Rep. Kim Williams

This Concurrent Resolution requests an advisory opinion of the Justices of the Delaware Supreme Court regarding the proper construction of § 13 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution. This Resolution also tasks the Judiciary Committee of the House and Senate who shall meet jointly on or before December 17, 2021 to determine the process to be used to decide if reasonable cause exists for the removal of an elected official pursuant to § 13 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution.

This Act establishes Juneteenth as a State holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of the last enslaved African Americans in the United States. The Act adds Juneteenth as a legal holiday and reduces the number of floating holidays from 2 to 1. The two floating holidays were created by the 145th General Assembly as replacements for Presidents Day and Columbus Day. This Act replaces the floating holiday that replaced Columbus Day with a legal holiday to celebrate Juneteenth. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Over 80% of pharmaceuticals in the United States are purchased through pharmacy benefits manager ("PBM") networks. PBMs serve as intermediaries between health plans, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and pharmacies or pharmacists, and PBMs establish networks for patients to receive reimbursement for drugs. Given the scope of PBMs in the healthcare delivery system, this Act is designed to provide enhanced oversight and transparency as it relates to PBMs. Specifically, this Act does the following: (1) If a PBM denies an appeal for reimbursement subject to maximum allowable cost pricing, requires the PBM to provide the national drug code number of wholesalers in Delaware that have the drug in stock below maximum allowable cost. (2) Authorizes a pharmacy or pharmacist to decline to dispense a prescription drug or provide a pharmacy service to a patient if the amount reimbursed by a PBM is less than the pharmacy acquisition cost. If a pharmacy or pharmacist declines to provide a drug or service, the pharmacy or pharmacist must inform the patient that the pharmacy or pharmacist did this because of the costs of providing the drug or service and provide the patient with a list of pharmacies in the area that may provide the drug or service. (3) Requires PBMs to provide a reasonably adequate and accessible pharmacy benefits manager network. (4) Increases transparency by requiring PBMs to provide reports to the Insurance Commissioner on network adequacy and the amount of rebates received by PBMs to provide reports to the Insurance Commissioner on network adequacy and the amount of rebates received by PBMs and distributed to insurers or patients. (5) Prohibits PBMs from engaging in certain conduct, such as spread pricing, false advertising, and reimbursing a pharmacist or pharmacy in an amount less than the PBM reimburses itself or an affiliate for the same drug or service. If a PBM engages in prohibited conduct, the Insurance Commissioner is authorized to deny, suspend, or revoke the PBM's registration under § 3355A of Title 18 or impose penalties or take other enforcement action under § 3359A of Title 18. (6) Clarifies that the Insurance Commissioner is authorized to deny an application for registration filed by a PBM. (7) Increases the registration and renewal fee to be paid by a PBM to better reflect the cost of the registration and renewal process and better align with the fee assessed by other states that require PBMs to register. (8) Transfers § 3359A of Title 18 (regarding penalties and enforcement) to a separate subchapter focused on prohibited practices, penalties, and enforcement. In addition, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Finally, this Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 10 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 increase the effective rate of any tax levied or license fee imposed.

This Act is designed to increase the opportunity for Delaware children to undergo developmental screening with a research-based screening tool at an early age in order to identify children who may be eligible for Early Intervention or special education services. It requires any applicant for a license or renewal of a license to operate a child care facility on or after July 1, 2023 to commit that each child between the age of birth and 5 years old (who has not yet entered kindergarten) enrolled by the child care provider will undergo developmental and social emotional screening. The screening mechanism to be used is the screening system approved by the Department of Education and will be administered by the parent or guardian of the child seeking to be enrolled in the child care facility. This Act permits an operator of a child care facility at a YMCA to be appointed to the Provider Advisory Board, changes references from “day care” to “child care” in the existing law and makes other changes consistent with the Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act is called the Jamie Wolfe Employment Act in recognition of Jamie Wolfe, a powerful disability rights advocate who worked tirelessly on behalf of people with disabilities for equal rights and equal access to education, housing, competitive and integrated employment, transportation and community-based services. The Act requires that authorization to pay individuals with disabilities less than the minimum wage required to be paid to other employees will be phased out by July 1, 2023. It is consistent with the goals of the Employment First Act enacted by the 146th General Assembly and with national trends. In September 2020, the United States Commission on Civil Rights recommended that 14(c) certificates be phased out. The Employment First Oversight Commission created in the Employment First Act is charged with the responsibility of developing and implementing a plan for the phase-out and insuring that the needs of affected providers and employees with disabilities working at less than minimum wage are considered as the phase-out is implemented.

This Act prohibits a person who is the subject of a Protection from Abuse Order of the Family Court and who knows or has reason to know, that the Order has been issued from purchasing, owning, possessing, or controlling a deadly weapon or ammunition for a firearm in this State. This Act also prohibits the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, active indictment or information related to a felony or misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from purchasing a firearm. The subject of the pending criminal process must know or have reason to know that the process is pending in order for the prohibition to apply. This Act also makes technical changes to the existing law to make it conform to the Legislative Drafting Manual.

In 2019, the Office of Child Care Licensing (“OCCL”) was transferred from the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families to the Department of Education. This Act makes changes to improve OCCL’s implementation and enforcement of the Child Care Act, Chapter 30A of Title 14 of the Delaware Code. Additionally, this Act does the following: (1) Updates and expands the definition of child care to include early education programs for children below the grade of kindergarten that are operated by public or private schools. (2) Increases penalties for violations of the Child Care Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The Victims’ Compensation Assistance Program (“Agency” or “VCAP”) administers the Victims’ Compensation Fund and provides financial assistance to eligible victims of crimes to help cover the costs of a variety of services that help victims and their families begin to rebuild their lives, including lost wages, medical expenses, payment for mental health counseling, and funeral expenses. By awarding financial compensation for losses that victims sustain as a result of crime, VCAP can help alleviate the financial burden and distress that crime leaves behind. In FY 2019, VCAP paid $2,091,787.94 to and on behalf of victims of crime. VCAP is solvent and the Victims’ Compensation Fund balance as of June 30, 2020 was $4,155,111.82. This Act seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of VCAP in the following ways: (1) Lifts the statutory employment cap that limited the number of employees VCAP could employ. This update will enable the Department of Justice to augment VCAP staff by utilizing grant or federal funding. (2) Codifies benefits and more clearly enumerates available benefits and increases the funeral and burial benefit to $5,000/$2,500, respectively. (3) Makes several changes to conform to the current practice, including removing the claims payment process description in § 9005(8) and § 9009, updating the claims application process in § 9009, and removing the reporting requirements in § 9017. (4) Amends § 9009(10) to give the Agency specific authority to close inactive claims. (5) Updates the list of Advisory Council members to reflect the dissolution of the Sexual Assault Network of Delaware, which became the Delaware Alliance Against Sexual Violence. (6) Expands the population of victims able to be served, including changes to ensure victims of human trafficking are eligible for compensation. (7) Extends the deadlines to request reconsideration and file an appeal with the Appeals Board and reorganizes appeals process provisions by placing them all in the same section. (8) Changes "offense date" to "sentencing date" in § 9014(c). (9) Updates the chapter so that each program is referred to by a consistent name. (10) Adds defined terms “Executive Director” and “claimant” to the definitions section and further clarifies to which category of victims parts of the Code apply. (11) Removes the term “incompetent” in favor of adopting a phrase that uses people first language. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

House Bill No. 92 reduces the term of a member elected to a school board from 5 years to 4 years for members elected after December 31, 2021. House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 92 differs from House Bill No. 92 because it clarifies that under § 1052(c) of Title 14, 2 members of a school board may be elected in the same year when the terms of both members expire the same year. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 82. Like Senate Bill 82, this Substitute does all of the following: (1) Codifies the Department of Education’s (“Department”) current efforts to establish a uniform public school registration process and requires that, beginning with the 2023 through 2024 school year, all public schools shall use the uniform public school registration process. This registration process will simplify the process for families, enable public schools to engage with families and plan in advance of the school year, and integrate data systems to eliminate duplication of effort. (2) Requires the uniform public school registration process to be Internet-based and in paper form and in English and Spanish and may be in other languages. This Act also requires that certain information must be provided in the process and that the Internet-based uniform public school registration process must include certain features. (3)Requires the Department to provide training to certain school district and charter school employees regarding the uniform public school registration process and issue guidelines for privacy of information submitted as part of the registration process. (4) Requires the Department to report to the Governor and General Assembly, no later than March 14, 2022, on the Department’s ability to connect the Internet-based uniform public school registration process to other Internet-based systems that are used to collect student data by the State; the Department; a licensed child care provider, including Head Start; or a public school serving preschool through age 21. This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 82 by doing all of the following: (1) Clarifying that a student must be registered in the student’s school district of residence before being eligible for the school choice process. (2) Requiring a public school be certified as completing training from the Department on the uniform public school registration process before providing paper forms as part of the in-person registration process. (3) Requiring the Department to provide uniform information about the uniform public school registration process to public schools and requiring the public schools to post the information on the school’s website and in other publications. (4) Requiring a public school to provide a parent with certain information after the parent completes the registration process, including the public school and school in which the child is enrolled.