Rep. Kim Williams

This Act provides protection to homeowners from sellers that may have misled buyers (or their settlement attorneys) regarding a criminal judgment that attached to real property. It prevents innocent owners from potentially becoming a second victim by having a prior owner’s lien attach for more than 7 years after the settlement.

This bill requires criminal background checks for any current or prospective employee, contractor, and volunteer of the Division of Health and Social Services (DHSS) who visits children in their homes and in the community and has regular, direct access to children or adolescents under the age of 18. The background check includes fingerprinting for Delaware and national background checks as well as a check of the Child Protection Registry. An individual who has a disqualifying criminal conviction or is on the Child Protection Registry at Level III or IV may not be an employee, contractor, or volunteer in any capacity that involves visiting children in their homes or the community or having regular, direct access to children. DHSS, if it chooses, may use its Background Check Center, which processes background checks for individuals working in home-care and long-term care facilities. It differs from the original bill in that it permits DHSS to use its Background Check Center to accomplish these additional background checks, specifies Child Protection Registry status that is disqualifying, and makes other minor technical changes.

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 provides an automatic satisfaction of a mortgage 10 years after the maturity date as stated in the mortgage or any recorded extension of the mortgage or, in the absence of a stated maturity date, 40 years after the recording of the mortgage or any extension of the mortgage. This Act also reduces the time after which an attorney may file a certificate of satisfaction under § 2123 of Title 25 of the Delaware Code to 10 years after the maturity date and 40 years after the recording of a mortgage.

This Substitute Act requires all new and renewing rental agreements for a lot in a manufactured home community to contain the following: (1) For a manufactured home community that is supplied by potable water from a private water system, a provision requiring the landlord to have the water tested in compliance with the requirements applicable to a community water system and report the findings to those required for a community water system, including tenants, the Division of Public Health, and the Department of Justice’s Manufactured Housing Ombudsperson. (2) For a manufactured home community with an on-site wastewater treatment and disposal system, a provision requiring the landlord to have the system emptied, serviced, and inspected at least every 3 years and to report the findings to tenants, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the Department of Justice’s Manufactured Housing Ombudsperson, and the applicable county or municipal government. This Substitute Act differs from the original Act by better aligning the requirements for testing of a manufactured home community’s private water system and for emptying, servicing, and inspection of a community’s on-site wastewater treatment and disposal systems to existing State regulatory authority.

In cases where the Family Court finds that there are sufficient grounds to order the removal of a child from their home and the Family Court orders custody of the child to the Division of Family Service (DFS), DFS often partners with law enforcement to enforce the order. There have been rare cases where a parent or legal guardian refuses to respond to DFS and law enforcement’s attempts to enforce the order to take custody of the child, resulting in uncertainty and a heightened concern for the child’s safety. Currently, it is unclear under the Delaware Code whether law enforcement is authorized to enter private property to enforce a Family Court custody order, even after all other avenues and strategies have been exhausted by DFS and law enforcement. The Act clarifies that a law enforcement officer has the authority to enter private property to enforce a Family Court custody order. It also specifies that in private (non-DFS) custody cases, law enforcement has the authority to enter private property to take custody of a child when the Family Court custody order requests the assistance of law enforcement. The Act does not require that law enforcement enter private property to take custody of a child.

This Act provides school-base physical therapists who have graduated from an accredited college or university with the highest level masters or doctorate degree, and who have achieved a passing score on the national physical therapy examination issued by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, with base salaries of Master Plus 30 or Doctorate, and provides the ability to move forward on the salary schedule for additional credits earned. Since 2015, a doctorate degree is required in order to sit for the national physical therapy examination for licensure.

This bill ensures equal access to diaper changing tables in restrooms in public buildings regardless of the gender for which the restroom is designed.

This Act permits a person who has been the victim of non-consensual sexual conduct or non-consensual sexual penetration to apply for a sexual violence protective order if the person has a reasonable fear, based on specific conduct occurring contemporaneously or subsequent to the non-consensual sexual conduct or penetration, that the perpetrator of the sexual conduct will harm the petitioner in the future. An ex parte temporary order may be issued if a petitioner proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the respondent poses an immediate and present danger of causing physical injury to the petitioner. The protective order is a civil remedy available whether or not the respondent has been charged with a crime and whether or not the petitioner reported the respondent’s conduct to law enforcement officials. The Act provides for an emergency ex parte hearing as well as a non-emergency hearing in Superior Court. Possible remedies in addition to an order restraining the respondent from any kind of contact with the petitioner include restraining the respondent form going to, or remaining in, the places a petitioner might frequent including home, school, or work. Violation of a sexual violence protective order is punishable as criminal contempt, either as a class A misdemeanor, or Class F felony if contempt of the order results in physical injury, or involved threatened use, or use of, a deadly weapon or firearm. Petitions under the Act must be verified. If any party falsely swears in a petition or hearing under the Act, the person may be liable for a misdemeanor or felony. A sexual violence protection order is available only for petitioners who would not qualify for a protection from abuse order because there is no family or dating relationship between the victim and perpetrator. The Act also makes technical corrections to existing law to make it conform to the Legislative Drafting Manual. The Act takes effect 6 months after its enactment.

This Act makes substantial changes to clarify and modernize § 2347 of the Workers’ Compensation Act, Chapter 23 of Title 19 of the Delaware Code, as follows: (1) Subsection (a) incorporates recent Industrial Accident Board rulings governing the frequency with which petitions to modify workers’ compensation agreements may be raised. (2) Subsection (e) clarifies pleading requirements for petitions to review, which helps the Department of Labor in docketing of Petitions and attorneys in preparing pleadings for filing. (3) Subsection (h) expands methods of service of process of petitions to permit utilization of private mail services, traditional process servers, and electronic service to respondents who are attorney represented. This subsection also explicitly defines what must be submitted to the Department of Labor as proof of service. (4) Subsection (j) codifies the process by which default or “read-in” hearings have proceeded before the Industrial Accident Board under § 2347 for over 30 years. (5) Subsection (k) clarifies whether and to what extent Workers’ Compensation Fund wage replacement benefits are available to injured workers during the pendency of petitions to review. The clarifications provided for both the Department of Labor and the claimant’s bar will streamline the process so that injured workers will experience fewer interruptions or delays in the payment of benefits than under the current law. Also included are protections for the Workers’ Compensation Fund to ensure that there are not overpayments. This Act is the product of the work of the workers’ compensation claimants bar, defense bar, and the Department of Labor, and the underlying intent of this Act is to streamline processes and limit unnecessary litigation that has occurred in recent years as a result of lack of clarity in § 2347. This Act furthers the public policy behind various changes to the Workers’ Compensation Act in the last 15 years to mitigate insurance rates for Delaware businesses while simultaneously ensuring that the interests of the State’s injured workers are protected.