Rep. David Bentz

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to prohibit the imposition of the death penalty. 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 when the General Assembly amends the Delaware Constitution.

This Act revises the appointment process for members of the Common Interest Community Advisory Council who are from the Real Property Section of the Delaware State Bar Association. Under this Act, these members are appointed by a government official to comply with the requirements of the Delaware Constitution. This Act applies only to members who are appointed after the effective date of this Act, and does not invalidate any appointments made before the effective date of this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill amends Chapter 33, Title 18 of the Delaware Code by adding a new § 3370D to require coverage of an annual behavioral health well check. This bill also amends Chapter 35, Title 18 of the Delaware Code by adding a new § 3571X to require coverage of an annual behavioral health well check. This bill also amends Chapter 5, Title 31 of the Delaware Code by adding a new § 528 to require coverage of an annual behavioral health well check. This bill also amends Chapter 52, Title 29 of the Delaware Code by adding a new § 5212 to require coverage of an annual behavioral health well check.

In 2009, New Hampshire was the first state to develop a statewide “Gun Shop Project,” reaching out to gun shops regarding the role they can play in suicide prevention. In the years since, at least 21 other states have implemented similar campaigns. This Act establishes the Delaware Gun Shop Project. The Gun Shop Project’s primary purpose is to develop, create, and provide suicide prevention education materials and training, to be made available for licensed deadly weapons dealers and consumers in Delaware The Delaware Suicide Prevention Coalition will oversee the Gun Shop Project and include the Gun Shop Project’s annual report in the Coalition’s annual report. The Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, which staffs the Coalition, will staff the Gun Shop Project. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution requests the United States Congress propose and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to make clear that Congress and the states have the power and authority to regulate and limit the amounts of money collected and spent in elections and for referendums and ballot measures.

This Act is a recommendation of the Jurisdiction Improvement Committee established by the Delaware Supreme Court Order of November 7, 2017. The Act provides for the Justice of the Peace Court and Family Court to have concurrent jurisdiction over truancy matters and allows for a means of transfer from the Justice of the Peace Court to the Family Court for cases in which the Family Court already has open proceedings regarding the child or child’s family. Concurrent jurisdiction allows for judicial economy in consideration of such matters while at the same time allowing the Family Court to focus their resources on the more significant filings. This Act mandates that school principals attempt to confer with a truant child’s parents/guardians in an effort to address the child’s lack of attendance prior to filing a complaint with a court. The Act returns to Family Court the consideration of criminal contempt of students in truancy proceedings and removes subsections that are redundant as a result of § 1007C of Title 10. This Act clarifies that children adjudicated truant within the Justice of the Peace Court would have the right to appeal the finding to the Family Court. For truancy matters which result in adjudications truant within the Family Court, appeal rights will remain as is specified in 10 Del. C. § 1051. This Act also removes the requirement of a bond for an appeal. Finally, this Act identifies the criteria for determining whether a complaint will remain in the Justice of the Peace Court or be transferred to Family Court.

This Act supports the ongoing work of the Primary Care Reform Collaborative to achieve better health for Delawareans at a lower cost by facilitating the sharing of de-identified health expenditure information and fostering transparency that is critical to the effective delivery of primary care in Delaware. Specifically, this Act requires the Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) to provide access to the Delaware Health Care Claims Database to 2 additional state agencies, the Department of Insurance and Delaware Health Care Commission. In adding these state agencies to the existing list, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill clarifies when an employer may pay a training wage in lieu of the minimum wage. A training wage is only during the first 90 days after the employee is initially hired by the employer. This bill defines that as the first time an employee is trained for the duties of a position or a substantially similar position.

Section 1 of this Act modifies Delaware’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to allow recipients to choose the most beneficial credit to be applied against their Delaware Personal Income Taxes. Under this Act, recipients can choose between a non-refundable credit of up to 20% of the value of the corresponding federal EITC or a refundable EITC credit of up to 4.5% of the value of the corresponding federal EITC. Section 2 of this Act makes the change to Delaware’s EITC effective for the tax year in which the Secretary of Finance provides the Registrar of Regulations with notice that the personal income tax release of the Integrated Revenue Administration System is implemented. This delay in effective date is necessary to ensure that tax law changes can be properly and efficiently implemented in the Division of Revenue’s modernized Integrated Revenue Administration System, which is currently under development. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act revises the appointment process for members of the Primary Care Reform Collaborative who are not members by virtue of position. Under this Act, these members are appointed by a government official to comply with the requirements of the Delaware Constitution.