Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 375

FORMERLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 486

AS AMENDED BY

HOUSE AMENDMENT NOS. 2, 3 & 4

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 11 AND 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGE LICENSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE (Three-fifths of all members elected to each house thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. Amend § 3132, Title 16, Delaware Code by adding “except for a certified copy of a marriage license/certificate,” to paragraph “(a)” after “a certificate or record,”.

Section 2. Amend § 3132, Title 16, Delaware Code by inserting a new paragraph “(b)” to read as follows:

“(b) The fee charged for each certified copy of a marriage license/certificate shall be $25. This fee shall be collected by the Bureau of Vital Statistics or the Clerk of the Peace, whichever agency issues the certified copy. Each Clerk of the Peace and the Bureau of Vital Statistics shall file a semi-annual report of the fees collected with the Department of Revenue and shall deposit $15 from each fee for a certified marriage license/certificate copy into the Domestic Violence Fund, to be administered by the Criminal Justice Council. The Criminal Justice Council shall receive 5% of the annual revenues generated by the fee for administrative costs.”.

Section 3. Amend § 3132, Title 16, Delaware Code by changing the current paragraphs “(b)”, “(c)”, “(d)”, and “(e)” to paragraphs “(c)”, “(d)”, “(e)”, and “(f)”.

Section 4. Amend § 8704, Title 11, Delaware Code by adding a new section “(10)” to read as follows:

“(10) Allocate funds resulting from the certified copy fees for marriage license/certificates, pursuant to §3132(b), Title 16, Delaware Code. Monies resulting from the copy fees shall constitute The Domestic Violence Fund. The Fund shall be administered by the Criminal Justice Council and shall be used to make grants to programs providing direct services to victims of domestic violence and submit an annual report each fiscal year to the Legislature delineating how and where the funds collected were spent. The Criminal Justice Council shall publish a Domestic Violence Fund, Request for Proposals, once a year and provide annual grants to eligible programs. The Domestic Violence Coordinating Council will participate in the review of grant applications. To be eligible to receive funds under this section, a domestic violence program must meet the following requirements:

(a) It shall have been in operation on the preceding July 1 and shall continue to be in service;

(b) It shall offer direct victim services; and

(c) It must be a non-profit corporation.”.

Approved July 16, 2008