Sen. Harris B. McDowell

This amendment to Section 8-200 of the Charter of the City of Wilmington raises some of the threshold amounts for bid requirements in the procurement process. The purpose of the amendment is to improve City of Wilmington procurement procedures, increase public access to City of Wilmington contracting opportunities through the authorization of internet advertising, and authorize the City of Wilmington to participate in cooperative purchasing agreements with other public procurement agencies.

This bill removes the notary requirement for requests for absentee ballots. Delaware is the only state that requires a notary to authorize a voter's affidavit for an absentee ballot. In some cases, the potential voter may have to pay for the notary and Delaware essentially charges them to vote.

This bill sets forth a framework for the licensing, regulation and inspection of business establishments that provide massage and bodywork services. This bill places oversight of any business offering massage services in the hands of the Board of Massage and Bodywork. Specifically, it defines “massage establishment,” and grants authority to the Board of Massage and Bodywork to grant or deny licensure of such establishments and adopt regulations pertaining to the licensure, maintenance and standards to be applied to such establishments. It provides authority for the Division or Professional Regulation to inspect such establishments without any advance notice or concurrent criminal investigation. This bill imposes criminal and civil penalties, including injunctive relief, fines, and imprisonment, for the unlicensed practice of massage and bodywork and the operation of an unlicensed massage establishment.

Section 1 of this Act clarifies that subcontractors are obligated to ensure the secrecy of tax returns and tax information. Section 2 of this Act provides that all employees of the Department of Finance with access to Federal Tax Information shall be subject to appropriate background checks to ensure that the Department of Finance complies with obligations imposed by Section 6103(p)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and by the Internal Revenue Service in Publication 1075. Sections 3 and 4 of this Act authorize the Director of Revenue to require electronic filing and allow the Director to assess penalties of up to $50 if a taxpayer fails to file a return in the manner prescribed by law. The Division of Revenue processes numerous business returns, a large percentage of which are already being filed electronically. By requiring that certain types of business returns be electronically filed, the Division of Revenue will be able to focus its paper document processing efforts on individuals and small business returns. It is anticipated that the Director of the Division of Revenue will promulgate guidance regarding electronic filing after consulting with tax professionals and the business community, to ensure that those required to file electronically have the means and sophistication to do so. Further, the Director of Revenue has broad discretion to abate penalties and will exercise his discretion to do so in connection with the transition to mandatory electronic filing.

This bill expands the list of persons eligible to participate in the Ada Leigh Soles Memorial Professional Librarian and Archivist Incentive Scholarship Program to include employees of non-public libraries in Delaware that join the Delaware Library Consortium.

This bill eliminates the sunset provision on the “at-store” recycling program for plastic bags. The program established in 2009 included a sunset provision until 2014. In 2014, the General Assembly extended that sunset provision to 2017. This bill eliminates the sunset provision permanently to encourage the continued routine for consumers to recycle plastic bags through “at-store” programs. The bill will also require all stores subject to the requirements of this section to register by June 30, 2018, and provide information to DNREC regarding compliance on a form to be provided by DNREC.

This Act extends the Clean Air Act Title V Operating Permit Program annual fees for facilities in Delaware. This Act was developed through the Title V Operating Permit Program Advisory Committee. The existing statutory authorization for the fees sunsets December 31, 2017. The fees are based on the number of staff hours spent on permitting, compliance, and enforcement for each facility and the facility’s air emissions. This Act authorizes the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to collect annual fees for calendar years 2018 through 2020 at which point the authority sunsets. This Act also removes previous language and requirements to complete a Title V Operating Permit Program Management Review. The program management review was completed and a final report was issued in April 2017. This Act also makes a technical correction to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The Board of Pension Trustees has established policies and practices for the administration of the Delaware Public Employees Retirement System. Based on the recommendations of the Board’s Best Practices review, this Act will codify some of these policies and practices. The Act also indemnifies committee members and clarifies the frequency of Board meetings and authorized methods of communication for obtaining quorum and voting.

This Act clarifies that after a physician-patient relationship has been properly established in accordance with this section, subsequent communications and treatment may be conducted as the doctor and patient deem appropriate. As with all practice of medicine, such subsequent interactions must still meet the standard of care for the given field of medicine. The Act also clarifies that this statute is not intended to limit the practice of radiology or pathology – fields in which it has long been standard for an off-site specialist to examine records created by a treating physician or technician.

This House Joint Resolution directs the Department of Education, with the assistance of the Delaware State Board of Education, to promulgate regulations that include specific guidelines to prohibit discrimination in school district employment practices or educational programs and activities for students on the basis of any legally-protected characteristic, including gender identity or expression.