| HB 297 | Signed | D. Short | This Act amends the City of Seaford's Charter (“Charter”) as follows:
1. In Section 1, to make clear that the existing exceptions to the general requirement of advertising and competitive bidding requirements are meant to excluded from both the advertising and competitive bidding requirements established in the Charter. In addition, to create a new exception to the general requirement of advertising and competitive bidding for a purchase related to a Department of Public Works or Department of Electric project in the aggregate amount of not more than $50,000. Furthermore, to provide that an advertisement for bid is not required for a purchase related to a Department of Public Works or Department of Electric project in the aggregate amount of $50,000 to $99,999. For projects that do not require an advertisement for bid, the Director of the Department of Public Works or the Department of Electric, as applicable, shall solicit competitive, written proposals from a minimum of 3 contractors. Finally, purchases related to a Department of Public Works or Department of Electric project with an aggregate amount of $100,000 or greater continue to generally require competitive bidding and advertisement of bid.
2. In Section 2, to increase the City’s borrowing limit from $2 million to $3 million and make clear that a Councilman is not personally liable for a note issued under Section 37 of the Charter.
3. Throughout the Act, to make technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including as it relates to the drafting of lists, numbers, and amounts of money.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF SEAFORD RELATING TO FISCAL PROCEDURES. |
| HB 301 | Signed | Bentz | This Act repeals a provision in the State Employees’ Pension Plan that included participants in the Division for the Visually Impaired’s (“DVI”) Business Enterprise Program (“BEP”) in the State pension plan. BEP participants are meant to be independent blind entrepreneurs operating their own vending facilities in federal and state properties, as authorized by the Randolph-Sheppard Act (20 U.S.C. § 107 et seq.).
DVI recruits, trains, licenses, and places individuals who are blind as BEP vending facility operators on state or federal properties. Participation in BEP is under permit or contract. Participants are not State employees; including them in the State Pension Plan or payroll system does not comply with the Randolph-Sheppard Act.
This Act is a result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee's 2019 review of and task force on the Division for the Visually Impaired. The Rehabilitation Services Administration, the federal agency that monitors BEP, recommended removing blind vendors from all state pension and payroll systems.
Once enacted, this Act takes effect as of January 1, 2020. DVI removed BEP vendors from the State’s payroll system as of January 1, 2020. New applications for BEP are not pending as of the date this legislation is released. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE STATE EMPLOYEES' PENSION PLAN. |
| HB 331 | Signed | D. Short | This bill deletes an unnecessary restriction relating to amending the Sussex County budget. No similar provision is applicable to the Kent or New Castle County budget process. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SUSSEX COUNTY GOVERNMENT. |
| HB 334 | Signed | Bush | Section 1 of the Act addresses statutes under Chapter 33 of Title 12 and (i) amends section 3330 by adding subsections (c) and (d)—to make explicit in subsection (a) of section 3330 the applicability dates that were intended to be carried over from the applicability dates of the pre-2018 version of section 213 of Title 12 when, in 2018, section 213 was re-codified as subsection (a) of section 3330, and to provide a corresponding clarification of the applicability dates of subsection (b) of section 3330; (ii) amends section 3338 to specify that, consistent with the Uniform Trust Code, when a trustor is a party to a nonjudicial settlement agreement, then unless the transfer in trust is an incomplete gift for federal gift tax purposes, the trustor may not represent and bind any beneficiary other than the trustor, and—if the nonjudicial settlement agreement alters any beneficial interest in the trust—all of the trust’s beneficiaries must be parties to the agreement; (iii) amends section 3342 to parallel the changes to section 3338 under this Act—that is, to specify that, consistent with the Uniform Trust Code, unless the transfer in trust is an incomplete gift for federal gift tax purposes, a trustor, a guardian of a trustor, or an agent of a trustor under a power of attorney may not represent and bind any beneficiary other than the trustor with respect to a modification under section 3342, and to make it more clear that all of the trust’s beneficiaries must be parties to the modification; and (iv) amends the provisions of section 3343, to make subsection (a) more clear, to make section 3343’s provisions with respect to section 3313A more clear, to add within new subsection (c)(2) of section 3343 a provision allowing a trustee now excluded from exercising certain powers to be released with respect to the past exercise of such powers as though such trustee were being removed, and by adding a provision to section 3343 that an existing trustee is entitled to 30 days’ notice before changes under section 3343 become effective with respect to the existing trustee’s duties, unless the existing trustee waives the notice period.
Section 2 of the Act addresses statutes under Chapter 35 of Title 12 and (i) removes a superfluous word in section 3528; and (ii) amends subsection (a)(2) of section 3585 to make it clear that the report procedure described in that subsection may be used while the trustee is in the process of resigning (and not just after completion of the act of resignation or the effective date of a resignation)—but also conditions the use of the procedure upon the resigning or resigned trustee’s transferring assets to the appropriate successor in interest within a reasonable period of time after expiration of the period within which interested parties may file an action against the trustee under subsection (a)(2), and further provides in subsection (e) that certain actions are not barred against a trustee for administration of assets after the expiration of periods under section 3585.
Section 3 of the Act amends Chapter 47 of Title 12 (the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act) to make it clear within section 4703 that sustainable investment strategies aligning with the charitable purposes of the institution are authorized in managing the institution’s funds (thereby corresponding to recent similar amendments to sections 3302 and 3303 of Title 12).
Section 4 of the Act provides effective dates. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DECEDENTS’ ESTATES AND FIDUCIARY RELATIONS. |
| HB 335 | Signed | Bush | This Act amends Delaware’s probate code by adding a new section to provide restricted access to a decedent’s safe deposit box located in a financial institution and held in the decedent’s sole name, for the limited purpose of retrieving the decedent’s last will and declaration of last remains. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO RESTRICTED ACCESS TO SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES FOR RETRIEVAL OF DECEDENT’S LAST WILL AND DECLARATION OF LAST REMAINS. |
