DelCOG supports amending House Bill 311 to require disclosure of public ownership of real estate properties subject to school safety zones. DelCOG has sent the following request to the General Assembly.
Passed April 2025.
HB 311 with HA 1, HA 2, and SA 1
Primary Sponsor: Romer
Additional Sponsor(s): Sen. Sokola
Co-Sponsor(s): Reps. K. Johnson, Morrison, Baumbach, Sen. Gay, Hansen
Current Status: Passed 6/30/24
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO A SAFE SCHOOL ZONE.
Request:
- Amend the corporate code to require public disclosure of all beneficial owners for all real estate properties. This would allow individuals to know which properties are owned by a College or University, and therefore the extent of the College or University Safe Zone.
- Amend the Charter of the University of Delaware to extend the rights of the public to access records under the Freedom of Information Act to all the University’s LLC subsidiaries.
Justification:
The bill allows for arrest and potential incarceration under a Class A Misdemeanor (up to one year) for possessing a firearm in a College or University Safe Zone, which is defined as any building, structure, athletic field, sports stadium or real property owned, operated, leased, or rented by any public or private college or university.
This is an open government problem for two reasons:
- The University of Delaware owns a substantial amount of property under LLC subsidiaries, the beneficial ownership of which is concealed by the corporate veil in the Delaware Code. Many of these properties are not used for campus learning or student housing, which creates confusion about what areas are part of a College or University Safe Zone. As a result, individuals may be unknowingly committing a crime leading to incarceration for lack of knowledge about something of which they have no legal right to know and no ability to learn.
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- The Division of Corporations does not enforce existing requirements that LLCs maintain a current and accurate registered agent to accept communications directed to the legal entity. The registered agent for 1743 Holdings has been out of date for 9 years, making it impossible for anyone to successfully contact an LLC to inquire about beneficial ownership.
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- In the past the University of Delaware has claimed that because their LLC subsidiaries are not directly owned by the University, these properties are not subject to the public documents disclosures of the Freedom of Information Act. The importance of this issue came to light as UD escaped FOIA and the disclosure of records pertaining to the construction of a power plant on Star Campus during 2013 and 2014 because Star Campus is directly owned by 1743 Holdings LLC and not the University, even though the University is the sole beneficial owner.