Sen. Bruce C. Ennis

This Act adds a member of the Delaware Bar, designated by the Elder Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association, to the Delaware Guardianship Commission. This Act also makes technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act establishes a Public Education Compensation Committee for the purpose of reviewing Delaware's educator compensation structure and its ability to compete with regional school districts, Delaware's private business sector, and other governmental agencies and to develop recommendations to establish a new compensation structure for educators in Delaware. The Committee will consist of 13 members, including the Secretary of the Department of Education, the Controller General, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Executive Director of the Delaware State Education Association, the Executive Director of the Delaware Association of School Administrators, an educator, two school financial officers, one school superintendent, a charter school administrator, a representative of the Office of the Governor, and the Chairs of the House and Senate Education Committees. The Act requires the Committee to present its recommendations to the Governor no later than November 15, 2023, so that the recommendations may be included in the Governor's recommended budget for fiscal year 2025.

This resolution recognizes June 2022 as National Homeownership Month in Delaware.

This Resolution commemorates the 50th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX and recognizes the impact it has had on improving equality in educational institutions and the workplace, while committing to build upon its foundation to continue to expand the protection of equal rights.

Chapter 29 of Title 3, which restricts the use of invasive and potentially invasive plants, was enacted by Senate Bill No. 22 in 2021, but does not take effect until July 1, 2022. This Act revises § 2904 of Title 3 so that the Department of Agriculture, through the regulatory process, can both add and remove plants from the initial Invasive Plant List created under this section. In addition, this Act repeals Chapter 27 of Title 3 the same day that Chapter 29 takes effect, because Chapter 27 regulates the same topic, using the term nuisance plants, and Chapter 29 uses current terminology and best practices. This Act also reorganizes the requirements under §§ 2903 and 2904 of Title 3 so that similar requirements are grouped together for clarity and so that the plants in § 2904(b) are listed in alphabetical order.

This Act provides supplementary appropriations to certain Grants-in-Aid recipients for Fiscal Year 2023. Section 1 – Government Units and Senior Centers – $28,201,165 Section 2 – One-Times and Community Agencies – $32,531,876 Section 3 – Fire Companies – $8,162,724 Section 4 – Veterans Organizations – $498,141 GRAND TOTAL – $69,393,906

Federal law permits states to require federal firearms licensees (FFLs) to conduct background checks through a state agency, or point of contact, instead of directly through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This Act creates the Firearm Transaction Approval Program (FTAP) within the State Bureau of Identification (SBI) of the Delaware State Police and designates the SBI's FTAP as the point of contact between an FFL and the federal databases checked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for purposes of conducting background checks for firearm purchases or transfers. By establishing SBI as the point of contact for all firearm purchases or transfers in this State, SBI becomes responsible for determining if a potential buyer or transferee is prohibited from receipt or possession of a firearm under § 1448 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code or federal law. This enables SBI to search other databases in addition to relying on the required NICS check, enhancing background checks conducted in this State. This Act enables firearms dealers who suspect a straw purchase has or is occurring to notify SBI using the same hotline that is established for background checks through FTAP. Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that will modernize the bail provisions within the Delaware Constitution and clarify the power of the General Assembly to define either certain offenses for which, or circumstances under which, pretrial release on bail may not be available. The current provision allowing that only “capital offenses” are not bailable first appeared in its present form in the Delaware Constitution of 1792. At that time, “capital offenses” included many more offenses than the term does today. For example, manslaughter, rape, robbery, burglary, and assaults with weapons were capital offenses, and therefore included as crimes for which a court could order pretrial detention. Thus, over time, other crimes that the Framers intended to include as those for which bail might be restricted no longer are. Today, a Delaware state court judge cannot order preventive detention in any non-capital case. Instead, the judge can only attempt to set the bail so high that a defendant cannot make it, which means that any defendant, no matter how dangerous and no matter the circumstance, can obtain release if the defendant can fund the bail—even if that defendant poses a certain flight risk or a known threat of harm to the public or to a specific person, such as a witness or victim. This Act is one step toward completing a pretrial release-detention continuum requiring specific evidence-based detention decisions that seek to maximize public safety and minimize pretrial detention for those less serious crimes for which it is not required. Upon enactment of the second leg of this constitutional amendment, § 12 of Article I of the Delaware Constitution as proposed will do all of the following: (1) Retain the express declaration of a general right to have bail set in a criminal case. (2) Provide that the crimes for which bail may be withheld are capital murder, where the evidentiary proof is positive and presumption of the accusation great, and other identified felony offenses determined by and under procedures prescribed by law where the evidentiary proof for the need of detention is clear and convincing. (3) Ensure that one condition precedent to bail being withheld in non-capital cases is a finding that no bail condition or combination of bail conditions other than detention will assure the safety of any person or the community, that the person will appear for future proceedings, or that the detention is necessary to prevent the person from obstructing or attempting to obstruct justice. This constitutional amendment, by itself, would not allow that a person charged with a non-capital crime could be held without bail. Rather, no person could be subject to a detention hearing in a non-capital case until the General Assembly revises Chapter 21 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code and the General Assembly and courts “prescribe by law” the specific felonies, circumstances, and procedures under which detention without bail may occur. With this change, though, Delaware can progress toward the type of modern bail system that has been increasingly adopted by our sister states through amendment of their state constitutions, when needed, and the development of statutory procedures that provide, in appropriate cases, pre-trial detention without bail. And this change does so by adopting the standards favorably recommended by authoritative sources including the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, the National Center for State Courts, the American Bar Association, and the numerous state legislatures and court systems that have studied pretrial detention and retained or incorporated them in their own state constitutions and laws. Any legislation subsequently enacted or court procedures adopted under the passage of the second leg of this constitutional amendment would have to require individualized, fact-governed decision-making by any court considering preventive detention to pass muster under the United States and Delaware State Constitutions.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the useful life of the components of typical sewer and wastewater systems ranges from 15 years to 100 years. In light of the long life of sewer and wastewater infrastructure, longer maturities are appropriate for bonds issued to fund such infrastructure. This bill extends the maturity of bonds permitted to be issued by New Castle County from 30 years to 40 years for both sewer and wastewater projects, recognizing the long life of such assets. Extending the maturities of sewer and wastewater infrastructure-related bonds will enable New Castle County to access federal programs that allow for longer-duration repayment periods, such as the Water Infrastructure and Innovation Act and the U.S. Department of Agriculture loan program for sewer, solid waste and stormwater drainage in eligible rural areas. Furthermore, longer maturities reduce the debt service burden on the County’s operating budget. Additionally, this bill removes the requirement that New Castle County advertise bond sales in newspapers, while retaining an obligation to provide published notice of bond sales to New Castle County residents. Municipal bond sales are advertised through national and international electronic platforms that are monitored by institutional investors, rendering print advertising of such sales obsolete and unnecessary.

This Act directs that principal residence for purpose of this section may be proven by providing a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the applicant and the signing of an affidavit on a form created by the Secretary that provides such person is not receiving a similar benefit in any other state.