Bill Text: DE HB6 | 2015-2016 | 148th General Assembly | Draft

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Bill Title: An Act To Amend Title 14 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Charter Of The University Of Delaware.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-01-20 - Introduced and Assigned to House Administration Committee in House [HB6 Detail]

Download: Delaware-2015-HB6-Draft.html

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SPONSOR:	Rep. Baumbach & Sen. Sokola Reps. Brady, J. Johnson, Keeley, Lynn, Osienski, Paradee;Sen. Townsend

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

148th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 6

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE CHARTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE.

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 §5106, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§5106 Board of Trustees — Powers.

(a) The Board of Trustees shall have the entire control and management of the affairs of the University. The Board may exercise all the powers and franchises of the University, appoint and remove all subordinate officers and agents, and make bylaws as well for their own government as that of the University.

(b) Notwithstanding any provisions appearing elsewhere in the laws of this State which might suggest or provide the contrary, the entire control and management of the affairs of the University, which is conferred upon the Board of Trustees by the foregoing paragraph, shall be construed, in the area of fiscal and revenue matters, as including, but not as being limited to, the following powers and duties:

(1) All authority with respect to salaries and compensatory payments or benefits, as well as other terms of employment, of any and all University personnel, and individual salaries or salary increases or other benefits do not have to be reported or justified to any official or agency of the State (except to comply with applicable laws and regulations providing for preference in employment of laborers, workers and mechanics who reside in the State and the applicable minimum wage requirements for public construction projects, and to cooperate in the ordinary way with the appropriate officials with respect to income tax and other tax matters);

(2) The management of all of the remaining fiscal affairs of the University, including the establishment of fees and charges, the collection thereof and the adoption of the University's budget, the establishment of all accounting and auditing procedures (subject to the duty to obtain independent certified audits as provided in §5109 of this title), the authorization, issuance and repayment of bonds or other obligations of the University;

(3) The selection of means and procedures for the deposit, investment and control of all moneys, funds and securities which are now held or which may at any time be received by the University, as well as the allocation, use and reinvestment of the proceeds and earnings of any such deposits and investments and the right to commingle funds appropriated by the State with other funds of the University;

(4) The right to elect whether and to what extent to participate in programs of which all or a part of the costs are provided by the United States of America or by the State or any subdivision or municipality thereof;

(5) Control of all matters having to do with the formulation of the terms of contracts for the construction of buildings or other University facilities, as well as the manner of awarding contracts or purchasing supplies and equipment;

(6) In respect to the purchase of supplies and equipment, regulations established by the State for bulk or central purchasing are not to apply to the University of Delaware unless the General Assembly expressly so provides, and in that case are to be understood as applying only to transactions involving the expenditures of moneys which have been appropriated from the General Fund of the State;

(7) The planning for buildings and improvements and the extension or diminution of the campus or other land holdings are matters wholly under the control of the Trustees except where inspection or regulations may be provided for by law in respects involving the health or safety of the occupants of the buildings or where the planning for buildings and improvements and the extension or diminution of the campus or other land holdings relate to a structure that is not associated with student instruction, student residence, student dining, student parking, student athletics, or academic research, in which case the Trustees must abide by the relevant zoning restrictions as provided for by law and regulation;

(8) Where moneys are appropriated by the General Assembly to the University, unless the General Assembly should expressly provide otherwise, they are intended to be paid to the University in equal monthly installments and are not in any event to be cumbered by any procedures calling for preaudit or other administrative control exercised by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget or other agency or official of the State.

SYNOPSIS

The Court of Chancery has held that §5106(b)(7) of Title 14 "expressly evidenced [the General Assembly's] intent that control of University [of Delaware] land development and use is within the exclusive control of the Board of Trustees of the University [of Delaware]" and that a State agency, like the University of Delaware, is "generally . . . immune from local zoning ordinances." City of Newark v. University of Delaware, 304 A.2d 347, 348 (Del. Ch. 1973).

This Act amends the Charter of the University of Delaware to clarify that it is the intent of the General Assembly that the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware have exclusive control over land development, and that the University of Delaware be immune from zoning laws and regulations, only to the extent that the University of Delaware's land development relates to structures associated with providing for student services or academic research.