Rep. Eric Morrison

This Act allows any school district located in New Castle County to reset its tax rates for the 2025-2026 tax year and to reissue a tax warrant using different residential and non-residential tax rates. The non-residential tax rate must be at least equal to the residential tax rate and may not be more than 2 times the residential tax rate. The total amount of revenue projected to be collected through use of the residential and non-residential tax rates may not exceed the total amount of revenue the district was projected to collect under its original tax warrant. The districts have 10 business days from the enactment of this Act to reset the rates and issue a new tax warrant to New Castle County. Upon receipt of a new tax warrant, New Castle County will supplement any tax bill already issued for taxpayers in that district and adjust tax bills with an extended deadline for payment of October 30, 2025 for tax bills that change. For any taxpayer who submits payment under the original tax bill and whose total school tax liability is adjusted downward, the difference will be credited against future tax liability unless the taxpayer submits a written request for a refund, in which case New Castle County shall issue a refund. A school district that resets its rates in accordance with this Act may request and borrow from State Division I funds in the event of a cash flow shortfall of local school funds due to the extension of the deadline for tax payments for the 2026 fiscal year.

This Act requires a county to issue a refund to a taxpayer for property tax determined to have been overpaid for that year after an assessment appeal if the amount is $50 or greater. A county may elect to refund or credit the amount against future taxes due when the overpayment is less than $50. Amounts in school taxes determined to have been overpaid by a taxpayer after an assessment appeal will be refunded by the county following the same rule.

This Act adds 2 members, appointed by the Governor, to the Delaware Suicide Prevention Coalition. The 2 new members shall be: 1 member who has experienced suicide ideation or survived a suicide attempt, and 1 member who has lost a loved one to suicide. This change is requested by the Coalition.

This Act requires additional reporting and disclosure related to the use of mechanical restraint and seclusion in public schools. While public school personnel cannot use mechanical restraint or seclusion on students in absence of a waiver, law-enforcement officers can. This Act requires the Department of Education to collect data from public schools about the use of mechanical restraint and seclusion, in addition to the physical restraint data that is already collected. The Department of Education shall include the mechanical restraint and seclusion data in its annual report. This Act adds a specific date by which the annual report is due. Additionally, the annual report must be submitted to certain entities, including the Delaware School Boards Association and the boards of education of school districts and the boards of directors of charter schools. This Act also adds mechanical restraint and seclusion to the parental notice requirement and special procedures and safeguard requirements that already exist for use of physical restraint. Though § 4112F defines “chemical restraint”, chemical restraint cannot be performed by anyone in a public school. Therefore, this Act does not add chemical restraint to data collection, reporting, parental notification, or safeguard requirements. Furthermore, this Act adds a definition of school resource officer (SRO) to clarify that SROs are law-enforcement officers. This Act requires the Department of Education to amend its regulations in accordance with the definitions in this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including correctly formatting lists and revising § 4112F(d) of Title 14, the subsection addressing particular training requirements for SROs, to account for the creation of a definition of SRO. One technical correction in § 4112F(d) is changing a “shall not” to a “may not” as it applies to the prohibition against the use of SROs who have not complied with mandated training requirements. According to Rule 12 in the Legislative Drafting Manual, “shall not” should be avoided in legislative drafting. Furthermore, both “may not” and “must not” are proper ways to express a prohibition in the Delaware Code. They convey the same level of mandatory prohibition except that “may not” qualifies a verb in active voice while “must not” qualifies an inactive verb or an active verb in passive voice. This technical correction still prohibits school districts and charter schools from using an SRO who has not satisfied the training requirements in § 4112F(d). This Act takes effect on August 1, 2025.

This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 156. Like Senate Bill No. 156, this Substitute prohibits the reporting of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies and prohibits any medical debt from being included on a consumer report. Since 2023, at least 9 other states have passed laws that prohibit or restrict the reporting of medical debt on credit reports, including California, New Jersy, and Virginia. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 156 in that it (1) adds language to the purpose section of the statute making it clear that the intent of the chapter is for medical debt not to be used in credit, employment, or housing decisions; (2) removes the proposed definition of medical debt information and instead adds a definition of medical debt; and (3) removes the proposed prohibition language on using a credit report containing medical debt information from being used when making decisions regarding someone’s credit, employment, or housing.

This Act is intended to supplement protections under federal law for members of the military, their families, and veterans by adding “military status” as a protected class for purposes of the State’s public accommodations, housing, insurance, education, and employment laws. Technical corrections are also made to existing statutory language to conform with the requirements of the Legislative Drafting Manual. This House Substitute No. 1 adds language to clarify that distinctions or differential treatment based on military status that are allowed by State law or regulation, federal law or regulation, or government contract, are not unfair or discriminatory practices. It also updates existing statutory language that was changed by 84 Del. Laws c 429.

This Joint Resolution designates August 31, 2025, as "International Overdose Awareness Day" in the State of Delaware and requires that in observance, the State flag be flown at half-staff at State facilities. By recognizing International Overdose Awareness Day, this Joint Resolution affirms the importance of overdose awareness, remembers those who have died from overdose, and acknowledges the grief suffered from losing a loved one to overdose.

Excess skin and subcutaneous tissue can create a risk of rashes or infections, make walking and movement difficult, and make everyday chores difficult. An example of treatment that removes excess skin and subcutaneous tissue is a panniculectomy. A panniculectomy is an operative procedure that contours, or changes the shape and form, of the abdomen by removing significant excess skin and subcutaneous tissue. Removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue can improve a patient’s health and quality of life. This Act requires individual health insurance plans delivered under Chapter 33 of Title 18 and group and blanket health insurance plans delivered under Chapter 35 of Title 18 to cover medically necessary removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue, including panniculectomies. This Act also requires the State employee health insurance plan and State Medicaid plans to cover medically necessary removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue, including panniculectomies. Medically necessary means as defined in § 3371(8) for individual health insurance plans and as defined in § 3581(8) for group and blanket health insurance plans, State employee health insurance plans, and State Medicaid plans. This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certicates issued, renewed, modified, alterered, amended, or resissued after December 31, 2026.

This Act bans the sale of Tianeptine in the State by identifying it as a Schedule I controlled substance. Tianeptine, also known as “gas station heroin,” is an antidepressant drug that is not approved by the FDA and is being sold as a dietary supplement in gas stations and other shops. This Act requires approval by a two-thirds vote because the statutory change will result in the expansion of an existing misdemeanor.

This Act adds that the Director or Deputy Director of the Division of Family Services may have a designee consent to voluntary admission and sign for admission to a psychiatric hospital for youth in DFS custody. This reflects best practices and matches the current process for surgical consents for youth in DFS custody, and under DFS policy, a designee may only act as a designee to take such action with the direct approval of the Director or Deputy Director.