This Act is a result of the 2019 report of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee’s task force under Senate Resolution No. 9 of the 150th General Assembly, which recommended requiring dental insurers to report to the Delaware Health Care Claims Database (“Database”). When the Database was created in 2016, providers of dental insurance were exempted from the mandatory reporting requirements. Dental care, however, remains an important indicator of overall health, and claims information related to dental care will help the Database continue to provide value to the State and researchers to help advance the Triple Aim Plus One, the State's goal of better health, improved health care quality and patient experience, lower growth in per capita health care costs, and an enhanced provider experience. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
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This Act is the result of the 2019 report of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee’s task force under Senate Resolution No. 9 of the 150th General Assembly. This Act addresses a gap in care coordination efforts for individuals in the custody of the Department of Correction (“Department”), by ensuring that appropriate health data regarding the care provided to those individuals and the cost of the care is provided to the Delaware Health Information Network ("DHIN") for inclusion in DHIN's clinical health data repository and the Delaware Health Care Claims Database, respectively. The data will be accessed or used only consistent with DHIN's governing statute, Chapter 103 of Title 16. Under this Act, the Department or a third-party entity that provides medical care to an individual in the Department’s custody or care as of the date this Act is enacted must enroll in DHIN under § 8916(1) of Title 29 no later than 30 days after the date of enactment, and must enter into an agreement with DHIN under § 8916(2) of Title 29 no later than 90 days after the date of enactment. A third-party entity that begins providing medical care to an individual in the Department’s custody or care after the date this Act is enacted must enroll in DHIN under § 8916(1) of Title 29 no later than 30 days after beginning to provide the medical care, and must enter into an agreement with DHIN under § 8916(2) of Title 29 no later than 90 days after beginning to provide the medical care. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act requires certain law-enforcement officer to wear and use a body worn camera to record all interactions with a member of the public. The Act also requires law-enforcement agencies to retain body worn camera recordings for at least 90 days following the interaction unless the agency has received a request or a court order to preserve the recording for a longer period of time.
This Act requires high needs elementary schools, including high needs elementary charter schools, to have school-based health centers. The State will pay the start-up costs for each school-based health center at 2 high needs elementary schools per year until each high needs elementary school has a center. High needs elementary schools are defined as any elementary school in the top quartile of 3 or more in percentage of low-income students, percentage of English learners, percentage of students with disabilities, percentage of minority students, or having 90% of its students classified as low-income, English learners, or minority. This Act also allows high needs elementary schools having pre-existing school-based health centers to apply for reimbursement of previously expended funds necessary to establish said health center. To the extent that there are any public high schools without a school-based health center upon the effective date of this Act, the State will fund start-up costs for a center at such a public high school.
This bill clarifies that Probation Before Judgment (PBJ) may be entered for multiple charges arising from a single arrest. Changes to the legislation also allow for a defendant to be permitted Probation Before Judgment more than once in a five year period so long as offenses are in different titles of the Code. For example, a defendant who was granted PBJ in 2017 for speeding (title 21) would be eligible for PBJ on a title 11 charge (e.g. bad check) or title 4 (e.g. underage consumption of alcohol) in 2019. This bill also allows persons who have been adjudicated delinquent of a crime as a juvenile to be eligible for Probation Before Judgment.
A 2019 study found the following: (1) Black women are 80% more likely to change their natural hair to meet social norms or expectations at work. (2) Black women are 50% more likely to be sent home or know of another Black woman sent home from work because of her hair. (3) Black women are 30% more likely to be made aware of a formal workplace appearance policy. Delaware law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in a variety of settings. This Act makes clear that race also includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and a protective hairstyle, which includes braids, locks, and twists. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Delaware, like the rest of the country and the world, has been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic since March of 2020. The worst outbreaks have occurred in facilities where people live and/or work in tight communal settings – long-term care facilities, prisons, and meat processing plants. There is no real way to prevent an outbreak and the spread of a highly contagious disease inside a prison where inmates share cells, communal recreation and dining spaces, and in some instances reside in large bunk rooms. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the operations of the prisons as they struggle with staff shortages due to illness and quarantines, and curtail activities to reduce opportunities for community spread within the prison. This bill seeks to address both the COVID-19 pandemic as well as any future public health emergency that impacts prison operations and conditions by creating a “public health emergency credit” that would automatically be awarded when a public health emergency is declared. Credits would be awarded at the rate of 6 months for every month served during the public health emergency up to a maximum reduction in sentence of 1 year. This has the practical effect of moving forward release dates for inmates whose release would come within the next year regardless of the emergency. This will reduce the prison population in an orderly and fair manner, relieving pressure on staff and creating better conditions for those inmates who remain incarcerated to socially distance and control the spread of infectious disease. By applying additional credit towards sentence completion, this legislation also recognizes that the conditions of confinement during a public health emergency like the current one can be considered significantly more punishing – since visitation, communications, programming, and recreation are all significantly negatively impacted by the emergency conditions and modifications to operations.
This Act limits the use of certain Class B firefighting foams (“Class B foams”) in Delaware. Class B foams are used to put out fires caused by flammable liquids like gasoline, oil, and jet fuel, and can be divided into 2 categories: those with PFAS chemicals and those without. PFAS chemicals include a range of chemistries with differing properties, which have been widely-used for decades in products other than Class B foams, like food packaging, carpets, and other household items, and in firefighting foam. The use of firefighting foams containing PFAS chemicals, however, is an emerging public health challenge to avoid future contamination and reduce exposure to firefighters and Delawareans. Firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals can get into water wells and drinking water supplies and expose firefighters and others to the chemicals. More studies into the effects of PFAS chemicals are emerging; some of the health effects of exposure to certain PFAS chemicals include pregnancy complications, liver damage, and high cholesterol. The PFAS chemicals in firefighting foams must be weighed against their particularly-effective nature in fighting liquid fires when mixed with water. To that end, this Act prohibits the use of Class B foams containing intentionally-added PFAS chemicals unless the use is for fire prevention or emergency firefighting. Further, this Act permits the use of such foam for training and testing only if the facility in which the training or testing occurs has implemented containment, treatment, and disposal measures to prevent releases of Class B foams containing PFAS chemicals. This Act also makes technical changes to Part IV of Title 16, to reflect its current structure more accurately.
This resolution recognizes the importance of providing effective counsel to all who are accused, commends the important role played by the Office of Defense Services in fulfilling that mission, and recognizes March 18 as National Public Defense Day.
This Act requires each school district and charter school to establish and implement a curriculum on Black History for students in grades K through 12. This Act incorporates contemporary events into discussions of Black History and the tools of experience.