| HB 27 w/ HA 1 | Committee | K. Williams | This Act makes changes to the operating requirements for the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council.
It reduces the members required for quorum from 13 to 10. Since the quorum requirement has been reduced to less than a majority of the Council, the bill also specifies that the Council may generally take action upon the vote of a majority of members present at a meeting, but that a majority vote of the Council members is required to approve the appointment of an Executive Director. Consistent with current practice, the Executive Director has the authority to hire staff and contract for services within the limits of available funds.
The Act also revises the reporting on funds spent to be part of the annual report and include state, federal, or other funding received by the Council other than State-funded positions. At the present time, the Council does not receive state funding other than allocated personnel positions.
Finally, the Act allows the Council to have a virtual meeting with a physical location open to the public (anchor location) so long as a staff member of the Council is present at the anchor location. Without this authorization, a member of the Council would be required to attend at the anchor location in order to comply with the State’s open meeting rules. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE ANTI-TRAFFICKING ACTION COUNCIL. |
| HB 29 w/ HA 1 | Committee | Shupe | Each year, the Department of Education (Department) publishes data regarding all Delaware public schools, currently known as School Performance Data Reports (reports). These reports are available on the Department’s website as the Delaware Report Card.
This Act revises current law to correspond with and codify current Department practices regarding these reports as follows:
• Changes the term “Education Profile” to “education-related data” to reflect the broad range of data that the Department publishes, in addition to the annual reports required under existing State and federal law.
• Requires that there is a link to these reports on the school choice website.
• Requires that these reports continue to include proficiency rates.
In addition, this Act requires that the Department do all of the following:
• Provide a link to these reports on the home page of the Department’s website.
• Include a list of a career pathways offered at a high school in these reports.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual which includes revisions to clarify repetitive, confusing, or contradictory language. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DELAWARE PUBLIC EDUCATION PROFILES. |
| HB 33 w/ HA 1 | Committee | Romer | This Act allows criminal charges of using, consuming, or possessing other than a personal use quantity of a marijuana or other substance containing tetrahydrocannabinols and charges of public consumption of the same, where the offense is committed in the City of Newark by a person over 18 years of age, to be heard initially at either the Alderman’s Court or in the Court of Common Pleas. This Act likewise allows a civil violation for a person under the age of 21 using, consuming, or possessing a personal use quantity of a marijuana or other substance containing tetrahydrocannabinols to be heard initially at the Alderman’s Court where the violation is committed in the City of Newark by a person over 18 years of age. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES IN THE CITY OF NEWARK. |
| SB 42 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Paradee | After enactment of Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 174 of the 152nd General Assembly (Chapter 446 of Volume 84 of the Laws of Delaware), it was discovered that Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 174 would, if implemented, jeopardize the qualified federal tax status of the Delaware Public Employees Retirement System by giving individuals who are Justices of the Peace, Commissioners of the Superior Court, Family Court, and Court of Common Pleas (“Commissioners”), and Magistrates in Chancery (“Magistrates”), as of the effective date, an election to participate in the Judicial Pension Plan at a different rate of pre-tax contribution than presently required for those individuals under the State Employees’ Pension Plan (3% or 5%, depending on start date). Based on this information, the Board of Pension Trustees voted unanimously on December 10, 2024, to delay implementation of Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 174.
This Act does the following:
(1) Revises § 5601 and 5605 of Title 29 to allow for Justices of the Peace, Commissioners, and Magistrates who first qualify for the State Judicial Pension Plan on the effective date of this Act to elect to remain in the State Employees’ Pension Plan or participate in the State Judicial Pension Plan at the same pre-tax rate each individual was contributing under the State Employees’ Pension Plan (3% or 5%).
(2) Sets the mandatory pre-tax contribution rate of any subsequently appointed State judicial officer at 5%. Any Justice of the Peace, Commissioner, or Magistrate as of the effective date who is appointed to a new position within the state judiciary after the effective date of this Act will also be subject to the mandatory 5% contribution rate.
(3) Delays the effective date of Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 174 until January 26, 2025, the effective date of this Act. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE AND CHAPTER 446 OF VOLUME 84 OF THE LAWS OF DELAWARE RELATING TO PENSIONS FOR THE STATE JUDICIARY. |
| SJR 1 | Signed | Hansen | Senate Joint Resolution No. 3 was passed by the 152nd General Assembly and signed by the Governor. SJR No. 3 directed all electric utilities in Delaware that offer net metering to solar customers to participate in a cost-benefit study and analysis of net metering in Delaware being undertaken by the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility to address issues such as cost burdens and cost shifting to non-solar customers. The DESEU was to issue a report by December 31, 2024. However, due to the scope and complexity of the net metering study, the DESEU requires additional time to issue the report. This resolution reinstates the requirements of SJR No. 3 and extends the DESEU's reporting deadline to complete the cost-benefit study and analysis and finalize and issue a report to April 30, 2025. | DIRECTING ALL ELECTRIC UTILITIES IN DELAWARE THAT OFFER NET METERING TO SOLAR CUSTOMERS TO CONTINUE TO PARTICIPATE IN A COST-BENEFIT STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF NET METERING,
INCLUDING COST BURDENS AND COST SHIFTING, UNDERTAKEN BY THE DELAWARE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY UTILITY, AND EXTENDING THE REPORTING DATE. |
| SCR 4 | Passed | Brown | This Concurrent Resolution honors and recognizes the leadership and achievements of African Americans and urges the celebration of Black History Month. | HONORING THE LEADERSHIP AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AND URGING THE CELEBRATION OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH. |
| SCR 10 | Passed | Poore | This resolution recognizes January 2025, as “National Blood Donor Month” in the State of Delaware.
| RECOGNIZING JANUARY 2025, AS “NATIONAL BLOOD DONOR MONTH” IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
| SCR 11 | Passed | Lawson | This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes February 4, 2025, as "USO Day" in the State of Delaware and honors USO Delaware for its important and inspiring work supporting military members and their families. | RECOGNIZING FEBRUARY 4, 2025, AS "USO DAY" IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
| SB 50 | Signed | Walsh | This Act amends the Fiscal Year 2025 Bond and Capital Improvements Act to (1) authorize local bond shares to adjust for William Penn High School in the Colonial School District. Further, this Act amends Fiscal Year 2025 Bond and Capital Improvements Act to (2) authorize the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, with concurrence of the Controller General and the Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Capital, to transfer any necessary spending authority from the Cultural Access Fund; (3) revise allocations to the City of Dover and Downtown Dover Partnership; (4) revise the allocation for the University of Delaware for Deferred Maintenance from Laboratories to Campus Improvements; (5) revise the State and Local share allocations for the Smyrna Roof Replacement project and authorizes School Construction Market Pressure to be transferrable between Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 to achieve allocations; (6) adjust School Safety and Security funding from the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Delaware State Police, Special Investigation to reflect State Bureau of Identification; (7) removes the requirement of school districts and charter schools to obligate prior fiscal year MCI funds prior to utilizing Enhanced MCI; (8) authorize the transfer of any remaining funds from Legislative Hall major and minor capital improvement appropriations to be used for the Legislative Hall Garage/Expansion project; (9) authorize the transfer of any remaining funds from the Domestic Violence Coordinating Feasibility Study to the Criminal Justice Council for Family Justice Center startup costs; (10) authorizes the transfer of funds allocated for the Scannell Readiness Center and up to $500,000 of available Minor Capital Improvements to cover the project for the Bethany Beach Training Barracks; (11) authorizes funds from Capital School District’s Certificate of Necessity (CN 2113A) to be used to support new facilities for the Kent County Community School and Kent County Secondary ILC; (12) authorize the Department of Transportation to use Community Transportation Funds for one-time reimbursements for various projects; (13) reprograms funding from the Community Redevelopment/Reinvestment Fund from Downtown Milford, Inc. to the Delaware State Fair, the Milford District Fee Public Library Commission, and Kent Sussex Industries; (14) authorize the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to perform an adaptive reuse study for the Delaware State Police Troop 7; and (15) remove the deadline date requiring Sussex County Council to adopt § 6961, Title 9 of the Delaware Code. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAWS OF DELAWARE RELATING TO THE BOND AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS ACT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE AND CERTAIN OF THEIR AUTHORITIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2025. |
| SCR 8 | Passed | Lockman | This resolution recognizes January 2025, as “National Mentoring Month” in the State of Delaware. | RECOGNIZING JANUARY 2025, AS “NATIONAL MENTORING MONTH” IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
| SCR 14 | Passed | Townsend | This concurrent resolution re-establishes the Student Behavior and School Climate Task Force. | RE-ESTABLISHING THE STUDENT BEHAVIOR AND SCHOOL CLIMATE TASK FORCE. |
| HA 1 to HB 33 | Passed | Romer | This amendment to House Bill No. 33 clarifies that the Alderman's court may hear cases brought under an ordinance of the City of Newark that criminalizes or imposes a civil penalty for conduct that would constitute a crime or civil violation under Title 16, Section 4764 of the Delaware Code when the person charged is 18 years of age or older. This amendment further clarifies that the Alderman's Court and Court of Common Pleas shall have concurrent jurisdiction of crimes charged under a Newark ordinance criminalizing conduct that would constitute a violation of Section 4764(b) or (d), and the Alderman's Court and Justice of the Peace Court shall have concurrent jurisdiction over civil violations charged under a Newark ordinance imposing a civil penalty for conduct that would constitute a violation of Section 4764(c). | |
| SCR 9 | Passed | Poore | This resolution recognizes January 2025 as “Tobacco Use Awareness Month” in the State of Delaware, affirms the importance of educating and protecting Delawareans from the harmful effects of tobacco use, encourages collaboration among schools, health advocates, and community organizations to combat tobacco use, and highlights the State of Tobacco Control Report as a leading resource in enacting effective policies to reduce tobacco use. | RECOGNIZING JANUARY 2025 AS "TOBACCO USE AWARENESS MONTH” IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
| HA 1 to HB 29 | Passed | Ross Levin | This Amendment requires that the DOE include in education-related data that the DOE must publish online, information relating to girls, boys, and co-ed sports and other extracurricular activities. | |
| HA 1 to HB 27 | Passed | K. Williams | This amendment adds a retired judicial officer with knowledge of human trafficking to the membership of the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council.
This amendment also makes technical corrections to conform with the Legislative Drafting Manual. | |
| SCR 16 | Passed | Sokola | This Concurrent Resolution requests an advisory opinion of the Justices of the Delaware Supreme Court regarding whether a Delaware Governor can withdraw nominations submitted by the preceding Governor that otherwise are properly before the State Senate. | REQUESTING AN ADVISORY OPINION OF THE JUSTICES OF THE DELAWARE SUPREME COURT REGARDING THE VALIDITY OF GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATIONS BEFORE THE DELAWARE STATE SENATE. |
| SCR 15 | Passed | Hoffner | This concurrent resolution designates February 2025 as “Turner Syndrome Awareness Month” in the State of Delaware. | DESIGNATING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2025 AS “TURNER SYNDROME AWARENESS MONTH” IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
