Rep. Sean Lynn

This Act amends the Charter of the City of Dover, including by doing the following: (1) Making technical corrections to ensure consistent capitalization of City officers and agencies, ensure consistent usage of terms throughout the Charter, (2) Moving the City’s authority to impose a realty transfer tax from Section 3 (relating to employee pension, benefit, and retirement systems) to a new Section 49B within Article IV of the City’s Charter (relating to financial affairs). (3) Removing provisions from Section 5 of the City’s Charter that are out-of-date. (4) Requiring that to be eligible to be elected mayor or a member of council a person must be a registered voter of the City as of the date of the election. (5) Requiring that nominating petitions for mayor and members of council be submitted between the first working day of January and the last working day of January in the year of an election. (6) Requiring election board members to voluntarily remove themselves from the election board before participating in a campaign to elect a candidate. (7) Authorizing a majority of council to remove an election board member if a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest exists between the member and a candidate. (8) Removing the specific time for the meeting of council on the second Monday in May. (9) Providing that council shall hold an election for a council president pro tempore if there the council president is unavailable for 30 days. The council president pro tempore serves until the council president returns. (10) Providing that the salary for mayor, councilmembers, and other elected or appointed officials is to be adopted annually with the adoption of the fiscal year budget ordinance and that pay raises for mayor and council are to be tied to increases for non-bargaining employees of the City. (11) Providing that if a vacancy in the office of mayor or a member of council is for 6 months or less before the next regular or special election, the vacancy will be filled at the next regular or special election if there is sufficient time to meet the requirements of City and State law. (13) Clarifying that the city clerk is to be appointed by a majority vote of the council, hold office until the clerk’s successor is chosen, and be subject to removal by council at any time. (14) Clarifying that the controller/treasurer is to be appointed by a majority vote of the council. (15) Requiring the city manager to be a resident of Kent County within 180 days of hire. (16) Changing dates for when a draft budget is due to be presented to council and when council must adopt a budget. (17) Changing the amount of taxable assessed value of real property of aggregate principal amount of general obligation bonds issued to finance capital projects that may be authorized by council at any one time to 1% from .25%. (18) Authorizing the mayor and council to authorize and issue, without a referendum vote, tax exempt or taxable municipal conduit bonds. (19) Requiring a two-thirds vote of the members of council to confirm the mayor’s appointee to be chief of police or to confirm the mayor’s removal of the chief of police. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter.

This Act increases opportunities for federally qualified health centers (“FQHC”) and government-operated dental clinics to serve the indigent and other underserved communities with dental care and improves flexibility with updated provisional licensing processes for FQHC and government-operated dental clinic applicants. This Act assists FQHCs and government-operated dental clinics in recruiting dentists to serve those most in need. This Act adds FQHCs to the Delaware Institute for Dental Education and Research Board. This Act creates the Dental Care Access Task Force (“Task Force”) to examine and recommend a course of action to address all of the following: (1) Dental care access, including for underserved populations and communities. (2) Dental licensure practices and requirements. (3) Dental provider type and scope of practice. (4) Dental provider recruitment and retention strategies. (5) Dental insurance networks and coverage, including for the uninsured and underinsured. The Task Force must submit its report no later than February 1, 2023. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act implements some of the recommendations of the African American Task Force's Safety and Justice Subcommittee. Specifically, it requires that cases or charges that are more than 7 years old be treated as “resolved in favor of” a child or adult if there is no disposition available for the case and no outstanding warrants. This clarification will prevent errors in record-keeping in the criminal justice system from stopping an otherwise qualified petitioner from obtaining an expungement that may otherwise be available. It will also require old cases for which no outcome is listed to be removed from a person's record if they are more than 7 years old. In addition, this Act allow an individual with multiple violations or misdemeanors in different cases that would be eligible for a mandatory expungement if they had occurred in a single case, and the individual has no other convictions on their record, to apply directly for a discretionary expungement after 5 years have passed from the most recent conviction. The court would then consider the application under its usual “interest of justice” rubric in determining whether to grant the expungement. This saves applications to the pardon board for multiple minor misdemeanors and increases parity between applicants with similar records.

This Act codifies the principle set forth in Doe v. Bicking, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 43, *32, 2020 WL 374677 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2020) that recognizes that in cases of childhood sexual abuse by an employee of a school, organization, or business that serves or cares for children, the perpetrator often has authority and power over the child victim, which can be enabled by the perpetrator’s position in that institution. If a child is abused while the perpetrator is doing the perpetrator’s job, the employer should be responsible. This Act also changes the standard of culpability from “gross negligence” to “negligence” for public schools in civil claims based on childhood sexual abuse. Children who are sexually abused by private employer employees (e.g. daycare providers, private schools, etc.) have more protection than children abused by their teachers and coaches at public schools. There should be one standard of care that holds schools and businesses equally accountable when their recklessness, inattention, or failure to act causes a student to be sexually abused. This Act seeks to avoid future instances of the result in Bates v. Caesar Rodney Sch. Dist., No. 13, 2021, 2021 Del. LEXIS 315 (Del. Oct. 6, 2021), a case which held that when a student is abused at school by a teacher, the school has no legal responsibility. This Act takes effect 90 days after its enactment into law.

This Act expands Erin's Law to require training and education on issues related to inappropriate relationships between adults and children, such as grooming. Erin's Law requires the Child Protection Accountability Commission and the Division of Family Services of the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families to develop and maintain a curriculum to be used by Delaware's public schools to educate public school employees about personal body safety and child sexual abuse. Erin's Law is named in honor of Erin Merryn, a victim of child sexual abuse, who is working to enact legislation on this subject throughout the country. This act expands Erin's Law in several respects. The Act expands the range of grades that Erin's Law applies to from pre-kindergarten to grade 6 to pre-kindergarten to grade 12. In addition, the Act expands Erin's Law to require training for school employees on the prevention of inappropriate sexual misconduct, the establishment of appropriate adult and student interactions, and the warning signs of suspected adult sexual misconduct, with an emphasis on sexual grooming. It also expands the information available to parents and students to include information on the warning signs of adult sexual misconduct, including the derivative grooming of parents, methods for discussing adult sexual misconduct with students, resources for reporting suspected abuse, and counseling available to students and parents. Finally, the Act requires training and education for school administrators, school nurses, and school counselors on issues relating to inappropriate sexual relationships and grooming, such as strategies for the prevention of such misconduct, skills for responding to student disclosures of such misconduct, and measures to promote school recovery after an incident of such misconduct.

This Act prohibits the manufacture, sale, or distribution of children's products, upholstered furniture used in residences, and mattresses that contain harmful flame retardant chemicals. These flame retardants have been found to cause cancer, particularly to firefighters who are extinguishing fires that involve products that contain these chemicals. This Act does not apply to any of the following: 1. The sale of used products. 2. Furniture purchased for public use in public facilities 3. Thread or fiber used for stitching mattress components. 4. Children’s products that are not primarily intended for use in the home. 5. Products being transferred to a vehicle at a warehouse or distribution center for delivery in another state. 6. Electronic components. This Act takes effect on July 1, 2021.

This Act establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware middle schools. The unit is phased in over 3 years, beginning in FY2023, to arrive at a final ratio of 250 full-time equivalent students grades 6-8 for a full-time school counselor, school social worker, or licensed clinical social worker. Additionally a unit ratio of 700 full time equivalent students for grades 6-8 for employment of a full-time school psychologist. This Act defines “mental health services” as prevention, response, and coordination services delivered to students in elementary schools. Mental Health disorders are the most common health problem for school aged youth. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five youth are affected by a mental health disorder. Additionally, 50% of lifetime mental illnesses begin by age 14. Untreated mental illness leads to negative outcomes including increased risk of dropout, homelessness, substance abuse, other chronic illnesses, incarceration, and possibly suicide. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, ninety percent of people who have taken their own life have had an underlying mental health condition, and suicides are on the rise. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides are now the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-14. Delaware schools need trained and experienced mental health professionals to provide prevention and support programs and services to students. This bill will lower ratios of students to counselors and increase access to mental health services for middle school students.

A 2017 survey of Delaware high school students found that during the 12 months before the survey the following occurred: (1) 27.6% of the students felt sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 weeks in a row so that they stopped some usual activities. (2) 16.1% of students seriously considered attempting suicide. (3) 12% of students made a plan about how they would attempt suicide. (4) 7.2% of students attempted suicide. This Act increases student awareness of mental health by requiring the Department of Education, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to establish and implement statewide mental health educational programs for each grade, kindergarten through grade 12, in each school district and charter school in this State. Finally, this Act requires the Department of Education to annually report to the Governor and General Assembly regarding the implementation of this Act.

This bill continues the practice of amending periodically the Delaware Revised Uniform Partnership Act (the “Act”) to keep it current and to maintain its national preeminence. The following is a section-by-section review of the proposed amendments of the Act. Section 1. This section amends Section 15-101(14) of the Act. to confirm that a partnership agreement may include or incorporate multiple documents that may govern the business or affairs of the partnership. Section 2. This section amends Section 15-105(c) of the Act to clarify that the execution of a statement or certificate by a person who is authorized by the Act to execute such statement or certificate constitutes an oath or affirmation that, to the best of such person’s knowledge and belief, the facts stated therein shall be true at the time such statement or certificate becomes effective, not at the time such statement or certificate is executed. Section 3. This section amends Section 15-124(b) to confirm that a signature on a certificate of partnership interest may be a manual, facsimile, or electronic signature. Section 4. This section amends Section 15-901(h) of the Act to provide that the approval of a conversion to a partnership in the manner provided for by the document, instrument, agreement or other writing, as the case may be, governing the internal affairs of the other entity and the conduct of its business or by applicable law, as appropriate, and the approval of the partnership agreement by the same authorization required to approve the conversion, are required to occur prior to the time a certificate of conversion to partnership becomes effective. Section 5. This section amends Section 15-904(g) of the Act to provide that the approval of a partnership domestication in the manner provided for by the document, instrument, agreement or other writing, as the case may be, governing the internal affairs of the non-United States entity and the conduct of its business or by applicable non-Delaware law, as appropriate, and the approval of the partnership agreement by the same authorization required to approve the domestication, are required to occur prior to the time a certificate of partnership domestication becomes effective Section 6. This section provides that the proposed amendments to the Act shall become effective August 1, 2022.

This bill designates the Loggerhead Turtle as the official sea turtle for the State of Delaware.