Sen. Bryan Townsend

Section 1 of this Act amends Section 903 of Title 13 of the Delaware Code. Substantively, this Act allows persons who are not married but who are cohabitating to jointly adopt a child that is not theirs. The Act also rewrites the statute so as to be more clearly understandable. Section 2 of this Act amends Section 951 of Title 13 of the Delaware Code. It allows persons who are not married but who are cohabitating to jointly adopt a child that is not theirs. The Act also changes the phrase "husband and wife" to "married couple."

This Act makes necessary changes to Delaware’s election laws based on the State’s purchase of new voting devices and establishes auditing requirements for the voting devices. The new voting devices will function differently than the existing voting devices and so election law must be updated to conform the law. The new voting devices allow each voter to view a paper ballot with the voter’s selections under glass for the voter to approve before pressing the final button to vote. This Act requires the Department of Elections (“Department”) to audit the results of primary, general, and school board elections and establishes the procedure to be used by the Department. This Act also requires the Department to adopt regulations to govern the procedure to be used if an audit reveals a discrepancy. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill enables a key component of the Take Care Delaware program, a partnership between law enforcement and schools to adopt a trauma-informed approach to children who have been identified at the scene of a traumatic event. The Take Care Delaware program, which will start as a pilot, operates by a police officer or emergency-care provider alerting a child’s school about the child’s presence at a traumatic event that the police officer or emergency-care provider responded to. In order to avoid violations of the State Bureau of Investigation’s dissemination statute and the Victim’s Bill of Rights in Title 11, this bill creates a narrow exception to both statutes that allows police officers and emergency-care providers to send the child’s name to their school district or charter school so that the child’s teachers can ensure the child is handled in a trauma-informed way. The Take Care Delaware program is based on the national “Handle With Care” model and includes training and other best practices for law enforcement and schools to prevent and mitigate the negative impact of childhood exposure to trauma.

Currently, the SEED program allows students a maximum of 6 semesters to complete an Associate Degree. This Bill allows SEED eligible students who complete their Associate Degree in fewer than 6 semesters to apply the remaining semesters of the grant toward a Bachelor’s Degree at either the University of Delaware or Delaware Technical and Community College.

In January 2019, the Code Revisors provided the General Assembly with a list of potential technical corrections that they identified as they revised the Delaware Code to reflect legislation that was enacted by the 149th General Assembly in 2018 or as they reviewed titles of the Code. While technical in nature, these changes are beyond the authority of the Code Revisors to make and can only be done by the General Assembly through legislation. This Act also includes technical corrections identified outside of the list provided by the Code Revisors. This Act requires a three-quarters vote, erring on the side of caution if any of the sections of the Delaware Code being revised require a super-majority vote. Section 1. This Section corrects a typographical error created in § 512 of Title 4 when House Bill No. 284 was passed after House Bill No. 158 in the 149th General Assembly and House Bill No. 284 did not incorporate the revisions made to § 512 by House Bill No. 158. Sections 2 through 4. These Sections correct errors created by House Bill No. 125 of the 150th General Assembly changing the limit on the number of barrels to 6 million instead of the reference to the Code of Federal Regulations in 5 sections of the Delaware Code. The Code of Regulations limit includes a time period of a calendar year on the number of barrels and that time period was included in 2 of the 5 sections where this was changed. These sections add “in a calendar year” after the number of barrels in the other 3 sections and corrects the spelling for “million” in 1 section. Sections 5 through 6. These Sections replace a reference to § 2728 of Title 18 with a reference to § 4915 of Title 10. The synopsis to Senate Bill No. 195 of the 149th General Assembly explains that SB 195 repealed § 2728 of Title 18 because that section has been superseded by § 4915 of Title 10. Section 7. House Substitute No. 1 to House Bill No. 222 of the 149th General Assembly created lethal violence protective orders. This Section removes the word “emergency” from § 7704 of Title 10 because an order is entered after a nonemergency petition is filed and a hearing is held under § 7704 of Title 10. Section 8. Senate Bill No. 150 of the 149th General Assembly revised the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission. This Section replaces an incomplete sentence with standard organizational language regarding the ability of members to appoint a designee and makes other technical corrections. Section 9. During discussions of Senate Bill No. 10 in the 150th General Assembly, outdated language describing disqualifying felonies for eligibility to vote was identified. This Section corrects the inconsistent language by referencing Chapter 61 of Title 15, which was enacted by the 140th General Assembly and establishes when persons with felony convictions are permitted to vote. This Section also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Section 10. This Section revises § 4944 of Title 15 to correctly identify the State Election Commissioner as the custodian of the names of electors and the spelling of Vice President, errors discovered while drafting legislation for the 150th General Assembly. Sections 11 through 16. These Sections correct the incorrect spelling of Vice President identified while drafting legislation for the 150th General Assembly. Section 17. House Bill No. 248 of the 149th General Assembly did not properly include the existing language in the Delaware Code. This Section revises § 122(3)p.2.B.VI. of Title 16 by including the language intended by House Bill No. 248 and repealing the existing provisions. Section 18. House Bill No. 431 of the 149th General Assembly, as amended, requires nursing and assisted living facilities to offer onsite influenza vaccinations to all employees every year. The Code Revisors interpreted the phrase “of the following year” to mean only 2019, the calendar year after enactment of the Act. This Section revises § 1144 of Title 16 so that it is clear that the vaccinations must be provided every calendar year. Section 19. House Bill No. 409 of the 149th General Assembly, as amended, included the phrase “any of the above” in the first sentence of § 1904 of Title 19. This Section revises this sentence to clarify that it refers to the events earlier in the sentence. Sections 20 through 21. House Bill No. 311 intended to create a 2 year grandfathering of licenses after enactment but the effective date allowed for only 1 year. This Section establishes a 2 year grandfathering period. Section 22. After House Bill No. 46 was passed during the 150th General Assembly, questions arose regarding how to interpret the new provisions. This Section makes revisions to provide clarity. Section 23. This Section repeals § 704(c) of Title 29 because the provisions in § 704(c) are repeated with more detail in § 7331 of Title 15, an error discovered while drafting legislation for the 150th General Assembly. Section 24. Senate Bill No. 227 contains a delayed effective date and a sunset provision. This Section changes the sunset provision so it is 3 years after the effective date instead of 3 years after enactment. Section 25. This Section makes Section 22 of this Act effective the day after House Bill No. 46 is enacted.

This bill adds the intentional touching of another person with semen to the definition of sexual contact. By doing so, the act of a person intentionally touching another person with semen without consent becomes the crime of unlawful sexual contact third degree.

This Act gives the Delaware Secretary of State the authority to promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act establishes that the age of offense and not the age of arrest determines jurisdiction for a person facing charges. Currently, if a person commits a delinquent act before age 18 but is arrested after age 18, the offense is automatically heard before the adult court of jurisdiction. See Howard v. State, 612 A.2d 158 (Del. 1992) (Table). This Act reverses this procedure so that if the offense occurs before the age of 18 and the arrest is after a person’s 18th birthday, but before their 21st birthday, the Family Court will have jurisdiction. However, this Act makes clear that this Act does not preclude prosecuting a person to whom the Act applies as an adult, as permitted in Title 10.

This Act creates the Redding Consortium for Educational Equity ("Consortium"), which replaces the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission ("WEIC"). The Consortium has multiple purposes. First, it will recommend policies and practices to the Governor, General Assembly, and Secretary of Education regarding educational equity and educational outcomes in the City of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. Second, the Consortium will monitor educational progress and outcomes for students in the City of Wilmington and for all low-income, English learners and at-risk students in northern New Castle County and report on the same. Third, the Consortium will make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly regarding improvement in public education in the City of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. Fourth, it will evaluate the need for additional or alternative educational facilities in the City of Wilmington. Fifth, it will develop policy proposals to be introduced through legislation to improve teaching and learning in district and charter schools in the City of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. Sixth, it will develop a proposal for redistricting in the City of Wilmington and northern New Castle County. Seventh, it will research the viability of the New Castle County Tax District and Tax Pool. The Act specifies who will be appointed to the Consortium and how it will be staffed. Its first meeting must occur on or before September 1, 2019.

This Act allows the State Board of Education to change or alter boundaries of reorganized school districts. It allows the State Board of Education to do so based upon redistricting recommendations from the newly formed Redding Consortium for Educational Equity ("Consortium"). It requires the Consortium to provide its recommendations through a transition, resource, and implementation plan for redistricting, the contents of which are specified in the Act.