This Resolution designates March 2, 2018 as "Red Shirt Friday, American Legion Auxiliary Salute to our Military" in the state of Delaware.
This resolution proclaims January 21 through 27, 2018 as National School Choice Week.
This bill creates the Grant-In-Aid Committee. The Committee is a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. The purpose of the Committee is to review requests for grant-in-aid and to develop the grant-in-aid appropriations bill.
This act clarifies that the felony of Possession of a Deadly Weapon by a Person Prohibited shall not apply to persons who are prohibited from possessing a deadly weapon solely by their possession of a personal use quantity of marijuana, when such possession qualifies as a civil penalty under Title 16. This bill addresses the legal issue in State v. Murray (Del. Super. 2017).
This Act decreases by 1% the rate of realty transfer tax to be received by the State, thereby returning to the rate that was applicable prior to August 1, 2017.
This bill allows a pellet gun, airbow, and most other air guns to be possessed and utilized for hunting in Delaware, however, it does not change the classification of airbows and higher powered air rifles as firearms. The bill also does not change that possession of weapons such as “zip guns” and other created weapons are illegal and listed as a dangerous weapon.
Tobacco traffickers move black market contraband cigarettes or other tobacco products purchased from low tax states to be sold in higher tax states, facilitated by individuals or through organized groups. The potential financial gain of tobacco smuggling is immediately apparent. Legal entities pay significant taxes on their product, including $1.01 per pack in federal excise tax; $1.60 per pack of 20 cigarettes and a 15% tax rate of the wholesale purchase price of other tobacco products in Delaware state tax; and typically $0.60 per pack to a settlement fund for health care costs incurred by the states because of tobacco use by their citizens. Manufacturers and distributors of contraband tobacco products reap substantial profits by avoiding federal and state excise taxes. Because of the tremendous profits often associated with cigarette trafficking, organized criminal groups use the proceeds to launder or conceal the proceeds of other criminal offenses. Delaware law currently allows up to 9 packs of cigarettes to be brought into the state without requiring them to be taxed by Delaware; all cigarettes over 9 packs must be taxed. For example, when 2 full cartons, which equate 20 packs, are brought into Delaware, a tax on all 20 packs must be paid to the Division of Revenue. The current penalty for selling, acquiring, holding, owning, or possessing cigarettes is a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment of up to 90 days in jail, or both. The existing penalty is not in proportion to the profits made through trafficking, and does not serve as a deterrent. This Act establishes that offenses related to cigarette trafficking are class G felonies, and increases the penalties for cigarette trafficking as follows (“the updated penalties”): (1) For the first offense, by a fine of not less than $250 per package but not more than $10,000 total, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both. (2) For a subsequent offense, by a fine of not less than $350 per package but not more than $30,000 total, imprisonment of up to 2 years, or both. (3) Mandatory seizure of a vehicle used in the first or subsequent offenses. This Act also increases from 10 to 20 the number of packs of cigarettes a person may possess on which the Delaware tax has not been paid or tax stamp has not been affixed. Cigarette trafficking is addressed in both Title 11 and Title 30 of the Delaware Code. To implement the updated penalties, this Act amends the following statutes: (1) Title 11, § 1121, by providing that violation of § 1120(a), which prohibits the sale of a tobacco product unless it has the required tax stamp, is subject to the updated penalties. See Section 1 of this Act. (2) Title 11, §§ 2322 and 2326, by adding § 1120(a) to the list of offenses for which a vehicle may be seized. See Sections 2 and 3 of this Act. (3) Title 30, § 5328, by providing that a person who possesses or transports 21 or more packs of unstamped tobacco products in this State to delivery, sell, or dispose of tobacco products and does not have in their possession invoices or delivery tickets and purchase orders is subject to the updated penalties. See Section 4 of this Act. (4) Title 30, § 5341, by providing that the following offenses are subject to the updated penalties: a. Sale or any pack of tobacco product to which the proper amount of Delaware tax stamps is not affixed. b. A dealer’s refusal to allow the Department of Finance to examine the dealer’s books and records, stock, premises, or equipment. c. Making, forging, altering, or counterfeited a tax stamp to evade the tobacco product tax. See Section 5 of this Act. (5) Title 30, § 5342, by providing that a person who possesses 21 or more packs of unstamped tobacco products, or a dealer who has at the dealer’s place of business any tobacco product that does not have the proper amount stamps or a product for which the tax has not been paid within 72 hours of receiving the product is subject to the updated penalties. See Section 6 of this Act. (6) Title 30, § 5346(b), by providing that a person who sells, acquires, holds, owns, or possesses a cigarette package to which a tax stamp is affixed in violation of a specified list of conditions listed in § 5346(a) is subject to the updated penalties. See Section 7 of this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act takes effect 60 days after the date of enactment.
This Act replaces the prevailing wage survey method of setting the prevailing wage with a method based on payroll information currently being provided to the Department of Labor. Also, this Act removes the prevailing wage lock-in authorized by House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 145 (148th General Assembly). This Act also removes the Prevailing Wage Advisory Committee (“Committee”) from the Delaware Code. The Committee was established to advise the General Assembly how the prevailing wage survey may be improved or if the survey should be eliminated. The Committee reported in January 2016 that “the best option is to continue the survey for 2016 and report back to the legislature in the future.” Because this Act replaces the prevailing wage survey, the Committee is no longer needed. Finally, this Act takes effect on January 1, 2019.
This Act allows professional licensing boards and commissions administered by the Division of Professional Regulation to recognize military education, training, and experience of all current and former military personnel when reviewing credentials and issuing licenses. This is a change from the current law, which only allows such boards and commissions to do so for active duty military, members of the National Guard, or military reserves assigned to a duty station in Delaware. This change would recognize the military education, training, and experience of individuals who are retired, a veteran, or are active duty individuals assigned to duty stations located outside this State.
This Act clarifies the authority of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee ("Committee") to hold over entities unless or until certain conditions are met or modifications are made. This Act also provides the authority for the Committee to recall an entity that has been released from review when the entity has the ability to meet the recommended condition or make the modification but has failed to do so, or when the Committee recommended legislation to amend an entity's governing statute or a related statute, but the legislation fails to be enacted for any reason. If the Committee recalls an entity, it may recommend any of the options available in subsection (a) of this section.
