This Act requires that meetings of the Board of Trustees for the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and Delaware Technical and Community College must be livestreamed using technology that permits the public to hear all participants contemporaneously. This Act also requires that recordings of the livestreamed meetings must be maintained on a public website. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. 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 charter issued to a corporation for educational purposes sustained in whole or part by the State, including the University of Delaware and Delaware State University.
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An opioid antagonist is a medication approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency reversal of a known or suspected opioid overdose. Currently, naloxone is the only FDA-approved opioid antagonist, however, the FDA is expected to approve at least 1 new, more powerful opioid antagonist in 2022. The current naloxone program allows public safety personnel and trained lay people to receive and administer naloxone to individuals suspected of experiencing an opioid overdose. This Act allows the Department of Health and Social Services to expand the current program to include additional opioid antagonists. This Act also makes technical corrections to reflect that advance practice registered nurses have the authority to prescribe medication and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual as follows: 1. Reorganizing the current Chapter 30G of Title 16 from a single Code section to a chapter with several Code sections so that similar provisions are grouped together. 2. Using consistent phrases and terminology.
This bill creates a special license plate for the Boy Scouts of America.
This Act provides nationally certified occupational therapists with a salary supplement for receiving national certification. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing language to the standards of the Delaware Drafting Manual.
This Act makes the State Council for Persons with Disabilities consistent with current practice by revising its responsibilities to collect data regarding persons with disabilities. This Act also amends the members of the Council and clarifies the definition of “persons with disabilities”. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
House Bill No. 293 requires that meetings of public bodies that are open to the public must provide an opportunity for public comment. Meetings of a public body of the General Assembly are excluded from the requirement to provide an opportunity for public comment because under § 9 of Art. II of the Delaware Constitution, the rules of proceedings for legislative meetings are established by the Senate and House of Representatives of each General Assembly. House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 293 differs from House Bill No. 293 by revising the limitations a public body may impose on public comment as follows: 1. It requires that the time for public comment provide a meaningful opportunity for the public to engage with the public body. 2. Allows a public body to impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on the length of the public comment period and the amount of time allotted for each person providing public comment. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and 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 charter issued to a municipal corporation.
This Act requires the Department of Education to conduct an annual workforce study of early childhood professionals to support the development of a plan and implementation of a system of supports to grow and deepen the early childhood workforce. The first study is due by November 15, 2022, the plan by January 31, 2023, and implementation of the system should be in place by September 1, 2023. The COVID pandemic revealed and heightened an existing difficulty in attracting and maintaining well qualified professionals in child care jobs, which are frequently low-paying compared to K-12 jobs. Since reliable, widely available, high quality child care options are a foundation for the whole workforce, and because the early childhood years are so important to childhood development and school readiness, it is a priority for the State that this crisis be addressed in a systematic, holistic fashion. The Department of Education is tasked with leading this rethinking and prioritization of early childhood careers – through the development of reliable data systems which can help bring living wages, financial and other support for academic and credential attainment, and coordination with CTE programs and institutions of higher education to uplift the profession and support individuals seeking to make a career in early childhood education.
This Act would add designation that the holder is a veteran to the Delaware Driver License or Identification Card upon request. Adding designation that the holder is a veteran to a Driver License or Identification Card would eliminate the need for a veteran to carry a separate card or official discharge forms in order to prove their service.
This bill requires criminal background checks for any current or prospective employee, contractor, and volunteer of the Division of Health and Social Services (DHSS) who visits children in their homes and in the community and has regular, direct access to children or adolescents under the age of 18. The background check includes fingerprinting for Delaware and national background checks as well as a check of the Child Protection Registry. An individual who has a disqualifying criminal conviction or is on the Child Protection Registry at Level III or IV may not be an employee, contractor, or volunteer in any capacity that involves visiting children in their homes or the community or having regular, direct access to children. DHSS, if it chooses, may use its Background Check Center, which processes background checks for individuals working in home-care and long-term care facilities. It differs from the original bill in that it permits DHSS to use its Background Check Center to accomplish these additional background checks, specifies Child Protection Registry status that is disqualifying, and makes other minor technical changes.
This Act establishes certification and continuing education requirements for central service technicians working in hospitals and freestanding surgical centers. Central service technicians are an important part of the healthcare team responsible for decontaminating, inspecting, assembling, disassembling, packaging, and sterilizing reusable surgical instruments and equipment. This Act requires individuals who perform the tasks of a central service technician to pass a nationally accredited examination and to hold either a certified registered central service technician credential or certified sterile processing and distribution technician credential within 18 months of hire. This Act grandfathers anyone working as a central service technician in a health care facility on or before January 1, 2023.