Sen. Jack Walsh

Like House Bill 187, this substitute permits wine producers holding a valid license within this State or another state to obtain a license and ship wine directly to Delaware consumers, so long as it is done through a common carrier permit. This substitute act adjusts the language in this act to be consistent with the Liquor Control Act (LCA). Language regarding common carrier licenses has been moved to Chapter 5 of Title 4. It adds a definition for "common carrier" and requires age verification training for common carrier employees and independent contractors, with training to be approved by the Commissioner. This substitute also extends the effective date of the Act to 365 days after enactment into law and requires the Commissioner to study the impact of this Act on wine retailers and submit the results of such study to the Governor and the General Assembly by June 1, 2028. This substitute also adds a sunset provision of 5 years to the Act, unless otherwise provided by a subsequent act of the General Assembly.

This Act establishes a new state-level Department of Veterans Affairs led by a cabinet-level Secretary to advocate for and administer programs relating to veterans in the State of Delaware. It is the intent of this legislation that current staff of the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Veterans Affairs will continue their work, but as part of the new Department of Veterans Affairs, with the potential for expanded staff and duties in accordance with annual appropriations. The Department will hire veterans wherever possible. The Commission of Veterans Affairs will continue in its current form. It will continue to oversee the Delaware Veterans Home and will serve in an advisory role to the new Secretary and Department on other matters relating to veterans. The new Department is tasked with developing and proposing strategies for the provision of alternative elder care or the establishment of one or more additional veterans homes to serve the aging veteran population. House Substitute No. 1 to House Bill No. 1 differs from the original in that the Department of Veterans Affairs will for the present remain a part of the Department of State for budgetary, administrative, and operational purposes. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with other executive branch officials, is directed to develop a transition plan to separate from the Department of State and operate as a separate Department by July 1, 2030, or such time as there will be no negative impacts to the funding for veterans programs in Delaware. The plan must be presented to the General Assembly as a Transition Report and approved through a concurrent resolution.

This Act does all of the following regarding suspected human trafficking of children: 1. Ensures the sharing of information between the Child Protection Accountability Commission (CPAC) and the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council. 2. Expressly requires a multidisciplinary response to these cases, similar to child deaths and serious physical injury. 3. Even though human trafficking of children is child abuse, specifically delineates it throughout the child abuse multidisciplinary investigative response. 4. Codifies a review panel and oversight committee within CPAC for these cases, with the same authority, subpoena power, and immunities provided to the system that reviews child abuse deaths and near deaths. 5. Establishes that the Office of the Child Advocate will staff the review panel and oversight committee. This Act ensures that Delaware law is consistent with federal law requiring states to consider victims of human trafficking as victims of child abuse and neglect, and requiring the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families to investigate these cases. See the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et. seq.) and Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (Pub. L. 114-22). Finally, this Act makes minor technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act requires the tax collecting authority of each county, in the first tax year following a general reassessment, to allow the payment of school taxes under a payment plan of at least 3 equal installments for a residential taxpayer, in a primary residence, whose tax bill increases by $300 or more over the prior year. No late fees, interest, or penalties may be assessed to a taxpayer who enters and complies with a payment plan. The Act also reduces late payment penalties for school taxes in New Castle County to 1% per month, the current penalty for late payment in Kent and Sussex. This Act sunsets 3 years after its enactment into law.

This Act codifies Delaware’s longstanding common law recognition of the authority of Delaware counties and municipalities to separately tax different classes of real property if the classification is reasonable and, under § 1 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution, the tax rates are uniform for all real property in each classification. See Green v. Sussex County, 668 A.2d 770, 776 (Del. Super. Ct. 1995), aff’d 667 A.2d 1319 TABLE (Del. 1995); Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Smith, 131 A.2d 168, 177-78 (Del. 1957); Phila. B & W R. Co. v. Mayor & Council of Wilm., 57 A.2d 759, 765-66 (Del. Ch. 1948); Conrad v. State, 16 A.2d 121, 125-26 (Del. 1940). As this Act is a codification of longstanding authority of taxing authorities to separately tax different classes of real property, Section 5 of this Act makes clear that this Act applies to county tax rates retroactively and prospectively.

This Act allows any school district located in New Castle County to reset its tax rates for the 2025-2026 tax year and to reissue a tax warrant using different residential and non-residential tax rates. The non-residential tax rate must be at least equal to the residential tax rate and may not be more than 2 times the residential tax rate. The total amount of revenue projected to be collected through use of the residential and non-residential tax rates may not exceed the total amount of revenue the district was projected to collect under its original tax warrant. The districts have 10 business days from the enactment of this Act to reset the rates and issue a new tax warrant to New Castle County. Upon receipt of a new tax warrant, New Castle County will supplement any tax bill already issued for taxpayers in that district and adjust tax bills with an extended deadline for payment of October 30, 2025 for tax bills that change. For any taxpayer who submits payment under the original tax bill and whose total school tax liability is adjusted downward, the difference will be credited against future tax liability unless the taxpayer submits a written request for a refund, in which case New Castle County shall issue a refund. A school district that resets its rates in accordance with this Act may request and borrow from State Division I funds in the event of a cash flow shortfall of local school funds due to the extension of the deadline for tax payments for the 2026 fiscal year.

This Act requires a county to issue a refund to a taxpayer for property tax determined to have been overpaid for that year after an assessment appeal if the amount is $50 or greater. A county may elect to refund or credit the amount against future taxes due when the overpayment is less than $50. Amounts in school taxes determined to have been overpaid by a taxpayer after an assessment appeal will be refunded by the county following the same rule.

Beginning in 2002, schools, school districts, and licensed child care providers have been required to keep binders of community notifications with information about registered sex offenders. This requirement was enacted based on recommendation from the Community Notification Task Force that schools have a role in community awareness. However, this requirement has created financial, administrative, and emotional burdens for staff who maintain the binders. The binders are rarely reviewed by the public and they do not necessarily provide up-to-date information or information on sex offenders in the immediate geographic area of the school, school district, or licensed child care provider. Additionally, in its March 31, 2002, report, the Community Notification School Task Force found that schools do not have the expertise to answer inevitable questions regarding the nature of particular offenses or the risk posed by particular offenders, and that it is not an appropriate role for educators to answer those questions. This Act eliminates the requirement that a school, school district, or licensed child care provider keep community notifications in a binder. Instead, schools, school district, or licensed child care providers are required to provide “school and child care notification” that includes all of the following information: 1. Notification that searchable records available to the public can be obtained at a police agency or the Delaware State Bureau of Identification (“SBI”). 2. Notification that the public can register for community notifications on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. 3. The URL for the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. The school, school district, or licensed child care provider must provide the school and child care notification upon request from staff, faculty, or a parent or guardian of an enrolled child. Additionally, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must post the school and child care notification on its website or, if it does not have website, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must send the information to staff, faculty, and a legal parent or guardian of an enrolled child in writing at least annually. The Act also clarifies that sex offender registry information must be available on the Internet on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) guidelines require law enforcement to keep a registry of sex offenders and to provide public notification. Specifically, the guidelines require law enforcement to notify schools, but do not require schools to provide access to sex offender records. Instead, federal law enacted in 2006, 34 U.S.C. § 20920, requires states to provide public access to sex offender registry information on the Internet. The SBI maintains the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry on its website, which allows the general public to find information about registered sex offenders by searching the offender’s information or by searching in a geographic radius. The website also allows the public to sign up for e-mail notifications regarding sex offenders who appear on the website. The website is updated every Friday. It is easily accessible to most of the public, including on computers at public libraries. Additionally, the public can request sex offender registry information in-person at a Delaware State Police troop. The public also can call the SBI for information. Certain municipal police agencies, such as the City of Dover Police Department and the Newark Delaware Police Department, also provide access to community notifications for offenders located in the municipality on the agency’s website. Law-enforcement agencies are better equipped than schools or licensed childcare providers to answer questions about the registry. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Section 1 of this Act requires modifications to exemptions from county taxation to reasonably reflect changes in property value and inflation. This Act also requires New Castle County to use the same eligibility criteria and calculation formula for exemption from school taxes that it used for county taxes as of June 1, 2025. Section 2 of this Act provides that upon passage of House Bill No. 242 of the 153rd General Assembly, the expanded school tax exemption will be applied during the 2025-2026 tax year in any New Castle County School district that reissues its tax warrant in accordance with House Bill No. 242.

This Act authorizes school districts to set different tax rates for residential and non-residential property. The non-residential rate must be at least as great as the residential rate and may be no more than twice the residential rate. The school district must set both rates so that it is not realizing any more revenue than it was authorized to collect by law if it were using a single tax rate. This Act also makes a change to the additional amount a school board may approve to the tax rate to account for delinquencies and costs of collection. Under current law a school board is required to add 10% to its authorized tax rate for delinquencies and costs of collection. This Act allows, but does not require, a school board to add up to 10% to its tax rate for delinquencies and costs of collection. Technical corrections are also made to align these sections with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.