Transportation (Vehicle Registration)

This Act amends section 137 of Title 17 of the Delaware Code to increase the requirement for a qualified independent appraisal from $10,000.00 to $25,000.00, to align with the current maximum threshold permitted by the Federal Highway Administration. This will allow DELDOT to more quickly complete smaller dispositions as property values continue to increase. This House Substitute corrects an error in the synopsis of the original bill.

This Act grants line-of-duty death benefits under Title 18, Chapter 66 to county or municipal public works employees working in job-related activities to construct, repair, or maintain public works infrastructure.

This Act removes the requirement that certain reports to the State Aid to Municipalities for Streets Program be notarized and printed and permits reports to be submitted by electronic submission with a unique identifier. This Act also requires that the annual report that is submitted to the State Treasurer also be submitted to the Department of Transporation.

This Act amends the Delaware Code to allow open-end contracts for highway construction or reconstruction for up to five (5) years. This Act is intended to conform Delaware’s procurement statutes to the time limits permitted for contracts by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and still ensure that adequate security is maintained to cover all bids and ongoing work.

Like House Bill No. 442, this Substitute for House Bill No. 442 creates a new chapter in Title 21 pertaining to electronic traffic violation monitoring systems, and moves the existing language from section 4170A pertaining to electronic speed monitoring systems to the new chapter. This Act also removes the sunset provision from the existing Laws of Delaware concerning the use of electronic speed monitoring systems. The Act further modifies the language to allow for the use of electronic monitoring systems for all traffic violations. This Substitute requires that before citations may be issued for violations recorded by a traffic violation monitoring system, a warning period as prescribed by regulation must be provided for the traffic violation monitoring system. This Substitute further allows for counties and municipalities with a county or municipal police department to place and receive revenue from traffic monitoring systems within the county or municipality, and for revenue from traffic monitoring systems to be used to reimburse costs of the courts to address appeals of citations issued based on the traffic violation monitoring systems. This Substitute also adds a 10-year sunset provision to House Bill No. 442.

This Act expands the use of green lights to include vehicles and equipment used for road construction and maintenance activities. Other states have already expanded their laws to allow green lights on these types of vehicles and equipment in addition to snow plows. This Act removes potential confusion over whether those lights may be operated in Delaware.

This Act changes the statutory speed limit for residential districts to 20 miles per hour. This Act provides a 5-year window for signage to be updated.

This Act clarifies that penalties associated with section 4512 of Title 21, relating to truck parking, are applicable to parking violations in both residence and non-residence districts. This Act further clarifies that truck tractors (with and without attached trailers) may be prohibited from stopping, standing, or parking on highways in the same manner as trailers and semitrailers.

This Act provides the following support for federal workers during a government shutdown: (1) In Section 1 of this Act, interest free loans to provide financial assistance. (2) In Section 2 of this Act, free transportation on public transit. (3) In Sections 3 through 6 of this Act, deferral of certain State, county, and school tax filings, payments, and collections.

HB 266 (Delaware Code Title 21 amendment) allows large Delaware municipalities to permit the rental of low-speed motorized scooters through local ordinances or regulations. This directly affects cities (like Wilmington or Newark) and scooter rental companies by giving local governments authority to establish rules for scooter operations. The key provision removes a barrier by enabling municipalities to create their own permitting systems for scooter rentals, rather than requiring state-level approval. The bill passed the House unanimously and is now before the Senate Environment Committee.