Sen. Jack Walsh

Maddy summaryThis bill designates the month of May as "Veterans Month" throughout the State of Delaware. The primary mechanism of the legislation is to amend the Delaware Code to officially recognize this specific time frame for honoring military veterans. Once enacted, the change serves as a formal state acknowledgment rather than creating new laws or funding. It directly affects the state's official records and calendar designations without altering existing programs or benefits.

This legislation shall be known and may be cited as the “Load Forecast Accountability Act.” Recent reports by PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM), have highlighted that electricity demand across the PJM footprint, including Delaware, is projected to grow due to data centers, electrification of vehicles and buildings, and other large load additions. PJM recently projected that, by 2030, PJM expects to add 32 GW of load to the grid – 30 GW of which is attributable to data centers. PJM relies upon load forecasts submitted by Commission-regulated electric distribution companies in Delaware to establish system planning needs and capacity requirements which ultimately have costs associated with both. Accurate, transparent, load forecasting is essential to ensure the adequacy of electric supply, maintain system reliability, and protect Delaware consumers from unnecessary costs caused by overbuilding or underbuilding system resources. There is a critical need for the Delaware Public Service Commission to provide oversight of load forecasting inputs from Commission-regulated electric distribution companies, to ensure accuracy and transparency, and to coordinate with PJM and neighboring state regulators to prevent duplicative counting of projects and customer contracts. The purpose of this Act is to provide the Commission with authority and responsibility to: (1) Review and evaluate load forecasts submitted by Delaware Commission-regulated electric distribution companies to PJM; (2) Coordinate with PJM and other states to ensure accurate system-wide planning; and (3) Access all relevant materials, including confidential agreements, necessary to carry out this oversight. Under this Act, the Commission is required to submit a written report to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Director and the Librarian of the Division of Legislative Services no later than May 1 of each year on its progress in implementing this Act. This report must also be posted on the Commission’s website.

This Act adds a clarifying interpretive paragraph to the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act (Subchapter II, Chapter 25, Title 6 of the Code) to address a recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court and to make clear that the Consumer Fraud Act’s use of the phrase “in connection with” in § 2513 should be interpreted to include unfair and deceptive acts and practices that occur “before, during, and after” the sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement of any merchandise. The Delaware Supreme Court recently construed the Consumer Fraud Act to be confined to conduct “between businesses and consumers which happen before a transaction or during the transaction itself.” Blue Beach Bungalows DE, LLC v. State, No. 14, 2025, 2025 WL 3768232, at *11 (Del. Dec. 30, 2025). However, in recognition of the broad purpose of the Consumer Fraud Act set forth by the 123rd General Assembly in Section 2512, subsequent amendments to the Consumer Fraud Act to include the “receipt” of merchandise, and the scope of comparable statutes in other states, this bill ensures that the Consumer Fraud Act is interpreted to apply to unfair or deceptive conduct that occurs after a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement, including, but not limited to, conduct occurring in instances in which a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement creates an ongoing relationship or a continuing obligation, or where performance has not yet been completed. This aligns the Consumer Fraud Act with Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (“UDAP”) laws with similar language in other states, as well as many other UDAP laws, including the FTC Act, that cover post-transaction conduct. This Act will allow the Delaware Department of Justice to use the Consumer Fraud Act to address the full range of unfair and deceptive acts or practices that consumers report to the Delaware Department of Justice, including, for example, false and threatening landlord communications, unscrupulous debt collection tactics, and failures to honor promises to fix returned merchandise. It will also ensure that businesses throughout the state can compete on a level playing field throughout the duration of their relationships with consumers, without being undercut by unscrupulous competitors who engage in post-transaction misconduct. Additionally, it ensures that the Delaware Department of Justice is not disadvantaged when coordinating with other states to hold entities accountable for unfair or deceptive acts or practices that are nationwide in scope.

This Joint Resolution directs the Department of Education to compile and submit a comprehensive report regarding the workforce data and compensation of education support professionals for the most recent school year. The report must identify staffing levels, vacancies, average wages paid, and the number of employees earning below a $40 hourly wage threshold. The Department is further required to recommend pay scales that align with a minimum living wage and submit its findings to the General Assembly and relevant state offices by November 2, 2026.

This Act allows the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) to serve a non-custodial parent’s summons for family court hearings by any form of mail with proof of delivery, including using the United States Postal Service or other commercial delivery services such as Federal Express (FedEx) or United Parcel Service (UPS).

This Act requires that the Office of Management and Budget prepare an annual report regarding hiring for state large public works projects with an aggregate cost of $3 million or more. The information in these reports will help identify if Delaware workers, particularly individuals who live near a state public works project, are being hired to work on these projects and for how many hours. This information will also inform the Department of Labor regarding the trades for which trainings should be developed, including details such as if there is a need for training that acclimates aging workers to new technology or to develop youth workforce trainings to prepare future generations to meet employer needs.

This Act requires the Department of Education, in collaboration with school districts, charter schools, and vocational-technical school districts, to make findings and recommendations regarding the advisability of incorporating Delaware homeschool students into public school extracurricular activities within the public school that the student would be attending based on residence if that student were enrolled in public school or within charter schools or vocational-technical school districts, including the creation of a pilot program. The Department shall report its findings and recommendations by December 31, 2027. This Act expires on the date of publication in the Register of Regulations of a notice that the Department has submitted its findings and recommendations. The Director of the Division of Legislative Services shall provide notice to the Registrar of Regulations. Since the legal effect of a joint resolution would expire on November 3, 2026 (the date the General Assembly expires), this reporting requirement is being placed in the Laws of Delaware so as to continue its legal effect until the submission of notice that the Department has submitted its findings and recommendations. This Act expires on the promulgation of notice of the report required in Section 3 of this Act being submitted, which is why the Laws of Delaware are being amended rather than a more permanent change in Title 14 of the Delaware Code.

Section 1 of this Act amends § 3323 of Title 12 to clarify: (1) that powers vested in 2 fiduciaries or nonfiduciaries must be exercised by agreement of both (that is, unanimously), while actions of 3 or more fiduciaries must be exercised by a majority; and (2) how these rules also apply when fiduciaries or nonfiduciaries are designating 1 or more of them to perform ministerial functions on behalf of all of them. In particular, Section 1 of this Act clarifies that when 2 fiduciaries or nonfiduciaries are serving, they can designate 1 of them to perform ministerial functions on behalf of both of them—in other words, that the statute’s existing mention of such designation being available to a majority does not mean that it is available only when there are 3 or more fiduciaries or nonfiduciaries serving. Section 1 of the Act also clarifies (in subsection (a) of § 3323) that the non-liability of fiduciaries or nonfiduciaries who dissent from an action of the majority (if the dissent is evidenced in writing and delivered to the majority) applies only with respect to such action. Section 1 of the Act also reorganizes and rewords § 3323 to reflect current stylistic and formatting preferences. Section 2 of this Act amends § 3325(29) of Title 12 to allow the trustee to select the governing instrument of either the transferor trust or the transferee trust (those two terms being defined in § 3341 of Title 12) in the context of a merger. The purpose of this amendment is to allow flexibility and improve administrative ease so that the name, EIN, account numbers, and other identifying information of the trust may remain unchanged post-merger. Section 3 of this Act amends § 3326 of Title 12 to: (1) Expand the definition of “officeholder” to include those who are empowered to appoint another officeholder; (2) Add a cross-reference to new § 3327A of Title 12 so that the definition of “officeholder” in § 3326 will also apply to § 3327A; and (3) Reorganize and reword § 3326 to reflect current stylistic and formatting preferences. Section 4 of this Act amends Title 12 by moving the language of § 3336 of Title 12 to new § 3327A of Title 12 and by adding provisions to new § 3327A that expand the subject matter of § 3336. More specifically, new § 3327A: (1) Replaces “trustee” with “officeholder” or “trustee or other officeholder” to parallel §§ 3326 and 3327 of Title 12, so that § 3327A will address the appointment of officeholders generally, and not just the appointment of trustees; (2) For trusts that are not continuing (that is, for trusts to which § 3327A(a)(1) —the existing subject matter of § 3336—does apply), changes the current language so that the appointment mechanism to appoint a distributing trustee can also be used where needed to appoint an officeholder other than a trustee; (3) For such distributing trusts, changes the current language so that the appointment of a distributing trustee or other officeholder is accomplished by unanimous consent, rather than by unanimous vote, because “vote” implies procedural formalities that ought not be necessary in such a situation; (4) For trusts that are continuing (that is, for trusts to which § 3327A(a)(1) —the existing subject matter of § 3336—does not apply), creates a new procedure for the appointment of a trustee or other officeholder where there is a vacancy, without the approval of the Court of Chancery, by unanimous consent of certain beneficiaries, but subject to any restrictions that the governing instrument imposes on the appointee; (5) Emphasizes that the unanimous consent required under § 3327A(c) and (d) may be achieved via representation by one or more designated representatives under § 3339 of Title 12 or by one or more virtual representatives under § 3547 of Title 12; (6) Provides expressly that, subject to certain conditions, § 3327A also applies to the appointment of a trustee or other officeholder where another officeholder is supposed to fill a vacancy but has failed to do so within 60 days of being notified of the vacancy; (7) Confirms that, unless a trustee vacancy is required by law to be filled, nothing within § 3327A shall be construed to require filling trustee or other officeholder vacancies when not expressly required by the trust’s governing instrument; and (8) Confirms that nothing within § 3327A shall be construed to limit the appointment of a trustee or other officeholder by a modification of a trust under § 3342 of Title 12 or by a nonjudicial settlement agreement under § 3338 of Title 12. Section 5 of this Act amends § 3341 of Title 12 to allow the trustee to select the governing instrument of either the transferor trust or the transferee trust in the context of a merger in order to align with the amendment made in Section 2 of this Act. Section 6 of this Act amends § 3345 of Title 12 to include references to both the trustee or adviser of a trust, in each place in the statute where only the trustee was formerly referenced, to avoid any potential ambiguity about the statute’s application to beneficiary well-being trusts that are drafted to provide that the trustee shall provide beneficiary well-being programs at the direction of or with the consent of an adviser. Section 6 of this Act also shortens the first sentence of § 3345(d) of Title 12—the original introductory sentence was intended to convey that the statute is applicable where the trustee is directed by an adviser, but this introductory sentence is no longer necessary in light of the other changes to this statute that more directly spell out the dynamic of a directed trust. It is noted for the sake of clarity, however, that this shortening of the first sentence of § 3345(d) of Title 12 does not change that actions taken under § 3345(d) remain subject to applicable fiduciary duties. Section 6 of this Act also clarifies § 3345(d)(3) of Title 12 that payment for beneficiary well-being programs to a trustee or affiliate or adviser is permitted only if the governing instrument expressly authorizes such payment. Section 6 of this act also amends § 3345(d)(3) of Title 12 by deleting the word “fiduciary” as modifying the term “compensation” to reflect that some advisers who are not fiduciaries may receive compensation (and not to have any effect on whether a trustee or adviser is or is not a fiduciary). Section 6 of this Act also adds the word “prior” before the word “disclosure” in the last clause of § 3345(d)(3) of Title 12 to clarify that payment for beneficiary well-being programs to a trustee or affiliate or adviser is permitted without prior notice or prior disclosure to any beneficiary of the trust. Section 7 of this Act amends § 504 of Title 25 to coordinate one of the methods for opting out of the effect of § 504(a) upon the exercise of a power of appointment. The amendment is that the instrument of exercise of a power of appointment should make express reference to the provisions of § 501(a) of Title 25 and should expressly state that it shall not apply to the exercise of the power in order to effectuate the opt-out of § 504(a). This change replaces the prior provision that referred generally to § 501, rather than specifically to § 501(a). Section 8 of this Act provides an effective date.

This Act repeals the sunset date on the rent increase calculations for manufactured home communities that were enacted as a pilot under Senate Bill No. 317 (151st General Assembly), 83 Del. Laws, c. 341. Under this Act, the calculations used for rent increases under § 7052A and § 7052B of Title 25 replace the grounds for rent increases under § 7052 of Title 25.

This act establishes the Athletic Trainers Compact ("Compact"), which facilitates the interstate practice of athletic training and provides for athletic trainers licensed in a participating state the ability to practice in other participating states. The Compact sets forth the requirements to be met in order for a state to join and maintain membership in the Compact. Additionally, the Compact provides the requirements for an athletic trainer to obtain and exercise the ability to practice in the remote participating states. The Compact further provides that an athletic trainer with compact privilege shall function within the scope of practice of the state in which the patient is located and the remote practicing state. The athletic trainers also shall be subject to that remote state's regulatory authority. Participating states shall report any adverse action and significant investigative information to the Compact Data System. An adverse action against an athletic trainer in any participating state shall result in deactivation of the compact privilege during the pendency of the action. An encumbered license in a member state shall not be entitled to compact privilege until the encumbrance has passed and has exceeded two years since any encumbrance or restriction. Additionally, the Compact creates the Athletic Trainer Licensure Compact Commission ("Commission"), which is a joint government agency to administer and implement the Compact, and provides for its powers and duties. Each participating state shall be entitled to one delegate, who shall be selected within sixty days of the effective date, on the Commission. Additionally, there shall be an Executive Committee of the Commission to act on behalf of the Commission. Furthermore, the Compact shall come into effect on the date in which the seventh state enacts the Compact into law. Any participating state may withdraw from the Compact by repealing the Compact, but such withdrawal shall not take effect until 180 days after the enactment of the repeal. Finally, the Compact shall be binding upon participating states and shall supersede any conflict with state law.