Rep. Stephen Smyk

This bill changes the standard of proof necessary to issue a civil gun relinquishment order from the Justice of the Peace Court. The preponderance of the evidence standard is the standard traditionally used in civil matters and is, therefore, appropriate here. This also makes the standard consistent with that required for a Lethal Violence Protective Order, which is highly similar in nature.

This resolution celebrates the landmark 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act, supports Taiwan’s signing of a Bilateral Trade Agreement with the United States, reaffirms support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation and contribution in international organizations, and reaffirms support for strengthening and expanding sister-state ties between the State of Delaware and Taiwan.

This bill clarifies that Probation Before Judgment (PBJ) may be entered for multiple charges arising from a single arrest. Changes to the legislation also allow for a defendant to be permitted Probation Before Judgment more than once in a five year period so long as offenses are in different titles of the Code. For example, a defendant who was granted PBJ in 2017 for speeding (title 21) would be eligible for PBJ on a title 11 charge (e.g. bad check) or title 4 (e.g. underage consumption of alcohol) in 2019.

This bill allows the Court to suspend an amount of the fine for uninsured driving if the defendant provides evidence that they have now secured insurance, demonstrating compliance with the law.

This Bill raises the time periods for public access to individual vital records from 72 years to 80 years after the date of birth, and from 40 years to 50 years after the date of death or marriage.

This Act authorizes the Division of Motor Vehicles (“Division”) to issue special registration plates to motorcycle clubs without having to enact a special law for each request. A motorcycle club must have 50 applications for its special registration plate before the Division is required to issue a special registration plate; however, the requirement is reduced to 25 for certain motorcycle clubs. This Act is limited to owners of a motorcycle who are members of a motorcycle club and have completed or are enrolled in, and complete, an experienced rider course. This Act assesses a 1-time, $20 fee, $10 of which must be deposited by the Division into a special account to be used by the Division only for the expenses incurred in the administration of the motorcycle rider education program.

Importers, manufacturers, and dealers of "destructive weapons" are licensed and regulated under Federal law. Under existing Delaware law, importers, manufacturers, and dealers of destructive weapons are not permitted to deliver them to purchasers in Delaware who are otherwise permitted to own such weapons, such as military or police forces. This bill will permit properly licensed importers, manufacturers, and dealers to possess and store destructive weapons in this State and engage in activities associated with the sale and delivery of such weapons to (or from) qualified purchasers.

This bill will allow marinas in Sussex County to sell gasoline that does not contain ethanol. Sussex County comfortably meets the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ground level ozone, and removing ethanol from marine fuel will have no significant impact on ambient ozone levels. The State of Maryland now allows the sale of non-ethanol gasoline in certain counties that are adjacent to Sussex County and Delaware businesses are losing sales to their Maryland counterparts.

This Act amends the Charter of Georgetown to give the Town Council the authority to impose and collect a lodging tax, as permitted by § 908 of Title 22.