Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown

This bill broadens the scope of mental health practitioners who are authorized by statute to conduct examinations with inmates for purposes of advising the Board of Pardons on matters material to the Board’s scope of review. This will enable licensed mental health practitioners and other clinical mental health professionals to participate in the process of evaluating and reporting upon an offender’s mental health history, likelihood to re-offend, and other pertinent matters that will assist the deliberative process of the Board of Pardons.

This Act caps the amount that an individual, group, or State employee plan may charge for diabetes equipment and supplies, other than insulin, at $35 per month. This cap does not apply to accident-only, specified disease, hospital indemnity, Medicare supplement, long-term care, disability income, or other limited benefit health insurance policies.

This Act provides nationally certified occupational therapists with a salary supplement for receiving national certification. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing language to the standards of the Delaware Drafting Manual.

The bill requires that third-party cost-sharing assistance utilized by patients is applied toward the enrollee's health insurance deductibles and any out-of-pocket limits. Additionally, the bill defines what constitutes a “cost-sharing requirement” as well as how to calculate the assistance when applying to patient’s deductibles and out-of-pocket limits. This bill applies to both carriers and pharmacy benefits managers with an effective date of January 1, 2024.

This Act criminalizes the deprivation of civil rights modeled after federal law (18 U.S.C. 242) and enforced by the Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust. The new crime of deprivation of civil rights would be a Class A misdemeanor, which could elevate to a Class D or Class B felony depending on the nature of the injury or harm. This new crime of deprivation of civil rights serves as a predicate offense for hate crimes, or for racketeering if committed by an enterprise. By including conduct committed under color of any ordinance, regulation, or custom, this law accounts for conduct by actors in areas such as banking, lending, leasing, government contracts or political operatives.

This Act creates a “Ban the Box” policy for postsecondary institutions in the state. “Ban the Box” or “Beyond the Box” policies refer to the removal of questions about one’s criminal conviction history on a college or job application. Research shows that questions about criminal conviction history deter individuals from applying to an institution and increase the likelihood of rejection, with a disproportionate effect on people of color. This Act promotes diversity by prohibiting academic institutions from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal conviction history, with limited exceptions for inquiries into certain types of offenses such as stalking and sexual assault. If the institution elects to deny an applicant because of a conviction for such an offense, it must disclose that fact to the applicant. After an applicant has been admitted, an institution may inquire into the applicant’s criminal conviction history for the limited purposes of offering counseling and making decisions concerning the applicant’s participation in campus life. In addition, the Act requires the Department of Education to compile and complete an annual report on admissions from each academic institution, including the race and gender of the applicants and of the accepted students.

This Act deletes from the Delaware Code a derogatory and highly offensive term for Italian-, Spanish-, and Portuguese-American immigrants.

In 2016, Title 2, Chapter 19 was enacted to address the growing use of ride share applications also known as a Transportation Network Companies (“TNC”), which transport passengers for compensation. In 2016, the General Assembly acknowledged the importance of protecting TNC passengers as well as other drivers on Delaware roads by requiring that a TNC possess $1,000,000.00 in death, bodily injury and property damage insurance coverage when transporting passengers. Because many Delaware citizens do not use a TNC for transportation but use other forms of transportation, such as buses, taxicabs or limousines, this Act increases the death, bodily injury and property damage insurance coverage required for the Delaware Transportation Authority (i.e. DART buses) and public carriers as defined by Chapter 18, Title2 to that which is already required by a TNC. The Act also requires that public carriers, TNCs and Delaware Transportation Authority possess uninsured and underinsured insurance coverage to protect their passengers. The Act will take effect on July 1, 2022.

This bill creates a special license plate for Combat Veterans.

This Act provides that the Department of Correction must provide a copy of all policies relating to the accrual and forfeiture of good time to inmates, as well as a quarterly written accounting of good time credit earned and/or forfeited. The requirement that all accrued time must be forfeited upon conviction of any crime within custody, the complete forfeiture will apply only to commission of felonies. Forfeiture of good times for rule violations is changed to apply only to Class I disciplinary violations. The Act also updates § 4322 of Title 11 to allow dissemination of Department of Correction policies and procedures to inmates and the public where such dissemination would not endanger safety or security of a correctional facility, corrections staff, inmates, or the public.