Of the 41 states with a state income tax, 27 states fully exempt military retirement pay from state income taxes and 12 states partially exempt military retirement pay. In 2022, Delaware increased the pension exclusion for military pensioners under 60 to $12,500, and in 2024, Delaware expanded the definition of a United States military pension to include a pension received for an individual’s service in the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and clarified that the armed forces of the United States includes the Space Force and Coast Guard. This Act phases in, over 3 years, an increased exemption for military pensions from state income taxation, regardless of age, which is currently $12,500, so that in taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2029, the exemption will be $25,000 for all military pensioners.
This Act adds a new paragraph (c) to § 137 of Title 16, which provides that the Attorney General shall use the Delaware Health Fund to enforce and litigate the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and the 2018 Non-Participating Manufacturers (NPM) Adjustment Settlement Agreement (NPMSA) between the State and the tobacco manufacturers pursuant to 16 Del. C. § 137 and 29 Del. C. chs. 60C and D. This Act also adds a new paragraph (i) to § 137, which provides that the Department of Health and Social Services, in consultation with the Division of Public Health, shall administer a competitive grant program to make recommendations for the expenditure of money appropriated from the Delaware Health Fund in accordance with the procedure set forth in paragraph (i) to make recommendations for the award of grants to private organizations, consistent with the purposes and criteria in § 137. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act creates a film production tax credit. It requires companies to obtain, at their own expense, an independent audit certifying eligible expenditures. The audit must be submitted to the Division of Small Business for approval and allocation of credits. The credit is nonrefundable, transferable, and may be carried forward for up to 5 years. The credit may be applied against personal income tax, corporate income tax, bank franchise tax, and insurance premiums tax. All credit transfers must be approved by the Division of Small Business. This Act further authorizes necessary data sharing among agencies. Applicants and transferees consent to disclosure of credit amounts by virtue of applying or receiving a transfer. This Act also grants regulatory authority to the Division of Small Business and the Secretary of State to administer the annual credit cap; prioritize and manage awards; and issue reports relating to awards and utilization with input from relevant state agencies. The Division of Small Business may create alternative audit procedures for small businesses where a full audit would be prohibitively expensive. This Act sunsets on June 30, 2031, and no applications may be submitted after that date.
This Substitute for House Bill No. 376 removes provisions in the existing Town of Millville Charter that have been preempted or otherwise regulated by State law and makes technical changes. The original Bill reorganizes the Town Charter’s sections into corresponding articles, adds a preamble, and modernizes wording. Also, the Bill removes sections related to a Town-only assessment process, given the Town’s use of county assessments and adds a property tax cap of 3% of the total assessed value in the Town. The municipal election process is amended to include an ultimate tie-breaking mechanism.
This Act modernizes Delaware’s emergency communications infrastructure by transitioning the State’s legacy Enhanced 911 (E911) system to a Next Generation 911 (NG911) system and updating the funding structure needed to support a statewide emergency communications network. Delaware’s current E911 system is funded through a monthly surcharge of $0.60 per telephone line, which has remained unchanged since 2001. This Act also authorizes periodic adjustments or scheduled increases in the surcharge to account for inflation, technological upgrades, and the growing operational costs associated with maintaining a modern emergency communications system. The transition to NG911 will allow Delaware’s public safety answering points (PSAPs) to support modern communications technologies, including text-to-911, multimedia communications, improved geolocation capabilities, and enhanced data sharing with first responders. These capabilities require significant upgrades to network infrastructure, cybersecurity protections, geographic information systems (GIS), and redundancy to ensure reliability during emergencies. Revenue generated by the updated surcharge structure will be deposited into the 911 System Fund and used for costs associated with planning, deploying, operating, and maintaining the statewide NG911 system. Eligible expenditures include network infrastructure, call handling equipment, software systems, cybersecurity protections, GIS data management, training of emergency communications personnel, and other costs necessary to operate a modern statewide emergency communications system. By establishing a sustainable funding mechanism and enabling the transition to NG911, this Act ensures that Delaware’s emergency communications system can meet current and future public safety needs, improve response times, and provide residents with access to modern emergency communication capabilities. Finally, this Act makes technical changes to existing statutory language to conform with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This bill authorizes a one-time funding allocation of approximately $146.2 million to the Office of Management and Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027. The money is designated to cover specific, temporary expenses identified by that agency. The legislation has been approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and is now ready for final passage.
This bill allocates state funds to cover government operations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027, directly affecting all state agencies and departments. It establishes specific rules and limits on how these funds can be spent and updates related state laws to reflect these financial constraints. The legislation has been passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, moving it closer to becoming law.
This Act recognizes that the Public Education Funding Committee’s (PEFC) recommended hybrid model formula to determine public education funding is good public policy and that implementation of the hybrid model should not be delayed any longer than absolutely necessary. As such, this Act provides authority for the Department of Education (Department) to begin making the changes to systems that are necessary to implement the hybrid model for Fiscal Year 2028. This Act also encourages that, in collaboration with the PEFC, the Department incorporate elements of the hybrid model in the development of the Governor’s Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 2028 for consideration by the 154th General Assembly. However, during this transition, a school district or charter school should not receive a state appropriation for Fiscal Year 2028 that is lower than the amount that school received in Fiscal Year 2027. The PEFC was established under Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 201 (152nd General Assembly) on June 27, 2024, and then re-established under House Concurrent Resolution No. 2 (153rd General Assembly) on January 21, 2025, to conduct a comprehensive review of public education funding for all students and populations served by school districts and charter schools (public schools) and develop a roadmap of recommendations to implement improvements to the public education funding system. The PEFC’s recommends adopting a new public education funding framework, known as the “hybrid model”, that combines the current, resource-based funding formula with a student-based, weighted funding model. The hybrid model will improve equity in public school funding and facilitate gains in student achievement by increasing flexibility in how public schools may use appropriated money. The PEFC recommendations include accountability measures as an important balance to the increased flexibility and that the equalization formula must be modernized.
This Act provides a roadmap via an observational study on a small but representative group of diabetic patients to change standard healthcare from current reactive “sick care” to proactive “well care”. This will be accomplished by using a Delaware health system combined with a technology partner to regularly test, measure and manage, and incentivize diabetic patients and their providers to improve the health outcomes for Delawareans and drive down healthcare costs. The length of the observational study will be 3 years. During that time, data analysis will track results to determine if this Pilot Program shall be renewed and expanded. This Act requires no fiscal note in that this Pilot Program is to be federally funded through the Federal Rural Health Transformation Program.
This Act amends the Town of Smyrna Charter as follows: (1) Authorizes the Town to impose school impact fees on new development and construction as long as the impact fees do not exceed the impact fee that would otherwise be imposed by Kent County or New Castle County on development in unincorporated areas. (2) Authorizes the Board of Elections, and not the Town Council, to hear and decide challenges that are raised to the qualifications of candidates for the office of mayor and council. (3) Specifies that a vacancy in a council seat caused by the council member being elected as mayor is to be filled by the Town Council if less than a year is left on the term or by a special election if more than 1 year is left on the term. (4) Clarifies the standards to be used when determining the domicile of a prospective voter or candidate for office. (5) Establishes a 3-year term of office for the Board of Elections and clarifies that a tie vote for an office shall be resolved by the toss of a coin. (6) Eliminates the requirement that the Town Council meet the first and third Monday of each month and authorizes the Town Council to determine the day and frequency of monthly meetings at the annual organizational meeting. (7) Revises the annual audit deadline from June 30 to August 31.