Rep. John L. Mitchell

This bill serves to better define and limit what real property rights the Department of Transportation may acquire. It also corrects a technical error that if left unchanged, will jeopardize the use of federal funds on transportation projects due to non-conformance with the National Environmental Policy Act and federal highway regulations.

This bill allows a hunter to use a handgun in lieu of a shotgun on farms permitted by DNREC through their Deer depredation programs to reduce agricultural crop damage.

This bill changes the age of a person to whom another person can sell, give or transfer a firearm or ammunition for a firearm from 18 to 21. However, this bill permits a person to sell, give or transfer a firearm or ammunition for a firearm to a person under 21 years of age if the person under 21 is an active member of the United States Armed Forces or a law-enforcement officer or possesses a license to carry a concealed deadly weapon. The prohibition against the sale or transfer of a firearm to a person under 21 does not apply if that person is over 18 and the firearm is a shotgun or muzzle-loading rifle or if the ammunition is for such weapons. This bill does permit the transfer of a firearm or ammunition to a person under 21 so long as such transfer is without compensation and the person transferring is the parent or guardian of the person under 21 or has the permission of the parent or guardian. This bill increases the age from 18-21 for the person who must directly supervise a child under the age of 16 who is in possession of a firearm, BB, air, or spear gun.

This concurrent resolution proclaims the month of April, as “Nonprofit Impact Month” to affirm the importance of organizations in the nonprofit sector and the impact of their work for every citizen in our State, to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year, and to acknowledge our ongoing responsibility to support a robust social impact sector for citizens, communities, and economic development across the State.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution urges the Congress of the United States to enact legislation that would reinstate the separation of commercial and investment banking functions that were in effect under the Glass-Steagall Act (Banking Act of 1933). Federal legislation based on the Glass-Steagall precedent is needed in order to prohibit commercial banks and bank holding companies from investing in stocks, underwriting securities, or investing in or acting as guarantors to derivative transactions, in order to prevent American taxpayers from being called upon to fund hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out financial institutions.

This Act includes Department of Transportation employees who work on interstate, expressway, arterial, and collector roads in the classification of employees who are eligible to receive hazardous duty pay. This Act contains a delayed effective date provision to ensure this Act takes effect in fiscal year 2019. Funding for this Act will be drawn from funds that would not violate Article VIII, § 12. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Resolution recognizes March 19th as Celebrating Women in Public Office Day in Delaware.

This Act amends the Fiscal Year 2018 Bond and Capital Improvements Act to (1) authorize the Department of Transportation to use Community Transportation Funds for one-time reimbursements for various projects; (2) allow reprogramming of funds to support the Delaware Strategic Fund; (3) allow Delaware Technical Community College to realign their critical capital needs with available funding; (4) authorize the Department of Transportation to subordinate the State’s fee interest in the Project Site; (5) direct the Department of Transportation not to vacate Sheep Pen Road and keep the roadway in the state highways system; and (6) allow Department of Transportation to transfer funds to the Riverfront Development Corporation.

This bill corrects the duration of revocation to match § 4177C(d)(2) and will make it possible for all applicants who are required to participate in the Ignition Interlock Device program to be eligible to submit an application for an indigent plan. This bill also changes the required offender reporting to IID service providers to a monthly basis allowing for early intervention of repeat violators.

Enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act amended the Individuals with Disability Education Act (“IDEA”) by mandating that special education teachers must have obtained full certification and may not be working under emergency certifications. The Delaware Department of Education must stop issuing emergency certifications in special education in order for for the State to continue receiving $36 million in federal IDEA funding for our schools. This Act creates a mechanism that is in compliance with federal requirements to enable educators to obtain a certificate of eligibility in the areas of special education. Educators will be able to meet federal requirements while being enrolled in an approved, alternative routes to certification program. This Act will allow local education agencies to staff special education classrooms while ensuring the educators are receiving high quality training working toward their standard certificate in the appropriate area of special education. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.