This Senate Concurrent Resolution designates May 2023 as "Small Business Month" in the State of Delaware.
First responders, including law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians, and public safety telecommunicators, are crucial to ensuring public safety and health. First responders are at elevated risk for suicide because of the environments in which they work, their culture, and stress, both occupational and personal. This stress can be associated with a specific incident or an accumulation of day-to-day stress. Occupational stress in first responders is associated with increased risk of mental health issues, including hopelessness, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, as well as suicidal behaviors such as suicidal ideation (thinking about or planning suicide) and attempts. Even during routine shifts, first responders can experience stress due to the uncertainty in each situation. During emergencies, disasters, pandemics, and other crises, stress among first responders can be magnified. Relationship problems have also been linked to a large proportion of suicides among the general population (42%). Because first responders can have challenging work schedules and extreme family-work demands, stress caused by relationship problems may also be magnified in this worker group. Suicide is ranked second for causes of death for law enforcement officers. As of December, 2022, there were 133 law enforcement suicides, and in 2021, there were 160. In November, 2022 alone, there were 9 police officer suicides in this country, including one from Delaware. Law enforcement officers face a 54 percent higher risk of suicide than the general population. An officer involved in a high stress event has a 70% chance of suicide following the next incident if intervention is not sought, but with intervention, the number drops to 3%. Police officers are also at an elevated risk for depression, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Law enforcement officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. A study of more than 1,000 firefighters found that nearly 50% had suicidal thoughts at some point during their career, and about 16% reported one or more suicide attempts. A survey of EMTs and paramedics in the United States round that 37% had contemplated suicide, and 6.6% had attempted it. EMS providers are 1.39 times more likely to die by suicide than the public. Studies have found that between 17% and 24% of public safety telecommunicators have symptoms of PTSD and 24% have symptoms of depression. A study in Massachusetts found that the suicide rate for corrections officers was at least 7 times higher than the national suicide rate. Another study showed that 10% of corrections officers considered taking their own life, and about 1 in 3 are dealing with PTDS and depression. For the National Guard, there were 117 suicides in 2021 compared to 121 in 2020. This bill makes clear that suicide is a death in the line of duty for Delaware’s first responders, police officers, firefighters, correctional officers and probation officers, and the National Guard.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes May 11, 2023 as Delaware Local Government Day in the State of Delaware.
This resolution designates the month of May as "National Nurses Month" in Delaware.
This Act revises Delaware's death penalty statute to ensure its compliance with the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court in Hurst v. Florida, and by the Delaware Supreme Court in Rauf v. State. In accordance with these cases, this Act requires that before a death sentence can be imposed, a jury, unless waived by the defendant, must first unanimously determine all of the following: (1) That at least 1 aggravating circumstance exists. (2) Which, if any, statutory and non-statutory aggravating circumstances alleged by the State exist. (3) Whether all of the aggravating circumstances found to exist outweigh all of the mitigating circumstances found to exist. This Act requires that the jury or Court determining the appropriate sentence must make the required findings beyond all doubt. This heightened standard is greater than the usual criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. The beyond all doubt standard recognizes that even after finding the defendant guilty of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt it is possible that a juror or the Court may still harbor residual or lingering doubt as to the defendant’s guilt and that the existence of such doubt, whether held individually or collectively by a jury, or by a Court, is sufficient to preclude the imposition of the death penalty. This Act revises Delaware's death penalty statute to comply with the United States Supreme Court's holding in Hall v. Florida, interpreting standards set forth in Atkins v. Virginia. This Act adopts the term "intellectual disability" used by the United States Supreme Court. This Act recognizes developing trends in death penalty jurisprudence and the American Bar Association's Resolution 122A (2006), of August 8, 2006, by prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty upon a person who has been found "guilty, but mentally ill", as defined by § 401 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code. This Act narrows the scope of some of the most commonly used statutory aggravating circumstances - those applicable in cases involving defendants with previous convictions for violent felonies and murders committed during the commission of other enumerated felonies. Several other statutory aggravating circumstances have been combined to eliminate duplication, eliminated entirely, or otherwise clarified. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 42 and Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 42. Like Senate Bill No. 42 and Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 42, this Act does all of the following: (1) 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 $10,000. The burial benefit has not been increased since 2001 (See 73 Del. Laws, c. 146, § 5). (2) As a result of the increase in burial benefit made by Section 1 of this Act, the burial benefit for individuals eligible to receive a pension under the State Police Pension Plan (Chapter 83 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code), Delaware County and Municipal Police and Firefighter Pension Plan (Chapter 88 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code), and the early retirement option for state employees (Chapter 53 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code), and the reasonable funeral expenses permitted in a wrongful death action under § 3724(d)(4) of Title 10 of the Delaware Code, are also increased as these are all linked to the burial benefit amount established under § 5546 of Title 29. (3) Section 2 of this Act removes the requirement that the funeral expenses paid for the funeral of a deceased member of a volunteer fire company, volunteer fire company ladies auxiliary, or volunteer ambulance and rescue company be reasonable. (4) Section 3 of this Act delays the effect of this Act until October 1, 2023, to provide time to implement this Act after the enactment of the fiscal year 2024 appropriations act containing the funding for this Act. (5) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act differs from Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 42 as follows: (1) This Act increases to $10,000 the amount of funeral expenses paid for the funeral of a deceased member of a volunteer fire company, volunteer fire company ladies auxiliary, or volunteer ambulance and rescue company. This is consistent with Senate Bill No. 42. (2) 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.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes May 1 to May 6, 2023, as "Auctioneers Week" in the State of Delaware.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Delaware State Police and recognizes them for their service to the citizens of Delaware.
This bill requires that of the five Justices appointed to the Supreme Court, at least one is a resident of Kent County, at least one is a resident of Sussex County and at least two are residents of New Castle County.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes 2023 as the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Seaford Kiwanis Club.
