144th General Assembly wraps up a late night

Delaware’s General Assembly wrapped up its 144th legislative session early Tuesday, but not before taking steps to address issues in manufactured housing communities and passing a budget void of proposed hospital and alcohol tax increases.

Manufactured housing
After several years of struggles between landlords and tenants of manufactured housing communities, the state House and Senate unanimously passed House Bill 504, legislation granting homeowners the first right of refusal to purchase the land they lease. 

HB 504, sponsored by Rep. Robert Valihura (R-Talleyville), also outlines model bylaws to be used by homeowners associations.

Rep. Greg Hastings (R-Millsboro) also introduced House bills 523 and 524 just before the session ended in the early morning hours of July 1. The pair of bills, which were assigned to the Subcommittee on Manufactured Housing, could potentially expand the scope of the Lot Rental Assistance Program and force better disclosure from landlords.


Budget approval
Assembly members also stayed in Dover until almost 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning to approve an approximately $3.3 billion budget.

Despite cutting proposed hospital taxes and increased alcohol taxes, the budget was balanced and signed into law by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner. A $601 million bond bill and $45 million Grant-in-Aid bill were also passed.

For the full text of the approved budget, visit the General Assembly’s Web site at legis.delaware.gov.


At the county level
Several bills that would affect Sussex  County government in significant ways did not come to a vote, and will await action in the next session, according to Legislative Hall officials.

House bills (HB) 39 and 42 could expand the council and planning commission. HB 39 calls for the expansion of the planning and zoning commission from five to seven members, which the majority of council opposed. However, they were mostly in support of a similar expansion of county council under HB 42.
 
“Bigger government is not a better government,” said Councilman George Cole (R-Ocean View), who was opposed to HB 42. 

Both bills are in the Senate Executive Committee.

HB 30, which the majority of council was opposed to, prohibits spraying treated wastewater on state-owned lands. Introduced in January last year, the bill has undergone several amendments and is now before the Senate Executive Committee.

A couple bills deal with Realty Transfer Tax (RTT). HB 111 prevents local governments from collecting RTT on conveyances that occur outside county or local growth zones or in Level 4 areas. Areas exempt from local RTT are subject to a 3 percent State transfer tax, which is divided equally between the General Fund and the Transportation Trust Fund. The county currently collects 1.5 percent in Level 4 areas, which account for 80 percent of the land in Sussex.  The bill was substituted by HS 1 and assigned to the Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee.

HB 420, which is pending action in the House Education Committee, would increase the state’s RTT from 3 to 3.32 percent, with the resulting revenue used to create the Community College Infrastructure Fund. This fund would then be used to repay general obligation bonds issued by the state to finance major and minor capital projects and other expenses of Delaware Tech. Anyone purchasing a home valued at $150,000 or less would be exempt from the higher levy. Supporters feel an increase is needed to provide Del Tech with a dedicated source of revenue to deal with rising student enrollment.

HB 186 prohibits subdivisions outside county or local growth zones or in Level 4 areas. It is before the House Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee.

Other bills:
• HB 239, the “Public Facilities Bill,” calls for the approval and disapproval of new developments and zoning changes to be placed in the hands of the Office of State Planning (OSP).

The OSP would institute new, statewide impact fees for developers and take the burden away from taxpayers. Minimum standards set by OSP would determine the adequacy of public facilities and services for water, health care, transportation, storm water management, schools and wastewater transmission, treatment and disposal.

The bill is currently before the House Transporation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee.

• HB 244 provides two components for better land use planning and development by first setting up a process for the transfer of development rights (TDR) and setting up a TDR bank and second, by creating special development districts, which would provide for financing of infrastructure.

The council, which is creating its own legislation for special development tax districts, opposed HB 244. The county’s legislation consists of three options, one to limit bonds to the total amount of site improvements, a second to limit bonds to offsite improvement directly related to development or examine them on a case-by-case basis.
HB 244 is out of committee.

• HB 453, mostly opposed by the county, promotes several agritourism activities and exempts them from zoning restrictions.  The businesses would be regulated statewide by the Department of Agriculture, taking control from the hands of local government. Councilmen questioned some items, such as temporary camping, wondering how long “temporary” was and felt overall that the bill was too broad and vague.
HB 453 passed in the House with a 39-0 vote on June 25.