For more information on these and other bills, please visit the
General Assembly’s website at www.legis.state.de.us

Legislation sponsored by Rep. Lavelle during the 142nd General Assembly

House Bill 192—This bill requires the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to share 25% of the fines levied on polluters with the communities where the pollution takes place. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 63—Sometimes at a construction or renovation site, large dumpsters are placed along the road, usually in parking spaces. These dumpsters create a safety hazard, especially at night. This bill requires that a trash container which has a capacity of 2 cubic yards or greater and which is placed on a highway (as defined in Title 21) have at least 24 pieces of reflective material attached along its sides (a piece of reflective material at the bottom, midpoint, and top on both sides of each corner). The name and phone number of the owner or the owner's agent must also be on the container in letters and numbers at least 3" high. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 157—The legislation would increase the state’s share of the 3% realty transfer tax and decrease the share of the counties and municipalities. Currently, the state and the counties and municipalities share the revenue from the tax with each receiving 1.5% of the amount. Under the legislation, the state’s share would increase from 1.5% to 1.875%, and the counties’ and municipalities’ share would decrease from 1.5% to 1.125%. The new formula is expected to generate approximately $17.5 million in revenue for the state. (Status: Pending in House Revenue and Finance Committee)

House Bill 19—The legislation allows 16- and 17-year-olds to serve as election clerks at the polls on General Election Day. Prior to the bill being signed into law, election clerks must be at least 18-years-old and registered to vote. The legislation permits a 16- or 17-year-old to be appointed to serve as an election clerk as long as he or she is a United States citizen, a resident of Delaware, attends high school, and has written permission from a parent or guardian. The bill also authorizes the Department of Elections to appoint Delaware residents under the age of 18 who are attending college to serve as election officers on General Election Day. (Status: Signed)

Bills that Rep. Lavelle sponsored in the 141st General Assembly

House Bill 550—The legislation would afford the same employment protection provisions to poll workers that people receive when they serve on a jury. Currently, Delaware Code protects the employment of people who serve as jurors by providing that an employer cannot deprive a person of employment, or threaten to do so, because the employee serves as a juror or is required to take time off for prospective jury service. The bill provides similar protections for people who serve as election officers. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 210—This Constitutional Amendment provides for the appointment of a Recorder of Deeds in each county by the resident Superior Court Judge in each county. Enactment of this legislation will only provide for the appointment, rather than the election, of the Recorder of Deeds, and will not affect the operations of the Recorders' Office in each county or the status of said offices' employment. (Status: Pending in Senate Executive Committee)

House Bill 213—The bill is designed to ensure the safety of a child car seat after the seat has been involved in an auto accident. Under the legislation, any driver with a child in a safety seat who has been involved in an accident must be given a notice by the investigating police officer that indicates the child safety seat should be replaced. The bill is for informational safety purposes only, and does not provide for any penalty in the event of non-compliance with the notice. (Status: Pending in Senate Executive Committee)

House Bill 457—The legislation would allow all Delaware students, including those attending public, private and charter schools as well as those students who are home schooled, to be eligible to participate in the scholarship program. The bill includes a provision that requires all students to take the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) in order to become eligible for the program. (Status: Pending in House Education Committee)

House Bill 452—This bill authorizes law enforcement agencies to require an individual assuming custody of a person arrested for DUI to be warned in writing of the criminal and civil liability for allowing the person arrested to operate a motor vehicle while still intoxicated. (Status: Pending in House)

House Bill 398—The purpose of this legislation is to provide tax incentives to encourage the development and growth of Internet-based business and electronic commerce within the State of Delaware. (Status: Pending in House Revenue and Finance Committee)

Bills that Rep. Lavelle co-sponsored in the 142nd General Assembly

House Bill 400 -- This legislation changes the primary election day from Saturday to Tuesday starting with the 2006 election. Holding Saturday primaries conflicts with the Jewish Sabbath, and it is hoped that moving the primary to a weekday will improve voter turnout. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 310—The bill is intended to protect Delaware from a serious medical malpractice crisis that other states are facing. The legislation is designed to ensure that sky-rocketing malpractice court settlements or insurance premiums do not drive doctors over the state line or out of their profession. By keeping good doctors in Delaware, consumers will not have to drive long distances to see their physician. A medical malpractice crisis can force doctors to practice in another state, ultimately leaving Delaware consumers with fewer choices of doctors. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 168—The measure is intended to give seniors an additional tool to deter individuals from victimizing them through consumer fraud. Before this bill was signed into law, there was no provision to allow a person who had been defrauded to sue for damages. But, the Delaware State Supreme Court has long held that people who have been cheated in a consumer fraud scheme do have the ability to bring a private cause of action under Delaware’s Consumer Fraud Act. This bill now makes it clear that people who were victimized through consumer fraud are able to sue to recover the damages lost. It allows consumer fraud victims who are seniors or disabled to recover three times the amount they have been cheated. Such damages will be in addition to any other damages to which the victim is entitled. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 136—This bill will allow Delaware licensed adoption agencies to place children with couples in an adjacent state, without losing the right to obtain the termination of parental rights of the children in the Family Court of the State of Delaware. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 118—The law will set into play a series of actions that should allow northern New Castle County, the most densely populated area of the state, to fully meet its water needs by 2010, even under drought conditions. Some of the key provisions of the bill include requiring Delaware's water utilities to implement a water conservation rate structure by 2005; requiring water utilities to certify every three years that they can meet the projected demand of their service area during the following three-year period; and giving the Delaware Public Service Commission a broader scope and additional powers. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 112—This bill increases the penalty for exceeding the posted occupancy limit, as determined by the State Fire Marshal, in occupancies that hold more than 50 people. The fine shall be at least $10 but not more than $100 per person that exceed the permitted number of people in the building. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 109—This bill mandates that chronic violators (companies that repeatedly violate pollution laws and create safety hazards) submit annual environmental audits; it expands reporting requirements of existing permit holders including the owners of the facilities, their record of violations in Delaware, and the environmental record of facilities they operate in other states; and it gives DNREC the ability to suspend or revoke the permits of facilities guilty of on-going violations threatening the public welfare. (Status: Signed)

Senate Bill 92—This legislation clarifies that teachers teaching full time at a charter school are eligible for the critical need scholarships. This legislation also clarifies that the eligibility criteria for the scholarship is cumulative and that a teacher must hold a limited standard, temporary or emergency certificate in order to be eligible. (Status: Signed)

Senate Bill 35—Currently it is illegal for someone to drive their car with certain window tintings, but it is not illegal to do the tinting itself. This Bill makes it illegal to install tinting for a fee when that tinting makes it illegal for the car to be driven. (Status: Signed)

Senate Bill 102—This legislation creates the Delaware Cancer Consortium, a collaborative effort between private and public entities designed to implement the recommendations of the Delaware Advisory Council on Cancer Incidence and Mortality. The Consortium will provide advice and support to state agencies, cancer centers, cancer control organizations, and health care practitioners regarding their role in reducing mortality and morbidity from cancer. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 47—This bill moves the date on which all political parties must hold their primary elections from the first Saturday next following the first Monday in September to the second Tuesday in September. (Status: pending in Senate Insurance and Elections Committee)

House Bill 154—This legislation updates language contained in the Delaware Code that references "developmentally disabled persons" (an outdated (1978) federal definition) with a more current reference to "persons with disabilities" in the housing context and eliminates provisions that are invalid under the Federal Fair Housing Act. (Status: Signed)

House Bill 51—This bill allows specified fire and EMS personnel to add white flashing lights on their personal vehicles to increase highway safety when they are in the performance of their duties. (Status: Signed)

House Resolution 51—This Resolution urges the Delaware Congressional Delegation to continue to seek solutions to reducing problems associated from air traffic from the Philadelphia International Airport over Northern Delaware. (Status: Passed House)

House Bill 225—This bill provides that county zoning regulations do not apply to lands, buildings, greenhouses, and other structures dedicated to agricultural use, including agri-tourism operations. (Status: Signed)

Senate Bill 118—The bill permits police officers or appropriate staff of the Department of Transportation to have these vehicles parked on the state’s right-of-way towed at the registered owner's expense, in much the same way it is now permitted to tow those vehicles abusing the designated parking zones for disabled persons. In addition, the registered owner would face the same fines and penalties as now provided under state law for other unattended vehicle violations. The bill would not apply to vehicles parked on the state right-of-way because they are disabled or otherwise legally parked on the right-of-way. (Status: Signed)