Individuals who receive health care via Medicaid deserve the same dedication to treatment of substance abuse disorders as individuals who receive health care via private insurance. This Act extends the same access to treatment of a substance use disorder within the Medicaid framework that Senate Bill 41 of the 149th General Assembly afforded to individuals covered by private health insurance. This Act also clarifies that Medicaid health plans must use the full set of American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria when determining whether “medical necessity” exists for the placement, continued stay, and transfer/discharge of patients with a substance use disorder in treatment programs. Additionally, this Act aligns protections relating to services, specifically 5 days of treatment in detox centers and 30 days of treatment in Intensive Outpatient Programs, with the residential treatment option that is protected pursuant to Senate Bill 41 of the 149th General Assembly.
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This Act builds on some of the legislation passed by the 148th General Assembly that addressed the wage gap between men and women. When employers ask prospective employees for their wage or salary history, it perpetuates disparities in pay based on gender from one job into another. This Act prohibits employers from inquiring into an applicant's compensation history. An applicant may voluntarily disclose the information if he or she wishes to do so, and the bill explicitly permits discussion and negation of compensation expectations between an employer and applicants, so long as the employer does not affirmatively seek compensation history in the course of discussion and negotiation. An employer is permitted to seek and confirm such information after an offer, including compensation, has been negotiated, made, and accepted. The effective date of the bill is delayed by 6 months to allow employers to update their policies.
The purpose of this amendment is to better protect the motorists of the State of Delaware by raising the minimum automobile bodily injury and property damage limits to reflect the current economic conditions. The minimum automobile liability limits have not been raised in the State of Delaware since July 19, 1983. Most motor vehicle policies sold in Delaware provide $10,000 for property damage coverage. Bodily injury insurance proceeds are frequently used to cover the cost of not only pain and suffering, but an injured person’s medical expenses and lost wages, which have increased since 1983. For example, $15,000 in 1983 is equivalent to $35,960.54 in 2016, based on the federal Consumer Price Index – Urban statistics for 1983 and 2016. In addition, $30,000 in 1983 is equivalent to $71,921.08 in 2016.
This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide for equal rights. This amendment would advance human dignity and equality for all under the Delaware Constitution, and would correct a constitutional shortcoming. It subjects unequal treatment arising from historical bias to strict scrutiny, and enables courts in Delaware to establish jurisprudence concerning equal rights violations under State law reflecting Delaware values.
In the 148th General Assembly, the state employees' pension law was amended by House Bill No. 363, as amended by House Amendment No. 1 to House Bill No. 363, to permit specified peace officers to retire at 25 years without any reduction. Specified peace officers will pay a higher employee contribution, and those who continue to work past 25 years of service will have the multiplier used in the calculation of benefits increased for the years past 25 years. This Act adds Delaware State University Police officers to the definition of "specified peace officers."
This bill will allow defendants serving consecutive sentences, who were sentenced prior to the amendment of 11 Del. C. § 3901(d), to be allowed to petition the court to consider applying concurrent rather than consecutive sentences. Prior to June 30, 2014 no concurrent sentencing was allowed in the State of Delaware. The bill lays out a process similar to the review process put in place after the habitual offender laws were revised pursuant to Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 163 in the 148th General Assembly. Delaware has the highest rate of incarceration of any state in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region, and the fiscal costs of incarceration continue to strain the state budget. This bill provides a mechanism to review the sentences of some of the current inmate population to determine if their sentences remain appropriate under our current sentencing laws.
This resolution recognizes June 8, 2017 as League of Local Governments Day in Delaware.
This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide for equal protection. This amendment would advance human dignity and equality for all under the Delaware Constitution, and would correct a constitutional shortcoming. It subjects unequal treatment based on discrimination to strict scrutiny, and enables courts in Delaware to establish jurisprudence concerning equal rights violations under State law reflecting Delaware values. Currently, while the federal and many state constitutions afford equal protection, Delaware’s constitution fails to do so.
In an effort to reduce overdose deaths relating to the growing epidemic of opioid addiction, this Act requires carriers to provide coverage for medically necessary inpatient treatment of alcohol and drug dependencies and prohibits carriers from imposing precertification, prior authorization, pre-admission screening, or referral requirements for the diagnosis and treatment, including in-patient treatment, of drug and alcohol dependencies. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
The denial by private and public health benefit administrators of adequate coverage for substance abuse treatment has been identified as a major source of failed treatment efforts by persons addicted to controlled substances. These denials have also been identified as a cause of the shortage of adequate treatment facilities in Delaware. This Act seeks to ensure that persons with private and public insurance coverage have the ability to insist that they receive the substance abuse coverage to which they are entitled by law and by their insurance plans. It does so by (1) allowing the Department of Justice to provide legal assistance where appropriate to persons seeking benefits from the state’s Medicaid program, traditional health plans, or from employer-funded health benefit plans (which are exempt from state regulation), (2) requiring the state’s Medicaid program and private insurance carriers to provide notice to persons who are denied substance abuse treatment of the possibility of legal assistance in challenging those claim denials, and (3) permitting the Department of Justice to use funds in its Consumer Protection Fund to offset the cost of providing medical and legal expertise to DOJ and the Department of Insurance for the purpose of assisting persons with controlled substance addictions who are seeking treatment. This Act contains a sunset provision so that the General Assembly can assess the impact of its provisions on private and public health care costs and effective treatment of substance abuse before making its provisions permanent.