Rep. Frank Cooke

Maddy summaryThis bill clarifies which courts have the authority to hear cases involving illegal speed exhibitions in Delaware. It designates the Court of Common Pleas as the primary court for these offenses, removing the previous ability for Justice of the Peace Courts to try them. However, the law allows a Superior Court to handle the case if the speed exhibition charge is combined with a more serious felony. This change ensures that lower courts do not process these specific violations unless they are part of a larger, more complex legal case.

This Joint Resolution directs the Division of Motor Vehicles to opt into the FMCSA’s federal exemption that allows for first time CDL applicants seeking a school bus only endorsement on their driver’s license. An applicant’s school bus only endorsement would only apply to intrastate operation of a school bus. The Division of Motor Vehicles is directed to implement this policy by May 1, 2024.

Healthcare facility assessments are currently the second largest source of funding for states’ shares of Medicaid costs, behind general funds. Today, 49 states have at least one facility assessment in place, including Delaware, while 34 states and Washington D.C. have 3 or more provider taxes. Delaware is one of only 6 states without a facility assessment on hospitals, causing the state to miss out on critical Medicaid funding that most states are already able to access. This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 13. Like Senate Bill No. 13, this Act creates the Hospital Quality Assessment, which places a 3.58% assessment on Delaware hospitals’ net patient revenues. Funds generated by the Hospital Quality Assessment must be utilized in one of two ways: (1) To increase the inpatient and outpatient payments to hospitals. (2) To develop or enhance funding for Medicaid initiatives, unlocking federal matching dollars. Funds may not be used to supplant or replace appropriations for programs in existence on the effective date of this Act, except for 25% of these funds, which may be used to support the general operations of the Medicaid program. Like Senate Bill No. 13, this Act also creates the Hospital Quality and Health Equity Assessment Commission (“Commission”), which includes state agency and hospital representation. The Commission is required to meet at least annually to monitor the implementation of the assessment. If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) determines that either the assessment or the expenditure of money does not satisfy eligibility requirements for federal financial participation or that modifications are necessary to assure continued eligibility for federal financial participation, the Commission shall develop and approve modifications to Subchapters II and III of Chapter 10 of Tile 16 of the Delaware Code and submit the modifications to the General Assembly. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 13 as follows: (1) By directing the Department of Health and Social Services (“Department”) to administer the Hospital Quality Assessment. (2) By establishing a different method of calculating the assessment for a hospital that begins or ceases hospital operations or does not conduct hospital operations through a calendar year or fiscal year. (3) By prohibiting a hospital subject to the Hospital Quality Assessment from passing on the cost of the assessment to any patient, insurer, self-insured program, or other responsible party. (4) By requiring a hospital subject to the Hospital Quality Assessment to attest in writing to the Department that an oral or written, formal or informal agreement or arrangement does not exist to share, redirect, or redistribute Medicaid payments which would result in violation of federal or state law. (5) By updating the split in percentages of the funds collected from the Hospital Quality Assessment to reflect the wide range of federal match levels for services. The expected amount to be collected by the Assessment does not change as the result of the update. (6) By requiring the Registrar of Regulations to publish in the Register of Regulations a certification by the Commission under § 1034(d) and (e) of Title 16 of the Delaware Code, as contained in this Act. (7) By providing that appointments of members of the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives and Senate are to be made by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, respectively. (8) By making modifications to the requirements for meetings of the Commission. (9) By providing that modifications to Subchapters II and III of Chapter 10 of Tile 16 of the Delaware Code recommended by the Commission take effect as of July 1 of the ensuing fiscal year unless rejected in full by an act of the General Assembly before that ensuing fiscal year. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 11 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to impose or levy a tax or license fee. This Act may be cited as the “Protect Medicaid Act of 2024”.

This resolution directs health care professional licensure boards to review their existing professional licensure application language to revise or remove all intrusive and stigmatizing language around mental health care and treatment and replace it with language that meets the threshold requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-336. 26 July 1990), by focusing on present functional impairment and the ability to perform the essential requirements of the applicant’s profession with or without a reasonable accommodation. This resolution builds on the progress that the State of Delaware made in removing structural barriers to clinicians seeking mental health and wellbeing treatment through the enactment of Senate Bill 300 in 2022. The resolution also directs each licensure board and the Division of Professional Regulation to submit a report to the General Assembly by February 28, 2025 regarding the boards' review of their applications and certifying that the applications comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Affordable housing is key to building strong communities and neighborhoods. This act provides that the developer of a residential subdivision is provided a percentage credit towards the expense of offsite improvements to state-maintained highways consistent with the percentage of units set aside for affordable housing in a residential subdivision project.

This Act amends Title 16, Chapter 76 of the Delaware Code relating to energy conservation identified in county and municipal building and plumbing codes. Consistent with codes in other States, including New York, Rhode Island, and Washington, among others, this Act requires as a threshold that counties and municipalities must, at minimum, meet the threshold adopted by the Delaware Energy Office (“DEO”). The Act authorizes counties and municipalities to go above the threshold adopted by the DEO. This Act also amends Title 29, Chapter 80 of the Delaware Code by charging the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council and the Sustainable Energy Utility to collaborate to design programs to promote and support the development and construction of energy efficient housing, including programs to alleviate the potential increased upfront costs caused by the adoption of local stretch codes.

This Act is a result of the Delaware Interscholastic Association ("DIAA") Task Force. Based on the findings of the task force, this Act updates and modernizes the DIAA Board of Directors' composition. This Act also makes technical corrections that conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act increases the amount of the annual appropriation to prefund future State employee retiree health insurance as recommended by the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee of the State Employee Benefits Committee. Like other required contributions to the Other Post-Employment Benefits Fund (OPEB) Fund, this appropriation must be included in the review of and plan for proposed expenditures that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget submits to the Governor and in the Governor's Budget Appropriation Bill. This Act also revises existing law to allow the current practice of making the annual payment to the OPEB Fund of 1% of the operating budget appropriations for the prior fiscal year in a Supplementary Appropriation Bill and makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The governance of this State relies on the qualifications and performance of the members of the Governor’s cabinet. The General Assembly finds that the confirmation process is an important step to ensure the qualifications and performance of the Governor’s cabinet. This Act implements the process of aligning the end of the term of each of the members of the Governor’s cabinet with the end of the Governor’s term by designating the principal officer of each executive department who is subject to the amendments to § 10 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution proposed by Senate Bill No. 15. The General Assembly’s intent in making this change is to require each member of the Governor’s cabinet to be reconfirmed by the Senate at the beginning of each term of a Governor. This Act also makes the following consistent: (1) The method of determining the annual salary of members of the Governor’s cabinet, by providing that the General Assembly is to set the salary in the annual appropriations act, thereby conforming the Delaware Code to current practice. (2) The preference for members of the Governor’s cabinet being residents of this State on appointment, by removing from the Delaware Code the preference for residency for the Secretary of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, the Secretary of the Department of Finance, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, the Secretary of Labor, the Housing Director of the Delaware State Housing Authority, and the Secretary of the Department of State. Residency requirements for members of the Governor’s cabinet are being removed from the Delaware Code by this Act and replaced with a notation that residency requirements are as provided in the Delaware Constitution. Residency requirements for members of the Governor’s cabinet will now be consistent, requiring the members to be residents of this State within at most 1 year after appointment and to remain residents of this State or be deemed resigned from office. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Because the next General Assembly must concur in the proposed amendment to the Delaware Constitution, this Act does not take effect until the passage of the second leg of the constitutional amendment in the 153rd General Assembly.

This Act removes “supervision” from the scope of practice of a master’s social worker. This Act also prohibits a master’s social worker from providing supervision to a licensed clinical social worker applicant. The Board of Social Work Examiners (Board) determined that a master’s social worker lacks the education and experience needed to provide clinical supervision. Under this Act, an applicant for licensure as a licensed clinical social worker may still obtain supervision from a licensed psychologist or licensed psychiatrist where a licensed clinical social worker is not available, under the Board’s rules and regulations. This Act also adds a grandfathering provision so that an applicant or licensed clinical social worker who started or completed supervision with a master’s social worker on or before the enactment date of this Act satisfies the supervision requirement under § 3907(b)(4) of this title as long as the applicant or licensed clinical social worker is otherwise in compliance with § 3907(b)(4) of this title. The grandfathering provision also allows a master’s social worker who is supervising an applicant as of the enactment date of this Act to continue supervision under the applicant completes the 2-year supervised experience requirement.