Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of death from cancer in men. It is estimated that about 1 in 41 men will die of prostate cancer. According to ZERO Prostate Cancer, Black men face serious health care disparities regarding prostate cancer. 1 in 6 Black men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime compared to 1 in 8 men overall. Black men are also 1.7 times more likely to be diagnosed with, and 2.1 times more likely to die from, prostate cancer than white men.  HB 302 requires all group, blanket, and individual health insurance policies to cover prostate screening for men at risk of prostate cancer. This Substitute bill broadens the definition of “prostate screening” to include any medically necessary and clinically appropriate method for the detection and diagnosis of prostate cancer, including a digital rectal exam and prostate specific antigen test, and associated laboratory work. This Substitute bill also clarifies the ages at which prostate screenings must be covered, consistent with the American Cancer Society guidelines, as follows: (1) Age 50 for men at average risk of developing prostate cancer; (2) Age 45 for men at high risk of developing prostate cancer, including African American men and men who have a first degree relative diagnosed with prostate cancer; and (3) Age 40 for men at even higher risk for prostate cancer, including men who have more than one first degree relative diagnosed with prostate cancer.  This Substitute bill also extends the effective date to health insurance policies modified after December 31, 2025, and makes technical corrections.

This Act establishes a right to counsel for indigent parents in DSCYF custody proceedings. Parent representation will primarily be provided by a legal services entity contracted with the Family Court, but may also be provided by the Office of Defense Services or a private attorney appointed by the Court.

This Act requires that a candidate’s political committee’s contribution and expense report, provided to the Department of Elections, include the primary employer and job title of each person contributing to the committee. This Act also requires the Department of Elections to provide a telephone number and online form for reporting alleged campaign financing violations. The informant must provide their name and contact information to the Department. The information provided to the Department is not to be considered a public record under FOIA. This Act also allows reporting parties who unintentionally receive a prohibited contribution or make a prohibited expenditure to return or reimburse the contribution or pay the contribution to the State Treasurer. This Act also eliminates the ability of anyone who makes or accepts a prohibited campaign contribution from donating the money to a designated Title 30 charitable organization. The Act requires anyone who knowingly accepts an unlawful campaign contribution to pay the money to the State Treasurer for deposit to the General Fund.

This Act eliminates animal noise and noise disturbances from the Noise Control and Abatement Chapter in Title 7. This Act clarifies the authority of the Office of Animal Welfare and Department of Agriculture to enforce all state laws relating to the protection and control of animals with, as occasion requires, the assistance of police officers. This Act also adds restrictions concerning barking dogs with other provisions concerning dogs currently being enforced by the Office of Animal Welfare. This Act does not prohibit municipalities from enforcing their own dog laws or ordinances if they have their own enforcement agency. This Act clarifies that police officers shall assist the Office of Animal Welfare, as occasion requires, with the enforcement of all State and local dog control laws. This Act prohibits the owner or person in possession or control of a dog from allowing the dog to bark for an extended period, defined as continuously for 15 minutes or more, or intermittently for 30 minutes or more. The Act exempts barking dogs if:(1) a person is trespassing on private property;(2) an animal is intruding on private property; (3) the dog is being teased or provoked. The Act exempts dogs located in:(1)animal shelters; (2) pet stores; (3) dog grooming facilities; (4) veterinarian offices; (5) animal clinics. The Act also exempts dogs engaged in:(1) dog training;(2) dog exhibition; (3) lawful performance competitions; (4) hunting; (5) herding. Civil penalties are a written warning for the first violation, $50 for a second violation, if it occurs more than 7 days after the first violation, $100 for a third violation and $150 for all subsequent violations. This Act is effective 1 year after enactment.

This Act is a substitute for House Bill 253. Like HB 253, it requires health insurance companies, including State employee/retiree health plans and Medicaid, to cover annual mammograms for the purpose of early detection for a woman 40 years of age or older, with or without referral from the woman’s health care provider. It also prohibits mammography facilities from requiring that women, 40 years of age or older, provide the facility with the name of a healthcare provider in order to receive an annual screening mammogram. This substitute differs from HB 253 by updating Title 18, Section 3552 of the Delaware for consistency with the rest of the bill. Specifically, it requires insurance carriers to provide coverage for annual mammograms for cancer screening beginning at age 40 rather than age 50 and prohibits carriers from requiring a referral for these annual mammograms.

This Act requires a landlord who provides a dwelling place to a person as part of their employment compensation to provide them with a disclosure form advising them of the conditions and requirements for occupancy and vacancy of the premises once they are no longer employed for the landlord. The disclosure must inform the tenant employee that the landlord must offer the tenant, within 5 business days of termination by the employer, the opportunity to enter into a written rental agreement, if no rental agreement is in effect already. No offer for a rental agreement is necessary if the tenant employee is terminated for cause. The landlord may condition the rental agreement on the person financially qualifying as a tenant and meeting the landlord’s income, credit, or other financial requirements for renting the unit. This Act also lengthens the time period the landlord must wait before bringing a summary possession action against a formerly employed tenant from 15 days to 30 days unless the termination is for cause.

This Act requires that Medicaid and State employee health plans cover: (1) ovarian cancer monitoring tests for women treated for ovarian cancer; and (2) annual screening tests for women at risk for ovarian cancer.

This Act implements a recommendation from the December 31, 2023, Report of the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee (RHBAS). Under this Act, the State must continue to offer eligible pensioners first employed by the State as a regular officer or employee (first employed) before January 1, 2025, a plan that is comparable to the current Special Medicfill Medicare Supplement plan. However, for eligible pensioners first employed on or after January 1, 2025, the State may offer different Medicare supplement plans that are not high deductible plans. This Act differs from the RHBAS recommendation because it does not limit the plan for eligible pensioners first employed on or after January 1, 2025, to plans that are comparable to the current Medicare supplement Plan G and Plan L. This difference is because under this Act, the State will not be able to offer a different Medicare supplement plan to any eligible pensioners until January 1, 2040, and details about the Medicare supplement plans that will be available at that time is unknown. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and to align with related legislation.

This Act is a Substitute for Senate Bill No. 82. Both this Act and SB 82 require State programs to provide annual reports to the General Assembly about compliance with federal and State law and regulation that require meaningful access to services for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) and effective communication for individuals with disabilities. Both this Act and SB 82 provide support for language and communication assistance for individuals renting or purchasing a home or facing eviction or foreclosure. This Act and SB 82 create a short-term program within the Office of the Manufactured Housing Ombudsperson and the Department of Justice. This program will provide special language and communication assistance support for individuals with limited English proficiency and individuals with disabilities to better understand and participate in matters related to residential leases and evictions and home purchases and foreclosures. The Department of Justice is not required to spend more than $48,500 on translation and interpretation services, and auxiliary aids, in the fiscal year following 30 days after enactment. This Act differs from SB 82 as follows: (1) Some definitions are updated to conform more closely to federal law. Additionally, this Act narrows the definition of "individual with a disability" to be someone with a disability affecting communication, since this Act is designed to gather data and provide support related to effective communication. (2) This Act narrows the scope of agency programs about which reporting must occur. Instead of collecting information about agency-wide compliance, this Act will gather preliminary information about compliance by obtaining reports about a sample of agency programs. This Act requires the secretaries and directors of various departments and divisions to select and report about at least 2 operations, units, or services provided by their department or division. Certain enumerated entities under § 10604(b) of Title 29 will be required to report about their compliance. Also, the Department of Justice shall select 5 programs that will be required to submit reports. (3) In SB 82, programs had to complete narrative reports for the first 3 years after enactment. Beginning 4 years after enactment, the reporting programs were required to submit reports that required data collection. This Act keeps only the narrative reports. (4) Revises the special language and communication assistance program to allow the Department of Justice to create 1 program to fulfill its obligations under this Act to provide support for language and communication assistance for individuals renting or purchasing a home or manufactured home or facing eviction or foreclosure, as well as limits the program’s obligations to the extent of the appropriated funds received. (5) In SB 82, the special language and communication assistance program was to sunset 2 years after enactment unless otherwise extended, while the reporting requirements were to continue. In this Act, the entire Act sunsets 2 years after enactment unless extended by an act of the General Assembly.

This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 174. Like Senate Bill No. 174, this Act adds Justices of the Peace, Commissioners in Superior Court, Family Court, and Court of Common Pleas, and Magistrates in Chancery to the State Judicial Pension Plan. Section 1 of this Act amends the “Pensions for Members of the State Judiciary” chapter’s definition of “state judiciary” so that Justices of the Peace, Commissioners, and Magistrates in Chancery are included, which then results in their inclusion in the definition of “member”. Section 1 also removes the defined term “for which he or she is eligible under the Federal Social Security Act”, which is not used anywhere in Chapter 56 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code (“Chapter 56”), and creates a new definition, “State judicial officer”, which is used in place of “member of the state judiciary” and “judge” in this Act. Sections 2 through 10 of this Act are included to ensure the term “member” is used consistently throughout Chapter 56 and to replace “member of the State judiciary” and “judge” with “State judicial officer”. This ensures that Justices of the Peace, Commissioners, and Magistrates in Chancery are included in the State Judicial Pension Plan. Section 2 of this Act also increases the amount of annual compensation in excess of $6,000 up to the Social Security wage base that a State judicial officer who is covered by the State Judicial Pension Plan on or after the effective date of this Act must contribute to the State Judicial Plan from 3% to 4%. Section 3 of this Act also establishes a one-time opt-out provision to allow a Justice of the Peace, Commissioner, or Magistrate in Chancery that may be adversely affected by the State Judicial Pension Plan, which would violate the Emoluments Clause under § 4 of Article XV of the Delaware Constitution, the ability to remain in the State Employee Pension Plan. Section 7 of this Act also includes in Chapter 56 reference to statutory procedures in Title 10 for the assignment of a retired Justice of the Peace or Commissioner. Like Senate Bill No. 174, this Act also does the following: (1) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including (i) removing references to “or survivors” based on § 304 of Title 1 of the Delaware Code, which provides that the singular includes the plural and (ii) correcting a citation error in § 5614(g) of Title 29. (2) Makes changes to delete obsolete language, including (i) deleting § 5605(a)(2)c. of Title 29, which no longer applies to a current State judicial officer, and (ii) deleting § 5609(b), which applied for 6 months from July 7, 1998, and has not applied since then. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 174 as follows: (1) By updating the title “Master in Chancery” to “Magistrate in Chancery”, based on the passage of Senate Bill No. 179 (152nd General Assembly). (2) By changing the definition of “Commissioner” to define the term based on the Code sections authorizing the appointment of a Commissioner, rather than the powers of a Commissioner. (3) By clarifying that a Justice of the Peace, Commissioner, or Magistrate in Chancery who qualifies for the State Judicial Pension Plan on the effective date of this Act and elects to be covered by the State Judicial Pension Plan is entitled to a payout for accrued annual leave in incremental payments over a 5-year period. (4) By renaming the title of Chapter 56, Title 29 of the Delaware Code to reflect changes made by this Act. (5) By changing the effective date of this Act to January 1, 2025.