Bill Text: DE HB405 | 2013-2014 | 147th General Assembly | Draft

Delaware House Bill 405 (Prior Session Legislation)

Draft

Bill Title: An Act Proposing An Amendment To Article Iii Of The Delaware Constitution Relating To The Clerk Of The Peace.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-06-19 - Stricken [HB405 Detail]

Download: Delaware-2013-HB405-Draft.html

SPONSOR:	Rep. Schwartzkopf & Rep. Longhurst & Rep. Viola & Rep. Hudson & Rep. D.E. Williams & Sen. Blevins & Sen. Lavelle & Sen. Peterson
	Rep. Brady

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

147th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 405

AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE III OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO THE CLERK OF THE PEACE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE (Two-thirds of all members elected to each house thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. Amend Article III of the Delaware Constitution by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§11. County officers; qualifications; members of Congress, federal employees and other officers holding dual office.

Section 11. No person shall be elected or appointed to an office within a county who shall not have a right to vote for a Representative in the General Assembly, and have been a resident therein one year next before his or her election or appointment, nor hold the office longer than he or she continues to reside in the county, unless herein otherwise provided.

No member of Congress, nor any person holding or exercising any office under the United States, except officers usually appointed by the courts of justice respectively and attorneys-at-law, shall at the same time hold or exercise any office of profit under this State, unless herein otherwise provided.

No person shall hold more than one of the following offices at the same time, to-wit: Secretary of State, Attorney-General, Insurance Commissioner, State Treasurer, Auditor of Accounts, Prothonotary, ~~Clerk of the Peace,~~ Register of Wills, Recorder, or Sheriff.

§22. Election and term of office of certain county officers; commission.

Section 22. The terms of office of ~~Clerks of the Peace,~~ Registers of Wills, Recorders, and Sheriffs shall be 4 years. These officers shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the respective counties at general elections, and be commissioned by the Governor.

§23. Place of office of certain county officers.

Section 23. Prothonotaries, ~~Clerks of the Peace,~~ Registers of Wills, Recorders and Sheriffs shall keep their offices in the town or place in each county in which the Superior Court is usually held.

Section 2.Any person elected and commissioned as a Clerk of the Peace as of the effective date of the second leg of this constitutional amendment shall continue to hold the respective office for the full term for which such person was elected; provided, however, that a vacancy in the office after the effective date of this legislation by reason of ineligibility, death, resignation, or otherwise shall be filled by appointment of the Governor or left vacant if the Governor so determines.

SYNOPSIS

This bill is the first leg of a Constitutional amendment that eliminates reference to the county elective office of Clerk of the Peace.Contemporaneously with the second leg of the Constitutional Amendment, the implementation language will be filed as a separate bill to maintain a Marriage Bureau in each county under the Secretary of Health and Social Services.