Rep. Mike Smith

This Act creates a $250 tax credit applicable to individual personal income taxes for certain lower income, working poor, individuals. In the case of spouses filing a joint return, the tax credit is $500. If spouses file their Delaware taxes separately, each spouse with the required income will be entitled to a $250 tax credit. Section 2 of this Act makes the change 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.

Current Delaware regulations provide that transportation benefits must be provided for students in grades K through 6 who live 1 or more miles from the schools to which district administrators would normally assign them. In grades 7 through 12, the same students are entitled to transportation benefits if they live 2 or more miles from their assigned public schools. See 14 Del. Admin. C. § 1150-12.1. This Act expands transportation benefits to students in grades 7 and 8 who live 1 or more miles from the public schools to which district administrators would normally assign them. This Act takes effect 1 year after enactment. It also and makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

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 implements recommendations of the Interagency Pharmaceuticals Purchasing Study Group created by House Concurrent Resolution No. 35. First, this Act creates the Interagency Pharmaceutical Purchasing Collaborative (“Collaborative”) to leverage the total volume of State pharmaceutical purchases to negotiate lower prices. The Collaborative must conduct a data analysis of current pharmaceutical purchasing prices paid by State agencies to create a data analytic profile. After building the data analytic profile, the Collaborative must build a market database by assessing the value, as determined by cost and patient outcome, of individual drugs and calculating the volume of individual drug purchases by all State agencies. The Collaborative must use the market database to identify opportunities to leverage the total volume of State pharmaceutical purchases to negotiate lower prices which may include a group purchasing agreement or a consortium with other states. Second, this Act requires that State agency contracts to purchase pharmaceuticals must contain specific transparency provisions. These transparency provisions will allow the State to monitor and control the cost of pharmaceutical purchases. Finally, this Act clearly provides that information received or generated by the Collaborative or under contract transparency provisions is not public information under the Freedom of Information Act. However, the Collaborative must provide an annual report that summarizes the Collaborative's work. House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 287 differs from House Bill No. 287 as follows: 1. In § 6317A(e)(2)a. of Title 29, requires the Interagency Pharmaceutical Purchasing Collaborative to assess the value of individual drugs using evidence-based cost and patient outcomes instead of by the simple cost and patient outcomes. 2. Changes “pharmacy benefit manager” to “wholesaler” in § 6937(a)(1) of Title 29, because the acquisition cost is negotiated between a wholesaler and manufacturer not between a pharmacy benefit manager and manufacturer. 3. Requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services to provide and purchase the data analytics required under § 6317A(e)(1) of Title 29 by March 31, 2021.

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 bill requires that any general salary increase or one-time adjustments payable to public school employees likewise be payable to charter school employees. The bill also makes section 504A, Title 14 of the Delaware Code consistent with the Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act creates a tax credit applicable to personal income taxes in an amount equal to incurred motor vehicle document fees for certain lower income, working poor, individuals. This tax credit is designed to assist the working poor in obtaining a new or used motor vehicle. Section 2 of this Act makes the change 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.

On November 3, 2015, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report titled "Elevated Rates of Urban Firearm Violence and Opportunities for Prevention – Wilmington, Delaware" in which the CDC made 2 major recommendations: (1) the creation and adoption of a robust risk assessment tool and (2) an integrated, statewide data collection system. To date, no meaningful action has been taken at any level to implement the CDC's recommendations. This Act adopts the CDC's recommendations and directs the pertinent State agencies to implement these recommendations.

This bill creates a special license plate for World War II veterans.