Rep. Kim Williams

Food and drink establishments suffered great losses since March, 2020 due to the pandemic including millions of dollars in lost sales and the loss of an tens of thousands of jobs in this State. This Act extends the provisions contained in HB 349 from the 150th General Assembly until March 31, 2022 with the goal of continuing the efforts to try and mitigate the losses this industry has suffered. This bill extends the following provisions in HB 349: (1) Allowing an entity that has a valid on-premise license to sell alcohol to continue to alcoholic beverages as part of transactions for take-out, curbside, or drive-through food service so long as certain conditions are met; (2) Allowing a licensee to continue to use outdoor seating for serving of food and drinks so long as the licensee satisfies certain conditions; (3) Allowing the Commissioner to temporarily suspend a license only if the Commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe that public's safety is at risk and there has been a violation of the law; and (4) Allowing the Commissioner to hold hearings by electronic, telephonic, or remote means.

This Concurrent Resolution requests that the budget bill prepared by the Joint Finance Committee keep the Senior Property Tax Credit at its statutorily enacted level of the lesser of 50%, or $500, rather than lower the maximum credit amount through epilogue language, until such time as a means-tested program can be implemented.

House Bill No. 292 of the 149th General Assembly established a 3 year pilot program (“program”) to implement the recommendations in the 2015 Autism Educational Task Force report. The pilot program revised the Delaware Autism Program toward a system where the statewide Director works in collaboration with a team of experts to provide technical assistance and training to districts and educational entities. This Act makes the pilot program permanent and revises the program as follows: 1. Requires the Department of Education ("Department") to administer the program, including hiring the Director. 2. Revises the terminology in the qualifications for the Director to include autism spectrum disorder (“ASD”). 3. Requires the Department to hire 5 training specialists instead of the current hiring requirement that is based on the number of students with an educational classification of ASD. 4. Renames the Parent Advisory Committees to clarify that they are statewide. 5. Revises the responsibilities of the Peer Review Committee to conduct reviews without a request of the Department, to include behavioral procedures in the review, and at the request of the Department, review procedures and programming for students with other educational classifications served in the program. This Act takes effect on July 1, 2021. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act is intended to promote, maintain, and bolster the public’s confidence in the integrity of State government, particularly as it relates to the employment of former members of the General Assembly within State government. This Act achieves this goal by prohibiting a former member of the General Assembly from being appointed to or employed in a position in a State agency for 1 year after the former member’s final term of office if either of the following applies: (1) The position was created during the former member’s final term of office. (2) The compensation for the position was increased, other than by an appropriation by the General Assembly that applies to all similarly situated State employees, during the former member’s term of office and the former member did not hold the position during the former member’s term of office. Existing law provides that a former member who knowingly or wilfully violates this Act is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be punished by imprisonment of not more than 1 year and by a fine not to exceed $10,000.

This Act prohibits the seller of consumer goods or services from refusing to accept cash payment, except in limited circumstances. It creates graduated civil penalties for violations and provides consumers a private right of action to recover double damages, including consequential damages, for a second violation of the law and triple damages for subsequent violations. The Division of Consumer Protection has authority to enforce the law.

This Act removes the broad exemption in the Freedom of Information Act for the University of Delaware and Delaware State University and creates the following specific exemptions for some records of public institutions: 1. Confidential letters or statements related to admission, employment, or honors. 2. Proprietary information related to study or research. 3. Personal fundraising strategies relating to and confidential financial and personal information about identifiable donors or prospective donors. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a charter issued to a corporation for educational purposes sustained in whole or part by the State, including the University of Delaware and Delaware State University.

This Act establishes a Behavioral Health Professional of the year award program throughout the State. Through this legislation, the state will formally honor and recognize the work behavioral health professionals, such as, school counselors, social workers, licensed clinical social workers, school psychologists, and school nurses.

This Act suspends the educator evaluation system during the 2020-2021 school year and replaces it with an observation and feedback cycle that provides educators with coaching and support related to hybrid and remote learning practices. This Act provides for all of the following during the observation and feedback cycle: 1. An initial goal setting process, classroom observation, and end-of-year conference. 2. Feedback provided to an educator must be recorded in the Data Service Center platform. 3. Evidence collected and feedback provided during observations may not be used as part of the evaluation cycle or to assign a summative rating for the 2020-2021 school year. 4. Recommendations on performance may not result in a formal improvement plan. 5. Educators must complete only the goal setting form and a verification form. This Act also provides that formal improvement plans in place for the 2020-2021 school year remain in effect through the next evaluation cycle under this section.

This bill provides COVID-19 related relief to both claimants receiving unemployment benefits and employers who are assessed unemployment taxes, and extends the end date of the Secretary of Labor’s COVID-19 related rulemaking authority. Section 1 waives the 13-week waiting period for the state to "trigger on" to pay extended unemployment benefits in periods of high unemployment. Section 2 establishes the 2021 new employer assessment rate, average industry assessment rate, and average construction industry assessment rate at the same rate as 2020 in order to avoid an increase in these rates as a result of the increase in unemployment claims due to COVID-19. Section 3 extends the provisions in H.B. 352 from the 150th General Assembly authorizing the Delaware Secretary of Labor to issue emergency rules amending the Delaware Unemployment Insurance Code to deal with the effects of COVID-19 and implement federal programs providing unemployment benefits to respond to COVID-19. Section 4 exempts unemployment compensation benefits received in 2020 from the calculation of Delaware adjusted gross income so that unemployment claimants will not have to pay state taxes on the benefits they received during the pandemic.

This House Resolution condemns the violence at and assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021; commits the House of Representatives to peaceful, thoughtful, and respectful discourse in the conduct of public business; and expresses gratitude to the members of the Delaware National Guard.