Rep. Eric Morrison

This Act extends the right of employees to inspect their own personnel files to former employees. Under this Act, an employer must permit a former employee to inspect the employee's own personnel files that exist at the time of the request. This Act does not create or change any requirements regarding the length of time that an employer must retain personnel files of former employees. This Act also updates the specific information included in personnel files that an employee may inspect and makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act creates dedicated information technology units for Delaware public schools. Currently, the State does not provide funding units for information technology employees, leaving districts and charter schools to finance these positions from a variety of funding streams. Information technology personnel are paid across various scales, including the salary scales for educators, custodians, and paraprofessionals. This creates inconsistency and impacts schools’ ability to hire other personnel such as teachers and counselors. For example, if a school or district funds an information technology position using the same unit that funds teacher salaries, that is one less teacher that the district or school can hire. This Act, which stems from the Public Education Compensation Committee’s October 2023 recommendations, prevents this scenario and ensures consistent funding for information technology staff at salary levels that are competitive regionally. This Act is effective July 1, 2025.

This Act requires all individual, blanket, and group health insurance policies to cover annual ovarian cancer screening tests for women at risk for ovarian cancer. It further expands the scope of monitoring tests available to women subsequent to ovarian cancer treatment.

This House Concurrent Resolution recognizes the month of March 2024 as “Multiple Sclerosis Month” in the State of Delaware.

Section 1 of this Act increases the burial benefit for individuals eligible to receive a pension under the State Employees’ Pension Plan (Chapter 55 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code) from $7,000 to $8,000. The burial benefit has not been increased since 2001 (See 73 Del. Laws, c. 146, § 5). This increase will also apply to funeral benefits that reference the amount in this section. Section 2 of this Act increases the funeral expenses paid for a deceased member of a volunteer fire company, volunteer fire company ladies auxiliary, or volunteer ambulance and rescue company from $7,000 to $8,000. This burial benefit has not been increased since 2004 (See 74 Del. Laws, c. 339, § 1). Consistent with a legal interpretation of the existing law by state agencies, this Act continues to enable the payment of funeral expenses for the funeral of a deceased member of a volunteer fire company, volunteer fire company ladies auxiliary, or volunteer ambulance and rescue company even if the member was also a state employee entitled to burial benefits under § 8331 of Title 11, § 8395 of Title 11, § 8846 of Title 11, § 5316 of Title 29, or § 5546 of Title 29. However, this Act makes changes to existing law to make this legal interpretation clear and to specifically identify the state employee burial benefits to which this provision applies. This Act takes effect on October 1, 2024, to provide time to implement this Act after the enactment of the fiscal year 2025 appropriations act containing the funding for this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act makes clear that corporations and other artificial entities may not be given a vote in municipal elections. Section 1 of this Act prohibits a municipality from giving corporations and other artificial entities the right to vote within the municipality's charter. Section 2 amends the language that prohibits municipalities from amending charters that permit nonresident persons to vote to take away such rights under the provisions of Title 22, Chapter 8 applies only to the rights of nonresident natural persons, not to corporations or other artificial entities.

The purpose of this Act is to protect victims of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment from retaliatory lawsuits that arise when a victim of sexual assault discloses information regarding an act of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment. The first part of this Act protects assault victims from defamation lawsuits by: 1. Placing a higher burden of proof on the complainant, even if the complainant is a private figure; and 2. Entitling a prevailing defendant to attorneys’ fees and costs, treble the amount of actual damages, and punitive damages. The second part of this Act prohibits any provision in a settlement agreement that prevents the disclosure of information related to a claim of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination.

This Act creates a narrow exception to the computer crimes under §§ 932, 933, and 935 of Title 11 because these crimes contain elements broad enough to include actions employees may take to document or report an employer’s violation of state or federal employment laws protecting the rights of employees. In addition to criminal penalties, § 941 of Title 11 allows a civil action for treble damages against an employee for a violation of any provision of §§ 932, 933, or 935 of Title 11. Like Senate Bill No. 147, Senate Substitute No. 1 for SB 147, does all of the following: 1. Provides that an employee is not guilty of a crime under §§ 932, 933, or 935 of Title 11 if the employee’s actions were taken to pursue a claim by an employee that the employer violated a state or federal employment law protecting the rights of employees and the information obtained by the employee was only disclosed for this purpose. 2. Clarifies that if an exemption to a crime under §§ 932, 933, or 935 of Title 11 applies, an employer may not bring a civil action under § 941 of Title 11 against a current or former employee for a violation of §§ 932, 933, or 935 of Title 11. Senate Substitute No. 1 for SB 147 differs from SB 147 by making the following revisions to clarify the narrow intent of this Act: 1. Does not include § 936 of Title 11, destruction of computer equipment, under this exemption. 2. Replaces the words “investigating, exploring, or pursuing” with “reporting or filing”. 3. Requires that the employee accessed computer services or systems as authorized for the employee’s use in the course of the employee’s employment.

This Act updates House Bill 455 from the 151st General Assembly by providing the same legal protections afforded providers of contraceptive and abortion services to providers of gender-affirming health care. In summary, this Act does the following: (1) Clarifies that medical professionals who provide gender-affirming health care cannot be disciplined for such services even if such services are illegal or considered to be unprofessional conduct or the unauthorized practice of medicine in another state, so long as such services are lawful in this State; (2) Prohibits health care providers from disclosing communications and records concerning gender-affirming health care without the patient’s authorization, with some exceptions; (3) Protects health care providers from out-of-state civil actions relating to gender-affirming health care treatment that is legal in Delaware, including the issuance of a summons or the enforcement of subpoenas relating to such cases; (4) Creates a cause of action for recouperation of out-of-state judgments relating to gender-affirming services that are lawful in Delaware; and (5) Prohibits insurance companies from taking any adverse action against health care professionals who provide gender-affirming health care services. This Act further gives jurisdiction to the Family Courts to determine custody disputes when a child is in the State to receive gender-affirming health care, and the provision of gender-affirming health-care is at issue in the custody dispute. It also prohibits the state from enforcing an out-of-state court order that removes a child from a parent because the parent allows the child to receive gender-affirming health care

This resolution designates the week of March 11 through March 15, 2024, as “Civic Learning Week” in the State of Delaware to encourage schools and civic organizations to hold educational programs regarding civic duty and urge Delawareans to reflect upon the importance of their civic duty and responsibilities.