| HB 13 | Signed | Potter | This bill provides Statewide consistency in the law that protects the public from dangerous dogs and clarifies that dogs may not be held potentially dangerous or dangerous for animal control enforcement or for purposes of criminal liability based solely on breed-specific criteria. Findings to deem a dog dangerous will be based on actions of the dog, or an individualized demonstration of vicious behavior. It also prohibits municipalities from enacting breed-specific ordinances or regulations. The bill deletes outdated references to the now-defunct Dog Control Panel and replaces them with reference to the Justice of the Peace Court procedure laid out in Chapter 30F of Title 16. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 11, 16, AND 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DOGS. |
| HB 20 w/ HA 1 | Vetoed | Lynn | This Act authorizes the Family Court to interview children who are involved in Protection From Abuse proceedings. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CHILD INTERVIEWS. |
| HB 41 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Lynn | In the 148th General Assembly, the state employees' pension law was amended by House Bill No. 363, as amended by House Amendment No. 1 to House Bill No. 363, to permit specified peace officers to retire at 25 years without any reduction. Specified peace officers will pay a higher employee contribution, and those who continue to work past 25 years of service will have the multiplier used in the calculation of benefits increased for the years past 25 years. This Act adds Delaware State University Police officers to the definition of "specified peace officers." | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE STATE EMPLOYEES' PENSION PLAN. |
| HB 43 w/ HA 1 + SA 1 | Signed | J. Johnson | This bill clarifies that a Department of Correction's employee who has served for 25 years with at least 20 years as a correction officer is eligible to retire at 25 years. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PENSIONS. |
| HB 51 | Signed | K. Williams | In 2016, the Legislature provided a reimbursement for teachers employed in Delaware who had to pay the 1-time licensure fee. By using "teacher", we inadvertently excluded specialists including school media specialists, school counselors, school nurses, et cetera. This Bill changes "teacher" to "educator" to include specialists and other educators. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FEES FOR EDUCATOR LICENSURE. |
| HB 62 | Signed | Outten | This Act amends the City of Harrington Charter to impose term limits on Mayor (2 terms) and Council Members (3 terms).
Further, the City Charter is amended to allow without voter approval the term on debt to be up to 40 years, which is the standard term for USDA loans; and to allow refinancing of debt without voter approval if it saves the City money by reducing the term or interest rate on the debt.
Finally, this amendment to the Charter allows financing without voter approval for debt that will not require the principal amount to be repaid.
All 3 changes have been approved by City Council Resolutions.
| AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF HARRINGTON RELATING TO CITY ELECTED OFFICES AND CITY FINANCES. |
| HB 64 w/ SA 2 | Signed | Briggs King | Mothers who give birth to monoamniotic twins are often hospitalized as early as 26 weeks into the pregnancy due to the risk of complications of having twins share a single amniotic sack. Mothers who give birth to multiples of 3 or more often have the same issue of requiring extensive medical pre-natal care. As a result, the benefits provided under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are often exhausted by the time the mother and children are discharged from the hospital. This bill provides that mothers who are full time state employees may have up to six weeks of unpaid leave following the newborn(s) discharge from the hospital even if their FMLA benefits have been exhausted. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE. |
| HB 82 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Schwartzkopf | Sections 1-4 clarify the type of supervised experience applicants are required to obtain in order to be qualified for licensure and eliminates the requirement that reciprocal applicants be certified by a national organization prior to being qualified for licensure. Additionally, section 2 eliminates a pending criminal charge as a basis to deny licensure.
Section 5 changes the law governing chemical dependency professionals to eliminate a pending criminal charge as a basis to deny licensure.
Sections 6-9 clarify the type of supervised experience applicants are required to obtain in order to be qualified for licensure and eliminates the requirement that reciprocal applicants be certified by a national organization prior to being qualified for licensure. Additionally, section 7 eliminates a pending criminal charge as a basis to deny licensure. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE BOARD OF MENTAL HEALTH AND CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY PROFESSIONALS. |
| SCR 7 | Passed | Pettyjohn | Commemorating the week of March 19 through 25, 2017 as Delaware Ag Week and urging all Delawareans to celebrate and to learn more about Delaware's modern agricultural industry, and to pay tribute to the farmers, the agricultural community, and the educators who provide the research and the education so vital to sustaining our agricultural industry. | COMMEMORATING THE WEEK OF MARCH 19 THROUGH 25 OF 2017 AS DELAWARE AG WEEK |
| HA 1 to HB 43 | Passed | J. Johnson | This Amendment clarifies that House Bill 363 of the 148th General Assembly was to enable all probation and parole officers including supervisors and director to retire without penalty after 25 years of service. This Amendment also places an effective date on the legislation of January 1, 2018. | |
| SCR 10 | Passed | Pettyjohn | This resolution recognizes the week of March 23 through April 3 of 2017 as Homelessness Awareness Week in Delaware. | RECOGNIZING THE WEEK OF MARCH 27 THROUGH APRIL 3 OF 2017 AS HOMELESSNESS AWARENESS WEEK IN DELAWARE |
