Rep. Melanie Ross Levin

This Act removes from the Town of Cheswold certain parcels of real property within the Nobles Pond development that are currently within the territorial limits of the Town of Cheswold. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter, whether directly, by amendment to a specific municipality’s charter, or indirectly, by a general law.

This Act increases the salary supplement for school counselors and school nurses from 6% to 12% upon national certification. It further clarifies that salary supplements only apply if the employee is employed in the applicable profession and permits the DOE to identify additional positions subject to a salary supplement in Department regulations. This Substitute includes school social workers in those employees eligible for a 12% salary supplement.

This Act requires large energy use facilities to produce renewable energy within the state to power their operations to prevent a drain on the electric grid. It provides for a “ramp-up” period requiring that a large energy use facility provide a plan to the Public Service Commission to ramp up their energy production within the state each year so that by the 10th year of operations, the facility is producing 100% of its energy usage through in-state production. This Act also allows the Public Service Commission to regulate electric suppliers insofar as necessary to ensure that large energy use facilities do not negatively affect the reliability of the electric grid.

The purpose of this Act is to protect victims of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment from retaliatory lawsuits that arise when a victim of sexual assault discloses information regarding an act of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment. Specifically, this Act protects assault victims from defamation lawsuits by placing a higher burden of proof on the complainant, even if the complainant is a private figure. It also entitles a prevailing defendant in a defamation lawsuit to attorneys’ fees and costs, actual damages, and punitive damages.

Current law prohibits persons subject to Family Court protective orders from purchasing or possessing deadly weapons, with some exceptions. This Act extends this prohibition to individuals with out-of-state protective orders as well.

This Act provides guidelines for Delaware schools in addressing elopement of students. This Act requires schools to notify the eloping student’s parent or guardian the same day as the elopement incident. All schools must develop policies and procedures to implement the requirements of this Act.

House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 332 prohibits the selling, providing, or marketing of kratom or a kratom product to an individual under the age of 21. A person who violates the prohibition is guilty of a class B misdemeanor. It also requires The Division of Alcohol & Tobacco Enforcement and the Department of Health and Social Services to provide a report on kratom testing capabilities and potential licensing requirements for retailers selling kratom products to the Governor and General Assembly by January 1, 2027. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to give jurisdiction to inferior courts or justices of the peace of “such … misdemeanors as the General Assembly may from time to time … prescribe.”

This Act excludes large energy use facilities from the definition of a qualified facility for purposes of determining eligibility for a tax credit or license fee reduction for the creation of employment and qualified investment in business facilities.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution that does all of the following: (1) Under Section 1 of this Act, limits the loss of the right to vote of an individual who is convicted of a felony to the period during which the individual is imprisoned due to the felony, or until the individual is pardoned, whichever comes first. (2) Brings Section 1 of this Act into conformity with the United States Constitution and federal law. Section 1 of this Act specifically does all of the following: (1) Removes the ability of the General Assembly to impose the forfeiture of the right of suffrage as a punishment for a crime. (2) Removes the list of felonies resulting in permanent removal of the right to vote. (3) Prohibits making the re-enfranchisement of an individual who is convicted of a felony contingent on the payment of a monetary payment of any kind. (4) Defines terms related to imprisonment and community supervision. (5) Updates the age at which a resident of this State is granted a right to vote to be 18 years or older, to conform the Delaware Constitution to the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution. (6) Removes the durational residency requirements necessary to qualify to vote in this State. Durational residency requirements have been found unconstitutional because these requirements infringe on both the constitutional right to vote and the constitutional right to travel. See Dunn v. Blumstein, 92 S. Ct. 995 (1972) (finding 1-year residency requirement in a state and 3-month residency requirement in a county unconstitutional) and Marston v. Lewis, 93 S. Ct. 1211 (1973). A voter will still be required to be a resident at the time the voter registers. (7) Removes the literacy test requirement to qualify to vote in this State. Literacy tests have been used to disqualify Blacks and individuals who are immigrants or poor. Because of the discriminatory use of, and often subjective nature of, literacy tests, literacy tests are prohibited under federal law, see 52 U.S.C. § 10501, and likely unconstitutional under the 14th or 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, see Oregon v. Mitchell, 91 S. Ct. 260 (1970). Section 2 of this Act removes the suspension of the right to vote as a punishment for violation of certain election offenses. 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 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.

This Act requires that individual, group, State employee, and public assistance insurance plans provide coverage for biomarker testing, when the test is supported by medical and scientific evidence. The Act applies to all such policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027. This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 120 in that this Act clarifies that it does not prevent a provision restricting coverage to services by a licensed, certified, or carrier-approved provider or facility, restrict the use of utilization management, or require coverage of biomarker testing for screening purposes or coverage of investigatory and experimental biomarker tests. In addition, the Act differs from Senate Bill No. 120 in that it applies to policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027, rather than December 31, 2026.