Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf

Delaware’s Motor Vehicle Statutes contemplate for vehicle obstructing traffic enforcement by law enforcement agencies. It is not always possible for law enforcement officers to enforce the right-of-way regulations in areas effectively due to a number of considerations, including officer availability and safety. This bill would enable the state and municipal authorities to enforce right-of-way regulations in identified areas more effectively. This bill only imposes civil penalties for violations and does not impose points on an individual’s driver’s license.

This bill makes needed changes to the Lyme Disease Oversight Board by adding 2 members including an infectious disease epidemiologist and a licensed veterinarian or entomology specialist.

This bill permits health-care providers who are licensed in a state other than Delaware to deliver health-care services by telehealth and telemedicine only if a health-care provider-patient relationship has been established in accordance with § 6003 of Title 24.

This Act makes necessary updates to Delaware Code provisions codifying procedures related to the General Assembly to bring these provisions into compliance with current practice and to make technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act makes the following substantive changes to these provisions: (1) In Section 8, repeals a procedure that, after the enactment of the Delaware Constitution of 1897, is no longer part of the legislative process. And, in Sections 17, 18, and 19 makes conforming repeals. (2) In Section 9, updates the amount of additional compensation paid to members of the General Assembly who are elected to leadership positions or appointed to serve on a joint committee, consistent with the amounts authorized under the most recent report of the Compensation Commission. (3) In Section 10, updates the amount of the stipend paid to members of the General Assembly consistent with the amount authorized under the most recent report of the Compensation Commission. (4) In Section 13, updates the process for appointing a bill clerk for the Senate and House of Representatives and the duties of the bill clerk. (5) In Section 14, removes the Passed Bill Committee (“Committee”), which has not existed since the mid-1960s. The Committee’s duties related to management and tracking of passed and enacted legislation are reassigned to the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, who have these duties currently. The Committee’s duties related to engrossing legislation are reassigned to the Division of Research, which has these duties currently. The Division is authorized to correct manifest clerical, typographical, and grammatical errors discovered in the engrossment process and required to proofread the engrossment before release to ensure an accurate engrossment of the amendment to the legislation. (6) In Section 15 and 16, changes references to “print” or “printing” to “publish” or “publication” in recognition of 21st Century methods of distributing information. (7) In Section 22, replaces the requirement that a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution be approved by two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly with a requirement that it be approved by a simple majority vote. The two-third vote requirement is unconstitutional under the Delaware Constitution because it conflicts with Section 10 of Article II of the Delaware Constitution, which provides for the passage of legislation by the concurrence of a majority of members elected to each house. The General Assembly cannot alter the requirement of a majority vote without an amendment to the Delaware Constitution. See Section 512 of Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure (2020).

This Act renames the Claymont Regional Transportation at First State Crossing in Claymont, Delaware as the "Harris B. McDowell, III Transportation Center" after Senator Harris B. McDowell, III, the longest serving member of the Delaware General Assembly.

The Joint Resolution directs the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and Division of Public Health (DPH) to conduct After Action Reviews to assess the State’s pandemic response. DEMA and DPH are also maintaining the ability to increase personnel and supplies as needed in response to future surges of COVID-19. Additionally, the Joint Resolution directs the Legislative and Executive branches to work together on initiatives to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide incentives for resident Delaware taxpayers to donate organs and bone marrow for transplantation and for Delaware employers to grant paid time off to employees who donate organs and bone marrow for transplantation. To that end, the Act allows Delaware taxpayers to claim a tax credit of up to $10,000 of unreimbursed medical expenses, travel expenses, lodging expenses, and lost wages that are related to a donation of an organ or bone marrow by the taxpayer or a dependent of the taxpayer. The Act also gives a tax credit to Delaware employers who provide employees who donate an organ or bone marrow with paid time off for the purpose of the transplantation, in the amount of 25% of the employee’s gross wages paid to the employee during the time missed from work, not including any amount paid to the person by the employer as traditional paid time off, for a period of up to 30 days of missed work for each donation. For qualified expenses used for a tax credit under the Act, to the extent otherwise allowable under Title 30, no tax deduction is allowed for either the donor or the employer. This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill 301 by providing that expenses related to a donation of organ or bone marrow incurred in the taxable year before the transplantation took place must be claimed in the year transplantation took place. It also provides that lost wages, for purposes of the individual tax credit, do not include any amounts paid to the person as traditional paid time off, as other than traditional paid time off, as worker's compensation benefits, or pursuant to Chapter 37 of Title 19. Similarly, gross wages, for purposes of the employer tax credit, do not include any amount paid to the person by the employer as traditional paid time off. The Act also provides implementation dates for the individual tax credit and the employer tax credit. Finally, the Act includes minor changes made for purposes of clarification.

This act authorizes the application of funds from the Delaware School Safety and Security Fund, which is subject to available appropriations, for the retention of constables to be utilized by the LEAs.

This Act establishes the Delaware Expanding Access for Retirement and Necessary Saving (“EARNS”) program to serve as a vehicle through which eligible employees may, on a voluntary basis, provide for additional retirement security through a State-facilitated retirement savings program in a convenient, cost effective, and portable manner. The EARNS program will be designed to serve small businesses who are unable to offer retirement plans to employees due to the cost and administrative burden. Because there are documented wealth gaps in Delaware, disproportionately impacting women and people of color, a state-facilitated savings plan aims to alleviate barriers small employers face in offering options, close the wealth gap among low to modest wage earners and keep Delaware competitive with neighboring states by attracting talented workers to Delaware. A state-sponsored savings plan, funded by employees, facilitated by employers, and overseen by the State, will offer one solution to the quickly emerging crises stemming from generations of workers without adequate savings. The Act creates the Delaware EARNS Program Board to oversee initial design and implementation of the program. The board will be disbanded no later than December 31, 2025, at which point all duties and functions of the board will be transferred to and assumed by the Plans Management Board. The effective date of the Act is contingent upon an appropriation by the General Assembly necessary to implement the Program. This Act also makes technical changes to the existing law to make it conform to the standards of the Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act, modeled on similar laws in Virginia and Maryland, requires a health-care provider to provide notice to a patient at the time blood is drawn to perform a laboratory test for Lyme disease that explains the limitations of the test and instructs the patient to see their health-care provider if the patient continues to experience unexplained symptoms. This Act was previously passed by the 150th General Assembly in Senate Bill 15, and is the same except for the removal of the sunset provision.