This Act establishes the Office of Legislative Ethics for the General Assembly. The establishment of an Office of Legislative Ethics is necessary to ensure that potential violations of Delaware’s laws or allegations of conflict of interest by the members of the General Assembly are fully investigated. The Board of the Office of Legislative Ethics will be made up of five respected members of the community with expertise in law and legislative ethics who will volunteer to serve. The Office of Legislative Ethics will be headed by an Executive Director who will also serve as the lead investigator. Any member of the public will be able to file a complaint or request the Office of Legislative Ethics to commence an investigation and can do so anonymously. The Act provides for the specific procedures to be followed once the Office of Legislative Ethics receives a complaint or request for investigation. The Act further provides for certain reporting to the General Assembly on a quarterly basis. The Act also adds the Office of Legislative Ethics to Delaware’s whistleblower statute, ensuring that public employees who make a complaint to the Office of Legislative Ethics are afforded the same protections as employees reporting suspected violations to other reporting bodies. Finally, the Act removes the Office of Legislative Ethics and the Office of Legislative Ethics Board from the meaning of “public body” within Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act.
This Act directs the Insurance Commissioner, in collaboration with the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Social Services, and Department of Finance to develop the Delaware Easy Enrollment Health Insurance Program. Under this program, individuals filing state tax forms or unemployment compensation applications will be able to check off on the form whether they have health insurance and whether they would like assistance in determining their eligibility (or their dependents) for any of the following: Medicaid, Delaware Healthy Children Program, or affordability assistance in an Affordable Care Act Exchange plan. The goal of the program is to maximize enrollment of eligible indidviduals in health care programs to improve access and reduce insurance costs for all residents of Delaware.
This Act revises Delaware’s child safety seat requirements which currently requires an “appropriate” car seat or booster. Under this Act, children under 2 years and under 30 pounds must be seated in a rear-facing seat with a 5-point harness. Children under 4 years and under 40 pounds must be seated in either a forward facing or rear-facing seat with a 5-point harness. Children between the ages of 4 and 16, must be seated in a booster based upon the manufacturer’s guidelines or a seatbelt. This Act removes the existing fine for the first offense and requests law enforcement to provide a referral to the Office of Highway Safety car seat fitting station for guidance and education regarding proper use of a child restraint. Under this Act, the Department of Safety and Homeland Security is required to implement an awareness campaign within 180 days of enactment. The remainder of the Act will not take effect until 1 year following its enactment.
This Act clarifies that State building code and other local codes must align with substitute standards for refrigerants as approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency through their federal listing requirements.
This Act establishes requirements for the handling of treatment records for all of the following health-care providers under Title 24: 1. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (certified nurse practitioners), Chapter 19. 2. Licensees under the Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals, Chapter 30: mental health professional counselors and associate counselors, chemical dependency professionals, marriage and family therapists, professional art therapists. 3. Psychologists, Chapter 35. 4. Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Chapter 39. Under current law, a patient or client does not have a right or clear procedure by which to obtain a copy of their record when one of these practitioners closes a practice, dies, terminates a patient relationship, or is incapacitated. The requirements established under this Act are modeled on the patient record requirements and procedures for physicians and correspond with the changes that would be enacted under House Bill No. 105 (152nd). These requirements and procedures also apply when a patient or client requests copies of their records. Under existing law, the governing boards established under these chapters have authority to promulgate regulations, if necessary, to address intersections between the requirements under this Act and professional codes of ethics. Sections 5 through 8 of this Act make technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and corrects the spelling of the word “health-care” to be consistent throughout these chapters.
This Bill is the Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Act.
This Act relates to the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee's ("Committee") review of the Provider Advisory Board ("Board"). As part of that review, the Committee approved a recommendation to consolidate the functions of the Board into the functions of the Delaware Early Childhood Council ("DECC"). The Board's review is held over to 2024, and Committee staff will monitor and report back to the Committee in 2024 on the implementation of the recommendation to consolidate these functions. To ensure that the functions consolidated into the DECC remain accurate, this Act reflects the changes to the Board's functions under § 3007A, Title 14 that do not take effect until July 1, 2024.
Currently, every adult operating or riding as a passenger on a motorcycle is required to have a helmet in their possession and wear eye protection while operating or riding a motorcycle and every person up to 19 years of age must wear a helmet and eye protection. This Act requires that everyone who obtains a new endorsement for a motorcycle on or after the effective date of this Act, or someone riding with the newly endorsed person, to wear a helmet and eye protection for the first 2 years after the newly endorsed person receives the endorsement. In 2022, Delaware experienced 10 motorcycle fatalities where the rider was not wearing a helmet. Over the last 5 years, among crashes involving a Delaware licensed motorcycle rider, 25% of fatal and serious injury crashes involved a rider in their first 2 years of having a motorcycle endorsement. Helmets and eye protection are already required for those operating with a temporary motorcycle instruction permit as required under § 2703 of Title 21 of the Delaware Code and no passengers are allowed. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia currently require all motorcyclists to wear a helmet. According to research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helmets are highly effective in protecting motorcycle riders’ heads in crashes and significantly reduce deaths and serious head injuries in crashes. This Act creates a civil penalty for violation of the helmet law, both the existing law and the law created by this Act.
This Resolution provides the official revenue, refund, and unencumbered funds estimates for Fiscal Year 2023.
This Act appropriates $194,560,278 to provide one-time funded projects through the Office of Management and Budget.
This Act does all of the following: (1) Creates a Director of Classification/Compensation and Talent Acquisition and a Director of Training and Human Resource Solutions. (2) Changes the name of the Director of Personnel Management to Director of Talent Management. (3) Directs the Director of Talent Management to assume a central leadership role for the development and maintenance of the Department of Human Resources. (4) Renames the Division of Diversity and Inclusion to the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. (5) Renames the Division of Labor Relations and Employment Practices to the Division of Employee and Labor Relations. (6) Renames the Division of Statewide Benefits to The Division of Statewide Benefits and Insurance Coverage. (7) Removes references to the Blood Bank due to lack of State participation with the program. (8) Increases membership within the Commission for Women and the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame Committee. (9) Expands the duties and role of the Delaware Commission for Women to subsume the responsibilities of the Delaware Women's Workforce Council. (10) Removes the statutory language creating the Delaware Women's Workforce Council. (11) Establishes The Division of Classification/Compensation and Talent Acquisition and the Division of Training and Human Resources Solutions with its associated powers, duties, and functions. (12) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act is a result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee's review of the Delaware Byway Advisory Board ("Board"). First formed in 2000, the Board has served in an advisory role relating to the Delaware Byways Program. The Board's primary purpose is to assist in and make recommendations regarding in the designation, development, operation, management, and promotion of Delaware byways. During the initial development of the Delaware Byways Program, the Board consulted with the Department of Transportation’s planning division to create the Delaware Scenic and Historic Highways Program Guide in 2001. The Guide defined the creation, organization, and ongoing management of designated byways in Delaware. Six byways were designated in Delaware between 2002 and 2010. The Board met regularly from 2000 through 2005, with its last known meeting in 2005. The Delaware Byways Program no longer accepts applications for new byways, and the existing 6 byways are self-governed by byway management organizations and individual corridor management plans. For these reasons, and with the support of the Department of Transportation, the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee concluded that, although the Board once served an important role relating to byways in Delaware, the Board is no longer meeting its statutory duties or fulfilling a state need, and that the Board should be terminated. This Act therefore terminates the Delaware Byway Advisory Board.
