This Act requires all candidates for statewide office, the General Assembly, and all elected county offices, to request a criminal history background check, no later than the filing deadline, from the State Bureau of Identification. The State Bureau of Identification must, within 10 days of receipt of the request, provide the Commissioner of Elections with a report of the candidate’s criminal history or a statement that the Bureau’s Repository contains no information relating to the candidate. The Commissioner of Elections must then determine if the candidate is qualified under Section 21 of Article II of the Delaware Constitution to be considered a candidate and have their name appear on the ballot. The candidate will be considered a provisional candidate until the Commissioner of Elections determines the candidate is qualified. The information obtained by the Commissioner of Elections, from the Bureau, will not fall under the definition of public record in Chapter 100 of Title 29. The candidate must pay the cost of the criminal history background check, but the cost may be reimbursed from the candidate’s campaign funds as an authorized campaign expenditure. This Act will take effect January 1 after enactment.
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This Act makes various amendments to the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act to improve compliance with its testing and reporting requirements. First, this Act requires physicians to take a training program every 2 years relating to the provisions of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. Second, it requires the Division of Public Health to develop electronic forms to be used at a child’s 12 and 24 month well visit that record lead screening results and are shared with the Divison. Third, it clarifies that laboratories and health care professionals involved in blood lead level analysis must report results to the the Division of Public Health. Finally, it requires the Division of Public Health to share data with school nurses relating to whether an enrolled student has been screened for lead poisoning.
This Act establishes a Delaware Educator Apprenticeship Program to be developed by the Department of Education. The Department of Education will work with the Department of Labor to create a program that places aspiring teachers in paid positions in schools, while the teacher candidates complete the training and schooling necessary to become a Delaware credentialed teacher. This program will complement the Grow Your Own Educator Program and teacher residency programs to create a low-cost pathway for aspiring teachers to earn their teaching credentials and will address the educator shortage in Delaware. A pilot program will be created for the 2023-24 school year between 1 institute of higher education and 1 district or charter school. The program shall be expanded if interest and funding is available for the 2024-25 school year and thereafter.
This bill creates a special license plate for Plastic Free Delaware, Inc., a nonprofit whose mission is to reduce single-use plastic pollution and build a culture of zero waste in Delaware through educational programs, awareness building, and policy initiatives.
This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 87. Like Senate Bill No. 87, this Act does the following: (1) Clarifies that the exemption from the realty transfer tax for conveyances to or from an organization exempt from tax under § 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code when the purpose of the conveyance is to provide owner-occupied housing to low and moderate income households applies to rehabilitating residential properties and reselling the properties without profit and to constructing residences on properties and reselling the properties without profit. (2) Exempts any portion of a conveyance in which it is the grantee’s intent to construct affordable housing units and the conveyances are financed using funding provided by the federal government, this State, or a county or municipality of this State for the purpose of constructing affordable housing units, defined as a residential dwelling for a household whose income does not exceed 80% of the median income for the area as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (3) Clarifies that individuals are first-time homebuyers if they intend to occupy the property being conveyed as their principal residence after the construction of a residence on the property to include circumstances where the residence cannot be built within 90 days after the property is purchased. (4) Corrects the first-time homebuyer definition related to individuals purchasing as joint tenants or cotenants to replace “none” with “neither” to conform the number of joint tenants or cotenants indicated by the indefinite pronoun to the number indicated by the use of “both” later in the sentence. (5) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 87 by removing the exemption created by Senate Bill No. 87 for any portion of a conveyance financed through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.
This Act prohibits food establishments from providing consumers with ready-to-eat food or beverages in polystyrene foam containers or with single-service plastic coffee stirrers, cocktail picks, or sandwich picks. It also prohibits food establishments from providing single-service plastic straws, unless requested by a consumer. These restrictions take effect on July 1, 2025. This Act provides the following exemptions to the prohibitions on single-service plastic implements and polystyrene foam containers: 1. The definition of "polystyrene foam food service packaging" excludes coolers or ice chests used for the processing or shipping of seafood and containers used to contain, transport, or package raw, uncooked, or butchered meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, fruits, or vegetables. 2. The prohibition on plastic straws does not apply to patients or residents of hospitals or long-term care facilities and for plastic straws that are attached to pre-packaged goods, such as juice boxes. 3. The restriction on providing ready-to-eat food in polystyrene foam food service packaging does not apply to any of the following: • Fire companies. • Health-care providers that provide long-term, acute, and outpatient health-care services. • Nonprofit organizations, including religious institutions. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
As of April 4, 2023, 74 people have been killed or injured by guns in schools this year in 13 separate school shootings. School shootings hit a record high in 2022 with 46 shootings, surpassing 2021’s record of 42 shootings. In 2022, 43,450 children experienced a school shooting. The purpose of this bill is to enable a police officer to act immediately when the officer sees or suspects that a person possesses a firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone. This Act establishes the crime of Possession of a firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone as a class E felony. This bill makes it a crime for a person to possess a firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone except a police officer or a constable or active-duty member of the armed forces who are acting in an official capacity within for the Safe School and Recreation Zone. The bill also exempts holders of a valid license to carry concealed weapons but only if the firearm is in a vehicle. The possession of a firearm under this bill does not apply if (1) the person is on private property which is not part of school grounds; (2) the firearm is in a locked container or locked firearms rack that is on or in a motor vehicle; or (3) when engaged in lawful hunting, firearms instruction, or firearm-related sports on public lands not belonging to a school. This bill provides that in addition to other penalties, a student who possesses a firearm in a Safe School and Recreation Zone, shall be expelled for a period of not less than 90 days, but the local school board or charter school board of directors may, on a case-by-case basis, modify the terms of the expulsion. This Act repeals the crime of Possession of a Weapon in a Safe School and Recreation Zone, but provides a Savings Clause which enables a prosecution for such crime if the offense occurred before the repeal is enacted.
This Act limits those individuals who may possess a firearm at a polling place on an Election Day to the following: (1) law enforcement officers, (2) commissioned security guards acting in their official capacity, (3) constables acting in their official capacity, and (4) active-duty members of the United States Armed Forces and Delaware National Guard acting in their official capacity. This Act is applicable to any in-person election held under Title 15, any local school election held under Title 14, and any municipal election held in accordance with the municipality's charter, ordinance, or code, and includes locations designated for early voting. This Act also provides an exemption for individuals who reside or visit private property adjacent to a polling place, or who are traveling from private property to another location.
This Act amends Chapter 25, Title 24 of the Delaware Code relating to the Practice of Pharmacy. The amendments authorize pharmacists to engage in “collaborative pharmacy practice” with one or more “practitioners” meaning individuals who are authorized by law to prescribe drugs in the course of professional practice. Pharmacists may also do so pursuant to a “collaborative pharmacy practice agreement,” which means a written and signed agreement between one or more pharmacists and one or more practitioners that provides for a collaborative pharmacy practice.
The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020 established 988 as the universal phone number for "the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline." This Act provides the framework to maximize the benefits of 988 and provide crucial support to Delawareans in need through the implementation of a practical, modern, and comprehensive, integrated crisis care system. This Act is a second substitute for House Bill No. 160. Like House Bill No. 160 this Act does the following: (1) Created the Behavioral Health Crisis Services Board (“Board”) to provide oversight and input on the development of an integrated behavioral health crisis care system in this State. (2) Imposes a behavioral health crisis intervention services surcharge on business and residential telephone services, wireless telephone services, and prepaid wireless telephone services. The surcharge will create a dedicated funding source for behavioral health crisis services. The Behavioral Health Crisis Intervention Services Fund is created to receive the surcharge funds. Specifically, this Act establishes a 60-cent per month per line fee on phone lines and a 60-cent one-time fee on prepaid services. Like House Substitute No. 1 to House Bill No. 160, this Act does all of the following: (1) Models the behavioral health crisis intervention services surcharge after the existing E-911 surcharge and prepaid wireless E911 surcharge created under Chapter 101 of Title 16 of the Delaware Code. (2) Removes the creation of the Behavioral Health Crisis Communication Center and instead directs the Board to develop and recommend a plan for establishing, operating, and maintaining a behavioral health crisis communications center. The Board must submit the plan to the Governor and General Assembly within 12 months from the effective date of this Act. (3) Makes changes to the definition of “mobile crisis team”. (4) Makes changes to the composition of the Board to add the Executive Director of the Ability Network of Delaware and the Executive Director of each of Delaware’s Lifeline Centers. This Act differs from House Substitute No. 1 to House Bill No. 160 as follows: (1) Exempts State government from the behavioral health crisis intervention services surcharge. (2) Removes a provision that would permit an increase in the behavioral health crisis intervention services surcharge collected for prepaid wireless telecommunication services if the General Assembly increased the behavioral health crisis intervention services surcharge collected for residential and business telephone service, wireless service, and nontraditional communication service. (3) Removes the “crisis intervention service” definition. (4) Removes "Providing crisis intervention services." from the list of eligible expenditures for the Behavioral Health Crisis Intervention Services Fund and replaces it with "Establishing, operating, or contracting for crisis teams for adults and children.". This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 11 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 impose or levy a tax or license fee