This Act amends Section 2603 of Title 16 to require the Division of Public Health to provide the results of lead screenings or tests to school nurses and require contracts or computer upgrades to include lead results.
This bill creates a new loan guarantee program in Delaware to help small businesses with fewer than five employees and annual revenue under $1 million that lack the funds to start or grow. The state will guarantee up to 90% of loans provided by community development financial institutions or other approved lenders, with individual loan amounts capped at $100,000 and repayment terms extending up to 10 years. To assist borrowers, the program includes features like deferred initial payments for up to two years and interest rates limited to the Federal Funds Rate plus 3%, while also offering access to education, training, and mentoring. The initiative is administered by the Delaware Division of Small Business and becomes effective once funding is allocated to the new Microbusiness Loan Fund.
This Act protects Delaware’s fresh water supply while also reducing costs for small businesses and single-family residential homeowners by eliminating the requirements for installation and yearly inspections of backflow preventors on low-hazard water users. However, an otherwise low hazard property that has fire sprinkler systems, in-ground lawn sprinklers, swimming pools, hot tubs, or similar systems connected to its fresh water supply will be required to install a backflow preventor. Under § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution, this Act requires a two-thirds majority vote because it constitutes an implicit charter change, as the ordinances it seeks to override derive their authority from municipal charters. This Act also makes a technical correction on line 16. The word “shall” is changed to “must” to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 11. Like Senate Bill No. 11, this Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to modernize the bail provisions within the Delaware Constitution and clarify the power of the General Assembly to enumerate certain felony offenses for which, or circumstances under which, pretrial release on bail may not be allowed. And, like Senate Bill No. 11, any statute designating a felony offense for which a person can be subjected to pretrial detention without bail must be enacted by an act of the General Assembly that receives the concurrence of a two-thirds majority of each House of the General Assembly. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 11 by providing that if a law designates a felony offense as potentially not bailable under this Act, a law removing that designation must also be enacted by an act of the General Assembly that receives the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House of the General Assembly. The current constitutional provision providing that only “capital offenses” are potentially not bailable first appeared in its present form in the Delaware Constitution of 1792. At that time, “capital offenses” included many more offenses than the term does today. For example, manslaughter, rape, robbery, burglary, and assaults with weapons were capital offenses, and therefore included as crimes for which a court could order pretrial detention. Thus, over time, certain crimes that the Framers included as potentially not bailable are currently bailable. Presently, a Delaware state court judge cannot order preventive detention in any non-capital case. Instead, the judge can only attempt to set the bail so high that a defendant cannot make it, which means that any defendant, no matter how dangerous and no matter the circumstance, can obtain release if the defendant can fund the bail—even if that defendant poses a certain flight risk or a known threat of harm to the public or to a specific person, such as a witness or victim. Like Senate Bill No. 11, this Act is one step toward completing a pretrial release-detention continuum requiring specific evidence-based detention decisions that seek to maximize public safety while minimizing pretrial detention for those for whom detention is not required. Specifically, this Act, like Senate Bill No. 11, will do all of the following: (1) Retain the express declaration of a general right to have bail set in a criminal case. (2) Provide that the crimes for which bail may be withheld are capital murder, where the evidentiary proof is positive or presumption of the accusation great, and other specifically identified felony offenses determined by and under procedures prescribed by law where the evidentiary proof is positive or presumption of the accusation great. (3) Ensure that an additional condition precedent to bail being withheld in non-capital cases is a finding by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the person’s appearance at court proceedings, reasonably assure the protection of the community, victims, witnesses, or any other person, and reasonably maintain the integrity of the judicial process, such that the defendant will not obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice. This constitutional amendment, by itself, would not allow that a person charged with a non-capital crime could be held without bail. Rather, no person could be subject to a preventive detention hearing in a non-capital case until the General Assembly revises Chapter 21 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code to prescribe by law the specific felony offenses, circumstances, and procedures under which detention without bail may occur. With this change, though, Delaware can progress toward the type of modern bail system that has been increasingly adopted by our sister states through amendment of their state constitutions, when needed, and the development of statutory procedures that provide, in appropriate cases, pre-trial detention without bail. And this change does so by adopting the standards recommended by authoritative sources including the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Uniform Law Commission, the National Center for State Courts, the American Bar Association, and the numerous state legislatures and court systems that have studied pretrial detention and retained or incorporated them in their own state constitutions and laws. Any legislation subsequently enacted or court procedures adopted to implement this constitutional amendment would have to require individualized, fact-governed decision-making by any court considering preventive detention to pass muster under the United States and Delaware Constitutions. Senate Bill No. 12, as introduced, is intended to do this. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution. Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly.
This Act brings the State in compliance with the federal regulation published by FMCSA on October 7, 2021, to establish a national drug and alcohol clearinghouse as mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). This act established requirements for Division access to and use of driver-specific drug and alcohol program violation information contained in the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. The Act prohibits the Division from issuing, renewing, upgrading, or transferring a commercial driver license (CDL) or commercial learner’s permit (CLP), as applicable, for any individual prohibited under FMCSA regulations from driving a commercial motor vehicle (CMV), due to one or more drug and alcohol program violations. In addition, the Division must, upon notification that a driver is prohibited from operating a CMV due to a drug and alcohol program violation, initiate the downgrade process to remove the CLP or CDL privilege from the driver’s license within 60 days. This Federal requirement must be enacted by states by November 18, 2024.
This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to prohibit the imposition of the death penalty. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly when the General Assembly amends the Delaware Constitution.
This is a substitute for House Bill No. 326. Non-profit hospitals are granted tax-exempt status on the premise that they serve a vital role in promoting the health and well-being of the communities they serve. Community benefit spending is a means by which hospitals fulfill this obligation. Such spending includes activities like providing uncompensated care, supporting medical research, offering health education and prevention programs, subsidizing community clinics, and addressing social determinants of health. Like House Bill No. 326, this substitute bill requires Delaware’s non-profit hospitals to provide the state and public with an annual report outlining their community benefits spending, bringing Delaware in line with 31 other states, including all of Delaware’s neighboring states, that require reporting. Like House Bill No. 326, this substitute bill defines “community benefits program,” outlines the minimum contents that must be included in a community benefits activity report, and requires that the report be made available to the public. This substitute contains provisions allowing the report to be submitted electronically to State officials on an annual basis. It differs from the original bill in that the deadline for submitting the report is changed from January 31 of each year to 30 days after a hospital files a federal Form 990. This substitute also contains technical changes to reference and accord with appropriate law and regulations, and broadens the list of information that must be included in the community benefits report.
This bill mandates that Medicaid in Delaware cover doula services for pregnant and birthing individuals, affecting all health insurance carriers within the state. It requires coverage for three prenatal visits, three postpartum visits, and attendance during labor, with specific provisions for additional postpartum visits if recommended by a licensed medical professional. To implement this, the state must create a certification process for doulas and set reimbursement rates that ensure a livable income for those providing the services. The law officially took effect on January 1, 2024, and was signed into law by the Governor.
This Act is the statutory recognition of the recommendations set forth in the June 2, 2023, report of the DEFAC Benchmark Evaluation and Review Panel. This Act builds on the State’s existing appropriation limit methodology by formalizing and maintaining the flexibility inherent in the Budget Stabilization Fund process currently enabled by Executive Order No. 21, approved on June 30, 2018, and the last 6 operating budget acts, including § 65 of the fiscal year 2024 Operating Budget Act. Acknowledging this process in statute includes defining rules for deposits to and withdrawals from the Budget Stabilization Fund and adding an objective and stable measure of sustainable budget growth through an advisory index comprised of certain State economic indicators. This Act requires that only the Governor’s recommended Budget Appropriation Bill consider this methodology and detail proposed plans, if any, deemed necessary or desirable in relation to state revenues or reserve funding.
This bill creates a one-time tax credit for small businesses in Delaware that have survived the COVID-19 pandemic. To qualify, a business must have been located in the state and employed 25 or fewer full-time employees as of December 31, 2019, while also being in good standing with tax filings as of January 1, 2024. Eligible businesses can claim a credit equal to 25% of their 2019 gross receipts when filing their 2024 or later state income tax returns, provided they apply by December 1, 2024. The legislation aims to provide financial relief to these specific businesses without speculating on broader economic outcomes.
This House Resolution states the intent to phase out the use of avoidable PFAS in consumer products sold in Delaware, consistent with precedents set in other states that have banned the use of avoidable PFAS in consumer products.
This Act prohibits any autonomous vehicle with a gross weight of 10,001 pounds or more from being operated on a Delaware highway for testing purposes, transporting goods, or transporting passengers without a human safety operator being physically present within the autonomous vehicle. A two-thirds vote requirement is required under Section 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution. This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 258 in the following ways: 1. The substitute requires a human safety operator to hold a commercial driver license that is valid for the vehicle being driven. 2. The substitute clarifies that the person subject to the fines of this Act is presumed to be the vehicle’s registered owner. 3. The substitute directs to the Department of Transportation to submit a report evaluating the performance of autonomous vehicle technology to the General Assembly and the Governor by January 1, 2029.
