Sen. Jack Walsh

This bill will add 4 new check-off donation boxes on the Delaware personal income tax return whereby individuals may choose to donate a portion of their tax refund, or designate an amount in addition to the tax they owe that will be transferred by the Division of Revenue to one of the following organizations: Food Bank of Delaware, Sussex County Habitat for Humanity, Central Delaware Habitat for Humanity, or Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County.

Under current educational standards, students are no longer required to be taught cursive writing and many schools have abandoned teaching cursive writing to students. As cursive writing is still an imperative skill in many professions, this bill makes teaching cursive writing a requirement for all public schools in Delaware.

This Act establishes a procedure by which a mortgagee that changes its notice address from the notice address as provided in any mortgage or assignment of mortgage may, at its option, provide public notice of its new notice address.

Car theft was the primary impetus behind state codes prohibiting a motor vehicle owner to leave a car unattended with the keys in the ignition; a common habit to warm-up the vehicle during colder months. From 2013 to 2015, a total of 206 cars were stolen in Delaware due to the owner leaving the keys in the car while unattended; of these, 12 went unrecovered. Improved technology, such as remote starters, has instigated changes to these outdated statutes in several states. This Act excludes motor vehicles that are started by a remote starter or other similar device without a key in the ignition and that would be rendered inoperable without the key in the ignition or present within the vehicle.

Section 1 of this Act enhances the State’s ability to collect delinquent taxes by (a) allowing for renewal of a judgment for unpaid taxes beyond the current 20 year limit for an additional term of 20 years, and (b) allows for recording of a judgment for unpaid taxes in any county of the State. Section 2 makes it clear that this legislation is effective as of July 1, 2017.

This bill allows holders of gill net and hook and line permits to accept transfer of quotas from other commercial fishermen and catch the combined hook and line and gill net quota for striped bass using the equipment for which they hold a permit. The bill also allows commercial fishermen to use gill net tags during hook and line activities and hook and line tags during gill net activities. Additionally, the bill eliminates a specific reporting requirement.

This bill establishes the Behavioral Health Consortium that will provide oversight and coordination of the State’s private and public bodies to address behavioral health issues in Delaware.

This act establishes the Addiction Action Committee as a means to establish a comprehensive, coordinated strategy to address addiction in Delaware. The committee is authorized to make recommendations on a comprehensive approach to address and monitor the addiction crisis.

This Act replaces the stillbirth certificate with a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth, clarifies what documentation is required upon the occurrence of a stillbirth, and makes technical corrections to the Vital Statistics laws to accurately reflect current practices. This Act does not change the current reporting requirements regarding births or deaths. This Act shall be known as "Lorenzo's Law" in memory of Lorenzo Joseph DiSalvo who was born on July 3, 2016. Lorenzo is the son of Kimberly Ann DiSalvo and Chad William DiSalvo. His maternal grandparents are Thomas and Cheryl Favoroso and paternal grandparents are Joseph (deceased) and Marla DiSalvo.

This Act removes the Colonel of the New Castle County Police Department from the Delaware Emergency Medical Services Oversight Council ("DEMSOC") and replaces the Colonel with the Chief of the New Castle County Emergency Medical Services. In 2006, the County restructured the Department of Public Safety so that the Chief of Police is no longer in charge of the paramedics. The Chief of the New Castle County Emergency Medical Services has been designated as the representative by the Colonel; however, any requests for a substitute representative with voting proxy would have to be done by the Colonel. This change thus reflects the current organization of New Castle County Emergency Medical Services but does not change the entity that has a member on DEMSOC.