| HB 12 | Signed | Kowalko | This Act strengthens the role and responsibilities of the Provider Advisory Board in regard to the implementation and enforcement of The Delaware Child Care Act. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE PROVIDER ADVISORY BOARD. |
| HB 108 | Signed | Smyk | Section 1 of this bill amends the Charter of the Town of Milton relating to purchasing contracts. Specifically, the bill: raises the monetary thresholds to be more in line with the State of Delaware, Material and Non-Professional Service Purchase Thresholds, known as policy 5.3.1; clarifies that the Town need not competitively bid again if the results were unreasonable or not independently reached; and adds a new exclusion for purchases made pursuant to the State of Delaware procurement process or from a vendor on the General Services Administration Federal Supply Schedule.
Section 2 of the bill clarifies that the Town may levy and collect property taxes on an annual and on a quarterly supplemental basis.
| AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF MILTON RELATING TO CONTRACTS AND ENUMERATION OF POWERS. |
| HB 119 | Signed | Heffernan | The bill expands the qualified agencies authorized to receive grants approved by the Water Infrastructure Advisory Council to include non-profit corporations, such as the Diamond State Sustainability Corporation (“DSSC”), approved by Public Service Commission as a regulated water or wastewater utility. As a regulated utility, the DSSC assists low and moderate income residents and communities in rural areas of Delaware by acquiring and improving community-owned water and wastewater systems, many of which are aging or at risk of failure, and providing service pursuant to Commission-approved rates. This bill also expands the definition of “treatment works” to include “domestic wastewater” projects in order to allow for grants for community septic and sewage system upgrades. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO QUALIFIED AGENCIES AUTHORIZED TO RECEIVE GRANTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL. |
| HB 128 | Signed | Jaques | This Act extends the time period for which a member of the Delaware National Guard may receive funding for certain postsecondary education tuition and fees from 10 years after the date on which the member begins the first course for which funds are granted to 15 years after that date. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DELAWARE NATIONAL GUARD EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS. |
| HS 1 for HB 123 | Signed | Seigfried | This Act allows the Public Guardian to act as a representative payee for Social Security benefits or as a VA fiduciary for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. This Act also allows the Court to appoint a guardian with limited powers, to act as guardian for specific areas of decision-making or for a specific term. By making these changes, this Act will allow the Public Guardian to serve in a more limited role where appropriate, and assist more Delawareans who need short-term assistance, such as to qualify for Medicaid in order to arrange for long-term care or to handle routine financial matters but not make decisions about the care of the person. The ability to serve in a more limited role will increase the Public Guardian's capacity to assist people while the Non-Acute Patient Medical Guardianship Task Force studies options and develops recommendations to improve non-acute patient transitions from acute care settings to more appropriate locations. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 123 differs from House Bill No. 117 by clarifying that limited guardianships can be ordered for specific purposes, the process for terminating a limited guardianship, and that the Public Guardian serves as a representative payee or VA Fiduciary of last resort. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIANS AND THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC GUARDIAN. |
| HB 151 | Signed | Griffith | This Act creates a Deputy Secretary position within the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families (“Department”) and exempts the position from the Merit System under Chapter 59 of Title 29. The Secretary of the Department may establish the powers, duties, and functions of the Deputy Secretary.
This Act removes the limit on qualified persons the Secretary of the Department may appoint as special investigators for the Department.
Lastly, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DEPARTMENT OF SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES. |
| SB 109 w/ SA 2 | Signed | Lockman | The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee approved a project to work with the Governor's Office throughout 2018 and 2019 to identify antiquated boards, commissions, and councils that need statutory updates or outright repeals. The Common Interest Community Advisory Council was identified as needing a modification to provide that the Governor’s appointments are Delaware residents, rather than members of the executive board, of a common interest community. This change will make it easier to fill Council vacancies.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE COMMON INTEREST COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL. |
| SB 110 | Signed | Lockman | The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee approved a project to work with the Governor's Office throughout 2018 and 2019 to identify antiquated boards, commissions, and councils that need statutory updates or outright repeals. The Architectural Accessibility Board was identified as needing updates to make it easier to fill vacancies and generally update language to modern legislative drafting standards.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSIBILITY BOARD. |
| SB 111 | Signed | Lockman | The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee approved a project to work with the Governor's Office throughout 2018 and 2019 to identify antiquated boards, commissions, and councils that need statutory updates or outright repeals. The Advisory Council to the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services was identified as needing updates to change terms to “up to” 3 years, remove political party balance, and make it easier to fill vacancies.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES. |
| SB 113 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Lockman | This Act results from the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee's review of the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act Fund (“HSCA Fund”). Section 1 of the Act, which will take effect on January 1, 2021, provides that the Fund's 15% cap on administrative costs expenditures must be based on the average of the moneys deposited into the Fund over a period of the previous 10 fiscal years.
The HSCA Fund tax assessment is due to expire on January 1, 2022. Section 2 of this Act removes the expiration date to ensure continued funding for the Brownfields Development Program and to address environmental liabilities assumed by the State. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE CLEANUP ACT. |
| SB 114 | Signed | Lockman | This Act corrects a technical error in House Bill No. 311 of the 149th General Assembly. HB 311 was intended to allow the grandfathering of licenses under Chapter 39, Title 24 to occur up to 2 years after HB 311 was enacted. In fact, however, HB 311's effective date allowed for only 1 year. Under this Act, the grandfathering period will be for the intended period of 2 years. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE BOARD OF SOCIAL WORK EXAMINERS. |
| SB 115 | Signed | Lockman | This Act makes updates to the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Act (“JLOSC Act”) to meet modern-day needs and practices.
First, this Act defines “highest administrative officer” to clarify that the executive branch, cabinet-level officer of an entity under review must be present at public hearings under the JLOSC Act. Other states have an equal mix of requiring the presence of the cabinet-level official, requiring the presence of the division-level leader, or not clarifying which of the 2 positions must be present. This Act contemplates circumstances under which a person other than the cabinet-level officer may be more appropriate to appear at JLOSC hearings, and therefore authorizes the officer, with the JLOSC Chair’s approval, to appoint a designee to meet the officer’s obligations, or the JLOSC Committee to designate a person other than the officer.
This Act also makes changes to specific deadlines that are out-of-step with JLOSC’s practices and needs. In doing so, this Act also clarifies language regarding JLOSC staffs’ duties and requirements for the JLOSC’s draft report.
Finally, this Act makes technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE JOINT LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT AND SUNSET COMMITTEE. |
| HB 159 | Signed | Baumbach | This Act amends the municipal Charter of the City of Newark to permit the City of Newark to provide sanitary sewer service to properties outside of the Newark corporate limits without annexing these properties. Under this Act, sewer services may be provided to properties outside of the Newark corporate limits at the request of the property owner and if approved by New Castle County and the City of Newark.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEWARK. |
| SB 134 | Signed | Poore | Under current Delaware law, the county sheriff’s offices are required to appraise goods that are being levied upon to pay debts. In addition, the sheriff’s offices can be held liable to pay the debts of a judgment debtor if, for example, they inadvertently neglect to make a return on a writ of execution. The appraisal provisions in Title 10 of the Delaware Code addressed in this act are out-of-date and impractical to implement. On the subject of the liability of the sheriff's offices, it is a questionable policy to require the sheriff’s office to pay the debt of a judgment debtor for an inadvertent mistake in handling the procedure to levy upon and sell the debtor’s property. This act repeals the appraisal provisions in Title 10 related to the sheriff’s offices. It also repeals provisions imposing liability on the sheriff’s office to pay debt obligations of debtors who fail to pay their bills, when the sheriff’s office commits an error through neglect. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO COURTS AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE. |
| SB 135 | Signed | Lockman | The Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee approved a project to work with the Governor's Office throughout 2018 and 2019 to identify antiquated boards, commissions, and councils that need statutory updates or outright repeals. The Governor's Council on Agriculture was identified as needing updates to require 7 members rather than “up to” 7 members, and to remove the party balance requirement to make it easier to fill vacancies. Consideration must given to geographical and other diversities when appointing members.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE GOVERNOR'S COUNCIL ON AGRICULTURE. |
| SB 106 | Out of Committee | Brown | This bill allows the Court to suspend an amount of the fine for uninsured driving if the defendant provides evidence that they have now secured insurance, demonstrating compliance with the law. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE REQUIREMENT OF INSURANCE FOR ALL MOTOR VEHICLES. |
| SB 107 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Brown | This bill changes the standard of proof necessary to issue a civil gun relinquishment order from the Justice of the Peace Court. The preponderance of the evidence standard is the standard traditionally used in civil matters and is, therefore, appropriate here. This also makes the standard consistent with that required for a Lethal Violence Protective Order, which is highly similar in nature. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CIVIL PROCEDURES TO RELINQUISH FIREARMS OR AMMUNITION. |
| SB 104 w/ SA 1 | Out of Committee | Brown | This bill clarifies that Probation Before Judgment (PBJ) may be entered for multiple charges arising from a single arrest. Changes to the legislation also allow for a defendant to be permitted Probation Before Judgment more than once in a five year period so long as offenses are in different titles of the Code. For example, a defendant who was granted PBJ in 2017 for speeding (title 21) would be eligible for PBJ on a title 11 charge (e.g. bad check) or title 4 (e.g. underage consumption of alcohol) in 2019.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PROBATION BEFORE JUDGMENT. |
| SB 138 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Lockman | This Act is the result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee’s review of the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education (“DACCTE”), and does the following:
- Clarifies that no more than 2 members may represent any 1 membership qualification.
- Adds 2 nonvoting members, a representative from the Department of Education and a student enrolled in a career and technical education (“CTE”) program.
- Removes the requirement that the chair represent the private sector.
- Limits the chair to 2, 5-year terms.
- Requires DACCTE to submit an annual report that includes advocacy efforts, a needs assessment for statewide CTE programming, and reports from on-site school monitoring visits.
- Requires at least 3 meetings per year take place after regular business hours and in each of the 3 counties.
- Adds quorum and member removal provisions.
- Conforms existing law to the drafting standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. |
| SA 2 to SB 109 | Passed | Lockman | This Amendment makes a technical correction and clarifies the qualifications of the members who are appointed by the Governor. | |
| HCR 51 | Passed | K. Johnson | This resolution recognizes June, 2019 as National Homeownership Month in Delaware. | RECOGNIZING THE MONTH OF JUNE, AS NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP MONTH IN DELAWARE. |
| SB 146 | Signed | Ennis | This Act authorizes the Department of Health and Social Services to transfer to the Town of Smyrna excess land around the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill, which borders on Lake Como, for $1.00. The land shall be used to expand the size of the park around Lake Como. | AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE AND APPROVE THE TRANSFER OF CERTAIN STATE OF DELAWARE OWNED REAL PROPERTY IN KENT COUNTY TO THE TOWN OF SMYRNA. |
| SA 1 to SB 107 | Passed | Brown | This amendment makes a previous section of the Delaware Code consistent with the intent of the Bill. | |
| SA 1 to SB 138 | Passed | Lockman | This Amendment corrects 2 technical errors. The first is a typographical error. The second removes reference to Career Compass as a publication of the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education ("DACCTE"), which is published by the Department of Labor. Also, although a synopsis cannot be amended, it is worth noting that the synopsis for Senate Bill No. 138 incorrectly references term limits for the DACCTE chair. Under SB 138, the chair serves at the pleasure of the Governor. | |
| SA 1 to SB 104 | Passed | Brown | This Amendment allows persons who have been adjudicated delinquent of a crime as a juvenile to be eligible for Probation Before Judgement under the provisions of this section. | |
| SA 1 to SB 113 | Passed | Lockman | This Amendment returns an expiration date for the HSCA Fund tax assessment and extends the date to January 1, 2029. | |
| SB 166 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Sturgeon | This Act encourages school districts and charter schools to cooperate to ensure that State appropriations for school transportation are used efficiently by doing the following:
1. Codifies the Department of Education's current practice of establishing a formula, with approval of the State Board of Education, to determine appropriate transportation funds for each school district and charter school and providing a percentage of that amount to the school district and charter school.
2. Permits charter schools to enter into contracts with transportation contractors for multiple years.
3. Permits charter schools to collaborate with other local education agencies to publically bid transportation routes, to establish the safest and most cost-effective bus routes available.
4. Allows school districts and charter schools to purchase and provide annual bus passes for students to use on fixed route public transit to address the short supply of public school bus transportation.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND TRANSPORTATION. |
| HCR 53 | Passed | Dorsey Walker | This House Concurrent Resolution recognizes the month of June 2019 as “Caribbean American Heritage Month” in the State of Delaware. | RECOGNIZING JUNE AS “CARIBBEAN AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH” IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
