Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 29 > Chapter 80 - Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

• Abuse: means :

  a. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902

• Accessible level: shall mean the first floor of the dwelling unit. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4202
• Accessible route: shall mean a continuous, unobstructed path that complies with § 4204 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4202
• Administering entity: shall mean any state agency, local government, municipality or any instrumentality thereof responsible for the process by which public financial assistance is allocated, distributed, conveyed, contracted, or appropriated or any entity performing those duties on behalf of any state agency, local government, municipality, or any instrumentality thereof. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4202
• adult person: means a person of the age of 18 years or older. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Adult who is impaired: shall mean any person 18 years of age or over who, because of physical or mental disability, is substantially impaired in the ability to provide adequately for the person's own care and custody. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Alleged victim: shall mean any adult who is impaired, incapacitated, elderly or vulnerable that may have been abused, neglected or exploited based on a report to Adult Protective Services. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• area of operation: means the county or part of the county in and with respect to which an authority shall be created. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Bureau: means the State Bureau of Housing. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• Caregiver: means any adult who has assumed the permanent or temporary care, custody or responsibility for the supervision of an adult who is impaired. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Commissioner: means 1 of the members of an authority appointed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Court: means the Court of Chancery of the State. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. See Delaware Code Title 29 Sec. 8092
• Department: means the Department of Health and Social Services of the State. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 101
• Division: means the Division of Public Health. See Delaware Code Title 29 Sec. 8092
• dollars: means lawful money of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• DSHA: means the Delaware State Housing Authority. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• Dwelling unit: shall mean any single family residence and each individual living unit in a duplex or triplex, or semi-detached residential building which is constructed with public financial assistance. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4202
• Emergency: means that a person is living in conditions which present a substantial risk of serious harm and includes, but is not limited to, problems which cannot be managed by a person who is impaired, such as insufficient food supply, inadequate shelter, threatened or actual abuse or utility shut-off. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Exploitation: means an act of forcing, compelling, or exerting undue influence over a vulnerable adult causing the vulnerable adult to act in a way that is inconsistent with relevant past behavior, or causing the vulnerable adult to perform services for the benefit of another. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial exploitation: includes , but is not limited to:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902

• Financial institution: means any of the following:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902

• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Government: includes the state and federal governments, and any subdivision, agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• housing authority: means a corporate body organized in accordance with the provisions of this chapter for the purposes, with the powers and subject to the restrictions set forth in this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• Independent living arrangement: means a mode of life pursued by a person capable of providing for the person's own care or who, while impaired, nevertheless is able to live outside an institution with assistance in obtaining essential services. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Infant: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Interested person: means any adult relative or friend of a person who is impaired; an official or representative of the protective services agency or of any public or nonpublic private agency; or any corporation, board, organization or person designated by the Court to act in the interest of the person who is impaired. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Knowledge: means a person's actual knowledge of a fact, rather than the person's constructive knowledge of the fact. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 17-101
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Maximum contaminant level: means the legal threshold limit on the amount of a substance that is allowed in public water systems. See Delaware Code Title 29 Sec. 8092
• Mistreatment: means the failure to provide appropriate physical or emotional care to an adult who is impaired, including the inappropriate use of medications, isolation or physical or chemical restraints on or of an adult who is impaired. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Neglect: means :

  a. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902

• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means a natural person, partnership (whether general or limited), limited liability company, trust (including a common law trust, business trust, statutory trust, voting trust or any other form of trust), estate, association (including any group, organization, co-tenancy, plan, board, council or committee), corporation, government (including a country, state, county or any other governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality), custodian, nominee or any other individual or entity (or series thereof) in its own or any representative capacity, in each case, whether domestic or foreign. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 17-101
• Person who is incapacitated: means a person for whom a guardian of person or property, or both, shall be appointed, under § 3901 of Title 12. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Persons of low income: means persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary, as determined by the authority undertaking a project, to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• PFAS: includes PFOA and PFOS. See Delaware Code Title 29 Sec. 8092
• PFOA: means perfluorooctanoic acid and its salts. See Delaware Code Title 29 Sec. 8092
• PFOS: means perfluorooctanesulfonic acid or perfluorooctane sulfonate and its salts. See Delaware Code Title 29 Sec. 8092
• Physical or mental disability: shall include any physical or mental disability and shall include, but not be limited to, intellectual and developmental disabilities, brain damage, physical degeneration, deterioration, senility, disease, habitual drunkenness or addiction to drugs, and mental or physical impairment. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902
• points: shall mean the amount of credit given, out of a possible total of 41, for calculating an application's Universal Design Standards compliance for purposes of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4202
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• project: means any work or undertaking:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301

• Public financial assistance: shall mean :

  a. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4202

• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Ramp: shall mean a surface with a running slope more than 1:20 and equal to or less than 1:12, and a cross slope less than 1:50. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4202
• real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Slum: means any area where dwellings predominate which by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement or design, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities, or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health and morals. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 4301
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Vulnerable adult: means an adult who meets the criteria set forth in § 1105(c) of Title 11. See Delaware Code Title 31 Sec. 3902