Sen. Jack Walsh

This bill would allow insurance companies to invest in mortgages on long-term leaseholds in the jurisdictions approved by the Department of Insurance. It is the intent of the Department of Insurance that the first approved jurisdiction be the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom real estate typically is held not in fee simple (like the US) but long-term land leases. Thirty three other states including Maryland, New Jersey, and New York have similar statues.

This bill increases the amount of the tax credit for active members of volunteer fire, ambulance and rescue service companies and their auxiliaries from $500 to $1,000.

This bill is the Community Workforce Agreement Act. It requires that all large public works construction projects, utilizing state funds, are to be governed by a Community Workforce Agreement with labor organizations engaged in the construction industry to provide structure and stability and promote efficient completion.

Since the creation of the Delaware Heritage Greenway Council in 1992 which then became the Delaware Council on Greenways and Trails, creation and maintenance of greenways and trails have become an important part of the mission of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and especially its parks system. This bill merges the work of the Council on Greenways and Trails with the Parks Advisory Council to formally join their efforts. The two councils already collaborate on the Outdoor Recreation Parks and Trails grant program. This bill expands the Parks Advisory Council and adds trails and greenways as a background sought for some parks council members, and also adds representatives from the General Assembly which the Council on Greenways and Trails has had but the Parks Advisory Council does not currently have. This bill also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act requires Delaware to use the Wireless Emergency Alert (“WEA”) system to notify the public of emergency alerts and requires that the emergency alert system be used when a catastrophic release occurs. A catastrophic release is a major uncontrolled emission, fire, or explosion that presents an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health. This Act also requires that emergency alerts be broadcast in Spanish, in addition to English, when possible. The WEA system is a federal public safety system, currently used by the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA), that allows customers who own mobile devices to receive geographically targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. Delaware still uses reverse 911 notifications to landline phones for environmental hazards, but only 6.5% of U.S. households use landlines as their only form of phone communication. In contrast, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that during the first 6 months of 2020, 62.5% of adults and 73.8% of children lived in wireless-only households. To ensure that Delaware’s cell phone users receive WEA alerts, DEMA asked cell phone users to manually register their cell phones with the Delaware Emergency Notification System ("DENS") to receive WEA notifications. After numerous years of marketing campaigns, and encouragement from public officials, private entities, and advocacy groups, only 3% of Delawareans have manually registered their cell phones with the Delaware Emergency Notification System to receive wireless emergency alerts. In addition, because the WEA system targets geographic areas, emergency alerts are sent to all wireless devices with service provided by participating carriers. Thus, emergency alerts are provided to wireless devices in the geographic area affected by the hazard, regardless of whether people register their phones, live in the area, or have phone numbers with a local area code. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming more and more popular. Between 2012 and 2016, EV sales grew at an annual rate 32%. In 2017, growth in sales reached 45%. Batteries for EVs have become much cheaper in the last 10 years, enabling EVs to compete with traditional, fossil-fueled vehicles. In addition, major vehicle manufacturers are pledging to go all electric. Some researchers are predicting that EV sales will outnumber those of traditional, combustion engine vehicles by 2040. However, only minimal electrical charging infrastructure is available today. Like Senate Bill No. 187, this Substitute will make it easier and more convenient to own an electric vehicle in this State in the years to come, resulting in increased purchases of electric vehicles, promoting cleaner air and water, and resulting in improved health outcomes for Delawareans and a reduction of greenhouse gases to curtail global warming. Specifically, like Senate Bill No. 187, this Substitute achieves these ends by requiring municipalities with a population of 30,000 or more to develop a procedure to obtain permission for the installation of an electric vehicle charging station on real property zoned for residential use that abuts a residential street. This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 187 as follows: (1) By removing the requirement that an ordinance adopted by a municipality establish the qualifications required by the licensed electrician who installs an electric vehicle charging station. (2) By clarifying that a municipality may not require an individual owner of real property to install an electric vehicle charging station for another person, including a tenant, guest, or customer, unless the requirement is adopted as part of a municipal zoning or building code that is of general applicability. This Substitute Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter, whether directly, by amendment to a specific municipality’s charter, or, as in this Act, indirectly, by a general law.

Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) was intended to create a State-wide and generally applicable standard for citizens’ access to public records and to further the accountability of government to the citizens of this State. To ensure consistency in the processing of requests for public records, and to ensure the goals of FOIA are being realized, this bill amends earlier-enacted provisions in the Delaware Insurance Code and Administrative Procedures Act related to public inspection of State agency documents to incorporate by reference the requirements of the later-enacted FOIA statute.

This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the regular session of the General Assembly from extending beyond 5:00 p.m. on the last day of June, unless the session is recalled by the Governor or the presiding officers of both Houses. This changes the time beyond which a regular session of the General Assembly may not extend from midnight on June 30 to 5:00 p.m., which changes the time at which the presiding officers of both Houses must act to recall the General Assembly into special session. This means the General Assembly no longer has to remain in session until midnight to recall itself into special session. This Act does not change the date of or process for “final adjournment,” as defined in Opinion of the Justices, 175 A.2d 543, 545 (Del. 1961) (“‘[F]inal adjournment’ . . . means the adjournment sine die of the second regular session, or, in the absence of such adjournment, the extinguishment of the particular General Assembly by reason of expiration of the terms of office of the members.”). In addition, this Act contemplates that each House will continue its traditional practice of recessing to the call of the chair. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution.

This Act exempts all Judicial Branch employees from the Executive Branch’s Merit System of Personnel Administration. By enacting a comprehensive set of Judicial Branch Personnel Rules and updating those rules to apply to all Judicial Branch employees, the Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court has exercised his constitutionally conferred authority to administer employment relations for the Judicial Branch. Superior Court v. State, Public Employment Relations Bd., 988 A.2d 429 (Del. 2010). This Act recognizes and respects the constitutional powers vested in the Chief Justice, as the administrative head of the Judicial Branch, to govern Judicial Branch employment relations. This Act will not curtail any bargained-for employment rights currently held by Judicial Branch employees covered by the Merit System. Instead, this Act will simplify matters of personnel administration for the Judicial Branch by having one consistent set of rules and processes apply equally to all Judicial Branch employees. This Act will become effective for all current and future Judicial Branch employees within six months from the date of enactment.

This resolution recognizes the month of June as "Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month" in Delaware.