| HB 35 w/ HA 1, HA 1 to HA 1, HA 2 to HA 1 + SA 2 | Signed | B. Short | This bill sets forth a framework for the licensing, regulation and inspection of business establishments that provide massage and bodywork services. This bill places oversight of any business offering massage services in the hands of the Board of Massage and Bodywork. Specifically, it defines “massage establishment,” and grants authority to the Board of Massage and Bodywork to grant or deny licensure of such establishments and adopt regulations pertaining to the licensure, maintenance and standards to be applied to such establishments. It provides authority for the Division or Professional Regulation to inspect such establishments without any advance notice or concurrent criminal investigation. This bill imposes criminal and civil penalties, including injunctive relief, fines, and imprisonment, for the unlicensed practice of massage and bodywork and the operation of an unlicensed massage establishment. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE BOARD OF MASSAGE AND BODYWORK. |
| HB 47 w/ HA 1, HA 2 + SA 1 | Signed | Yearick | This bill removes the notary requirement for requests for absentee ballots. Delaware is the only state that requires a notary to authorize a voter's affidavit for an absentee ballot. In some cases, the potential voter may have to pay for the notary and Delaware essentially charges them to vote. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ABSENTEE VOTING. |
| HB 77 | Signed | B. Short | This legislation authorizes the Department to operate its principal office in the Dover area and an additional branch office in Sussex County.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE OFFICES. |
| SB 40 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Bushweller | This legislation adopts the NAIC’s Corporate Governance Annual Disclosure Model Act, and requires Delaware-domiciled insurers to provide to the Commissioner on an annual basis a summary of the insurer’s or insurance group’s corporate governance structures, policies and practices to permit the Commissioner to gain and maintain an understanding of the insurer’s corporate governance framework. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COMPANY DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS. |
| HB 133 | Signed | Jaques | This bill would create an end date for the special filing deadline created by school board vacancies that arise after the second Friday in February. The new end date for these vacancies would be the first Friday in March. Any vacancies that arise after the first Friday in March would be filled by the remaining members on the School Board for the remainder of the fiscal year. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS. |
| HB 137 | Signed | Viola | This bill eliminates the conflict between Section 2047, which requires a voter to vote at the polling place where he or she currently resides, and Section 4941, which enables a voter to vote where he or she formerly resided. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS |
| HB 135 | Signed | Viola | This bill eliminates the "10-day hold" before registering a voter who is eligible to vote. This bill also allows the Department in lieu of the Board to remove voters who no longer reside in Delaware. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS. |
| HB 138 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Viola | This bill replaces the National Change of Address process with another non-discriminatory process of cancelling the registrations of persons who are no longer permanent residents of Delaware. It also gives the Department of Elections, instead of the State Board of Elections, the authority to cancel registrations of persons who authorize the cancellation of their registrations because they are no longer permanent residents of Delaware. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS. |
| HB 139 | Signed | Jaques | This bill allows the election cycle regarding contributions from political parties and political action committees to reset after the Primary Election as it does for other contributors. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS. |
| HB 145 | Signed | Paradee | ABLE accounts are special savings accounts established for certain persons with disabilities. This bill clarifies the treatment of funds in an ABLE account upon the death of a designated beneficiary. Specifically it prohibits State agencies or instrumentalities from clawing back from the ABLE account any funds it has expended on behalf of a designated beneficiary. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ACHIEVING A BETTER LIFE EXPERIENCE SAVINGS ACCOUNTS. |
| SB 75 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Richardson | This Act updates Delaware's human trafficking crime to prohibit the same acts that are included in the federal Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TRAFFICKING OF AN INDIVIDUAL, FORCED LABOR, AND SEXUAL SERVITUDE. |
| HB 168 | Signed | Jaques | This bill eliminates the outdated provisions relating to mobile registration while maintaining the right of any person to register to vote at any county office of the Department of Elections. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS. |
| HB 190 w/ HA 1, HA 3, HA 4, HA 5, HA 6, HA 7 | Signed | Osienski | This Act, which shall be known as the Coastal Zone Conversion Permit Act, makes changes to the Coastal Zone Act (“CZA”), which has not been significantly updated since its enactment almost a half century ago. The CZA, enacted in 1971, has enabled Delaware to preserve and protect our coastline, one of Delaware’s greatest natural resources. However, the CZA has also allowed property that has been in use by heavy industry for nearly 50 years, most suitable for similar industrial uses, to go unused unless the owner is willing to engage in the same heavy industry use or to use the property for manufacturing.
This Act establishes a procedure to allow for the responsible, productive reuse of the 14 existing sites of heavy industry use within the coastal zone. Specifically, this Act provides that the Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (“Secretary”) may issue a conversion permit entitling the owner, operator, or prospective purchaser of an existing heavy industry use site operate an alternative or additional heavy industry use at a heavy industry use site.
A conversion permit may also be sought for a heavy industry use site that had a docking facility or pier for a single industrial or manufacturing facility at the time the original CZA was passed in 1971, to engage in the bulk transfer of products produced in or used by a facility in the coastal zone. Agricultural products in bulk may also be transferred without regard to origin or destination pursuant to a conversion permit. Liquefied natural gas terminals or transfers are not allowed under this provision. The CZA already contains an exception from the definition of “bulk product transfer facility” for “a docking facility or pier for a single industrial or manufacturing facility for which a permit is granted or which is a nonconforming use,” and that exception is maintained in this Act.
A person applying for a conversion permit must submit a written application including all of the information currently required for a permit under the CZA in addition to the following: (1) the environmental impact and economic effect of the existing or previous heavy industry use or uses, (2) the environmental impact and economic effect of the alternative or additional heavy industry use or bulk product transfer activity, (3) the net environmental improvement, economic improvement, or both, inherent in the additional or alternative heavy industry use or bulk product transfer activity as compared to the most recent heavy industry use, (4) evidence of compliance with the Delaware Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act (“HSCA”) and other environmental laws, (5) a sea-level rise plan, (6) an offset proposal required to more than offset the negative environmental impacts of an activity, consistent with regulations, (7) a timetable for the conversion from the existing heavy industry use to the alternative or additional heavy industry use or bulk product transfer activity, and (8) evidence of financial assurances.
Together, these additional requirements will ensure the coastal zone is protected while providing more flexibility for viable economic use to these 14 existing sites of heavy industry use.
This Act specifies that the Secretary may not grant a conversion permit to operate any oil refinery, basic cellulose pulp paper mill, incinerator, basic steel manufacturing plant, or liquefied natural gas terminal not in existence on June 28, 1971.
All conversion permit applications under this Act are subject to a public hearing. The Secretary must respond to an application for a conversion permit within 90 days of receiving an application. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE COASTAL ZONE ACT. |
| HS 1 for HB 80 | Signed | Paradee | This Act replaces existing Chapter 83 of the Delaware Insurance Code and sets forth the permissible uses of credit information in rating personal insurance. This Act also prohibits insurance companies from increasing rates on current customers solely for having reached the age of 75 or above or for having a change in marital status due to the death of a spouse.
This Act is substituted for House Bill No. 80 and differs from House Bill No. 80 by removing the required and optional rating-factors lists and the required offering of a good driver discount plan in lieu of provisions which more clearly define how insurance companies may use credit information and insurance scores in calculating their rates.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE. |
| SB 110 | Signed | Walsh | This Act removes the Colonel of the New Castle County Police Department from the Delaware Emergency Medical Services Oversight Council ("DEMSOC") and replaces the Colonel with the Chief of the New Castle County Emergency Medical Services. In 2006, the County restructured the Department of Public Safety so that the Chief of Police is no longer in charge of the paramedics. The Chief of the New Castle County Emergency Medical Services has been designated as the representative by the Colonel; however, any requests for a substitute representative with voting proxy would have to be done by the Colonel. This change thus reflects the current organization of New Castle County Emergency Medical Services but does not change the entity that has a member on DEMSOC. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES SYSTEMS. |
| HB 229 w/ HA 1 + SA 1 | Signed | Jaques | This bill concerns sick leave payout for retired State Troopers who became reemployed in public education. Specifically, this bill adds language to the code that would treat retired State Troopers the same as other educational employees as it relates to sick leave payment upon separation from educational employment. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO UNUSED SICK LEAVE UPON SEPARATION OF SERVICE. |
| HB 249 w/ HA 1, HA 1 to HA 1, HA 2 + SA 1 | Signed | Potter | An estimated 100,000 people in Delaware participate in some form of fantasy sports, whether it is a football or baseball league with their friends and family, or more recently, a daily or weekly contest against players from across the country. This legislation confirms that those contests are "games of skill" and, therefore, not a form of illegal gambling under Delaware law. It also requires operators to apply for a license and comply with some of the strictest consumer protection safeguards in the nation. Finally, the legislation subjects operators of paid fantasy sports contests to a 15% tax on their net adjusted revenues, as well as a $50,000 annual fee. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INTERACTIVE FANTASY CONTESTS. |
