Rep. Bill Carson

This Act authorizes the Department of Agriculture to impose civil penalties consistent with the amounts imposed in other states when livestock have been found to have run at large on the public highways or on unenclosed land within the State. This Act adds a provision as exists in the Delaware False Claims Act, 6 Del. C §1204(f), allowing for the enforcement as judgments of administrative orders that are final and no longer subject to judicial review. Lastly, the Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act allows for the transfer of a particular parcel of land in Smyrna along Route 13. In the 147th General Assembly, the State was allowed to transfer this parcel of land, where a fire tower once stood, to the Town of Smyrna, but the land could only ever be used for a public purpose. The parcel in question is surrounded on both sides by parcels owned by the same private citizen. The Town and the private citizen wish to exchange their respective parcels so that the private citizen’s two parcels are thereafter contiguous. Because the land reverts to the ownership of the State if it ever stops being used for a public purpose, the Town cannot deed the land to the private individual. Therefore, this Act allows the State to receive the parcel from the Town and to then re-convey it to the Town without the requirement that it be forever used for a public purpose. The reconveyance will, however, allow the State to put an antenna on any water tower that the Town may build on the parcel or an adjacent parcel.

This Act allows the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to share accident reports and the data in the reports with the Department of Transportation. This Act also allows the Department of Transportation to provide certain de-identified data from accident reports to limited requestors. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Individuals who volunteer their services through stand-alone EMS companies have been a valuable part of public safety to the citizens of the State of Delaware. To try to bolster the ranks of these volunteers, this bill exempts anyone applying for membership of a volunteer EMS company from paying the cost of a background check done by the State of Delaware Bureau of Identification.

This Act creates the crimes of unlawful possession of a drug masking product, punishable as a class A misdemeanor, and unlawful distribution, delivery, or sale of a drug masking product, punishable as a class E felony. Drug masking products are designed to be added to human urine or human hair to defraud alcohol or drug urine screening tests.

This Act authorizes the Department of Health and Social Services to transfer to the Town of Smyrna excess land around the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill, which borders on Lake Como, for $1.00. The land shall be used to expand the size of the park around Lake Como.

This Act allows the Department of Agriculture to establish fees that may be charged for participation in the Delaware Hemp program.

The Act allows the Kent County Levy Court to impose a lodging tax not greater than 3% in Kent County. This Substitute places the lodging tax imposed by the Act in the same Delaware Code provision where the New Castle County lodging tax is placed and where the Sussex County lodging tax is proposed to be placed by House Bill No. 228 (150th General Assembly). This change in placement also results in excluding rentals by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control from the lodging tax established by § 8112 of Title 9. This change also does the following: (1) Makes clear that the lodging tax power under § 8112(a) of Title 9 refers to New Castle County. (2) Makes technical corrections to the language of the Act, and existing law, to conform it to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill streamlines the process by which the Department may incorporate into its regulations tidal finfish management measures that have been adopted and specified in a regional or federal fisheries management plan or rule. This bill also eliminates procedures for the promulgation of tidal finfish regulations that the Delaware Administrative Procedures Act has rendered obsolete.

The purpose of the Bill is to change the requirement in the seed law for germination testing from 14 months to 9 months prior to sale.