Rep. Paul Baumbach

This Concurrent Resolution proclaims June 17th as “Delaware Day of Service”.

This Act prohibits municipal ordinances that require the eviction of tenants for criminal activity by a tenant, member of the tenant's household, or a guest. This Act does not change a landlord's ability to exercise discretion and evict a tenant for criminal activity or other material lease violations under § 5513 of Title 25 and is consistent with, and avoids conflicts with, the protections for victims of domestic abuse, sexual offenses, or stalking under § 5316 of Title 25. This Act is a recommendation of the African American Task Force, established under Senate Bill No. 260 (150th General Assembly). In addition, the 2020 Statewide Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, a report produced by the Delaware State Fair Housing Consortium, lists the removal of crime-free housing ordinances and legislation banning such ordinances as one of its goals for ensuring that people within the protected classes have equal access to housing. Currently, at least 6 municipalities in Delaware have crime-free housing ordinances. Generally, these ordinances require landlords to include an addendum on their lease agreements prohibiting a tenant, member of the tenant’s household, or a guest from committing a criminal activity within a specified distance of their unit. If a tenant, member of the tenant’s household, or a guest commits a certain number of criminal activities within a specified time period, the landlord must initiate eviction proceedings. If a landlord does not file to evict the tenant, the landlord may lose their rental license. Crime-free housing ordinances are problematic for the following reasons: 1. The definition of criminal activity is generally vague and open to interpretation, and may include low-level offenses such as trespassing, loitering, and disorderly conduct. 2. The standard for what is considered criminal activity does not require an arrest or conviction, and instead, can consist of merely an allegation or contact with the police. 3. These ordinances penalize victims of crime for seeking help from the police. 4. These ordinances can result in evictions of tenants based upon racially motivated complaints by neighbors. 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 municipal corporation.

This is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to conserve, protect and maintain Delaware's natural resources, including its water, air, soil, flora, fauna, ecosystems and climate. This Amendment would create an inherent and inalienable right for all Delawareans to a clean and healthy environment. The Amendment would also declare the State, including all of its branches, agencies, and political subdivisions, as trustee of the State's natural resources. By enacting this amendment Delaware would join other States which have or are seeking similar provisions, in their respective Constitutions, creating the same inherent and inalienable rights for their citizens.

This Act does all of the following regarding suspected human trafficking of children: 1. Ensures the sharing of information between the Child Protection Accountability Commission (CPAC) and the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council. 2. Expressly requires a multidisciplinary response to these cases, similar to child deaths and serious physical injury. 3. Even though human trafficking of children is child abuse, specifically delineates it throughout the child abuse multidisciplinary investigative response. 4. Codifies a review panel and oversight committee within CPAC for these cases, with the same authority, subpoena power, and immunities provided to the system that reviews child abuse deaths and near deaths. 5. Establishes that the Office of the Child Advocate will staff the review panel and oversight committee. This Act also makes minor technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution congratulates the class 2022 Eagle Scouts for having attained the highest rank one can earn in the Boy Scouts of America.

The statute in Section 1 is revised to establish that a judgment of record obtained as a result of the Director of Revenue filing the certificate under section 554 of Title 30 of the Delaware Code constitutes a judgment of record of which notice is presumed against the estate of the decedent regardless of the county in this State in which letters are granted. Section 2 modifies the deadline for having a June meeting of DEFAC to account for the for the new Juneteenth holiday. Section 3 enables the Department of Finance and the Division of Revenue to fully administer and enforce taxes where jurisdiction is assigned by the Delaware Code without reference to any specific Title. This avoids the need to revise applicable provisions of Title 30 (by enumerating each applicable title) when changes to the law make the Department responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax and tax-related laws established outside of Title 30. Section 1 of this Act applies to decedents on or at the effective date of this legislation.

In Chiafalo v. Washington, 140 S.Ct. 2316 (2020), the United States Supreme Court made clear that states have the authority to remove or punish presidential electors who do not adhere to their obligation to vote faithfully for their parties’ candidates. This Act provides Delawareans with confidence that the votes they have cast will be honored when the Electoral College meets to decide the outcome of presidential elections by providing for the orderly operation of Delaware’s Electoral College voting process. This Act adopts the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act, which was approved by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill adopts a key recommendation of the Child Protection Accountability Commission Caseloads and Workloads final report approved on November 20, 2019, that Division of Family Services (DFS) caseload standards be reduced from 18 to 12 families per worker. Due to the volume of work generated by a caseload of 18 families, workers are significantly restricted in the time they can spend on critical case activities such as family engagement, assessment of safety, and face-to-face contact with children and families.

This legislation is the Delaware Pre-Authorization Reform Act of 2023. Section 1 of the Act applies to Health Insurance Contracts regulated under Chapter 33 of Title 18. Section 1 provides that changes in coverage terms for a health-care service or in the clinical criteria used to conduct pre-authorization reviews for a health-care service will not apply until the next plan year, for any covered person who received pre-authorization for the service prior to the change. It also requires the Delaware Department of Insurance to publish on its website information concerning the aggregate number of pre-authorization approvals, denials, and appeals for each insurer, health-benefit plan, or health-care service corporation using pre-authorization review. In addition, Section 1 sets qualifications for who may make determinations with regard to requests for pre-authorization of health-care services and appeals of adverse determinations; a timeline and required contents for the notification of an outcome of appeal of an adverse determination or a notification that additional information is necessary to make the determination of appeal; and requirements for any utilization review entity used to perform pre-authorization review by an insurer, health-benefit plan, or health-service corporation. Section 1 also shortens the timelines for the determination of pre-authorization requests and notification to the health-care provider of the determination. For requests for pre-authorization of non-urgent health-care services not submitted electronically, the utilization review entity must notify the health-care provider within 4 days of receipt of the request; for requests submitted electronically, notification must be given within 72 hours of receipt. For requests for pre-authorization for urgent health-care services, notification must be given within 24 hours of receipt. By January 1, 2024, insurers, health-benefit plans, health-service corporations, and utilization review entities must accept and respond to electronic pre-authorization requests through the same platform as the electronic request was submitted. Further, an insurer, health-benefit plan, or health-service corporation may not deny or limit coverage of a service already provided on the grounds that pre-authorization was not obtained, if such services would have been covered had pre-authorization been obtained. In addition, Section 1 extends the time period that a pre-authorization is valid for from 60 days to 7 months. If a covered person changes insurers, health-benefit plans, or health-service corporations, the new insurer, health-benefit plan, or health-service corporation must comply with any existing pre-authorizations during the first 60 days of the new coverage. Finally, Section 1 provides that no more than 1 pre-authorization may be required for a single episode of care, and that if pre-authorization is granted as to a health-care services that is part of a group of services for which a bundled payment is charged, pre-authorization for the other health-care services included in the group is deemed to be approved as well. Section 2 of the Act applies to Group and Blanket Health Insurance under Chapter 35 of Title 18 and makes the same changes to pre-authorization standards and procedures that Section 1 of the Act makes to Health Insurance Contracts regulated under Chapter 33 of Title 18. Section 3 of the Act provides that the State Employee Benefits Committee established under § 9602 of the Title 29 of the Delaware Code must ensure that carriers administering plans for group health insurance comply with the requirements and provisions for pre-authorization set forth in Chapter 33, Subchapter II and Chapter 35, Subchapter V of Title 18. Section 4 of the Act provides that the Act will take effect on January 1 of the calendar year following enactment and will apply to policies, contracts, or certificates issued or renewed after that effective date. Section 5 of the Act provides that the Department of Health and Social Services must, to the extent feasible, assure that contracts awarded to carriers providing health insurance relating to Medicaid assistance comply with the requirements and provisions for pre-authorization set forth in Chapter 33, Subchapter II and Chapter 35, Subchapter V of Title 18. Section 6 of the Act provides that the Department of Insurance will promulgate a uniform pre-authorization form within 180 days of enactment. Section 7 provides that this Act is known as the "Delaware Pre-Authorization Reform Act of 2023."

This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes November 2023 as "Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month" in the State of Delaware.