Bill No. 208 clarifies that an employer is liable to an employee for liquidated damages if the employer does not make wages available on the next payday after an employee quits, resigns, is discharged, suspended, or laid off. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 208 revises these clarifications so it is clear which sections of existing law, §§ 1104 and 1107 of Title 19, provide the basis for an employer to have reasonable grounds to dispute that an employee is owed wages, and like SB 208, does not make any changes to existing law regarding when an employer may withhold or divert any portion of an employee’s wages: 1. Section 1104 of Title 19 requires that in a dispute over the amount of wages, the employer must pay all wages conceded by the employer to be due and the employee may pursue a claim for any balance claimed. 2. Section 1107 of Title 19 prohibits an employer from withholding or diverting any portion of an employee’s wages unless required or empowered to do so by state or federal law. Since 1979, Regulation 1328 of Title 19 of the Delaware Administrative Code has provided that an employer may, under written agreement, withhold wages for a cash advance or the value of goods and services, but withholding wages for damaged or unreturned property is a violation of § 1107 of Title 19. Specifically, Senate Substitute No. 1 for SB 208 differs from SB 208 by doing the following: 1. In subsection (a), includes the changes from Senate Amendment No. 1 to SB 208, which clarify the manner that final wages earned by a former employee must be provided and a date by which that payment must be made. The date by which an employer must pay final wages changes current law by extending the time, allowing an employer to make this payment the later of the next regular pay cycle or 3 days after the last day the employee worked. 2. In subsection (b), clarifies that §§ 1104 and 1107 of Title 19 provide the reasonable grounds that may be a basis for an employer to dispute that an employee is owed wages. 3. In subsection (c), revises the correction of the grammar in existing law so that it is clear that an employer is not in violation of Chapter 11 of Title 19 if the employer is unable to prepare payroll due to a labor dispute, power failure, weather catastrophe, epidemic, fire, or explosion. Like SB 208, this Substitute Bill also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and revises the section heading to accurately describe the content of the section.

This Act requires medical marijuana compassion centers and safety compliance facilities that have 20 or more employees to have a labor peace agreement with 1 more bona fide labor organizations. This Act defines "labor peace agreement" as an agreement between an employer and a labor organization that, at a minimum, includes all of the following: 1. Prohibits the labor organization and members from engaging in picketing, work stoppages, boycotts, or any other economic interference with the business of the employer. 2. Prohibits the employer from disrupting efforts by the bona fide labor organization to communicate with and attempt to organize and represent employees. 3. Provides the labor organization access at reasonable times to areas in which the employees work, for the purpose of meeting with employees to discuss their right to representation, employment rights under state law, and terms and conditions of employment.

This Act prohibits the seller of consumer goods or services from refusing to accept cash payment, except in limited circumstances. Sales covered by this Act are those made at a retail store through an in-person transaction. The Act does not apply to sales of goods or services by electric or gas utilities, telephone, mail or internet sales, or for services provided at parking lots or garages. It creates graduated civil penalties for violations and provides consumers a private right of action to recover double damages, including consequential damages, for a second violation of the law and triple damages for subsequent violations. The Division of Consumer Protection has authority to enforce the law.