Rep. Kendra Johnson

This Act authorizes the Office of the Child Advocate and Office of the Investigation Coordinator to provide child victim data and information to the Office of Investigative Services during presentence investigations of defendants convicted of felony child abuse, endangering the welfare of a child or death of a child.

This Act codifies that the Child Protection Accountability Commission, in conjunction with the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families, is responsible for developing, maintaining, and conducting child abuse mandatory reporting, multidisciplinary response, and related trainings under this Chapter.

This resolution recognizes the Easterseals/CAI Volleyball Challenge occurring March 9 at William Penn High School and April 20 at Delaware State University, an event that raises funds for an organization providing services and support to Delawareans with disabilities and senior citizens and their families.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes Ramadan and Muslim residents of this State as they observe Ramadan.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes March 5, 2024, as Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated or “Alpha Phi Alpha Day at the Capitol” in Delaware. It honors Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated as an organization that has provided a voice and a strong vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color in the State of Delaware and around the world.

This Act requires Delaware Medicaid to provide an enhancement to the acute care per diem rate for psychiatric facilities for hard to place pediatric behavioral health inpatients. The per diem enhancement is limited to an inpatient stay of 14 days. The applicability of the per diem enhancement is determined based on whether admission criteria is met. This Act also creates a Quality Oversight Committee designed to identify quality metrics for facilities admitting patients as well as provide biennial recommendations to the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee regarding eligibility categories and enhancement rates.

This Act creates a new offense of Aggravated Criminal Mischief with enhanced penalties (class D felony) applicable when an individual knowingly damages or tampers with critical utility infrastructure intending to disrupt utility services. In recent years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI have issued repeated warnings about domestic terrorists and extremist groups targeting critical utility infrastructure. Bulletins issued through DHS’ National Terrorism Advisory System in 2022 warned of a heightened threat environment based, in part, on “continued calls for violence directed at U.S. critical infrastructure.” Physical and computerized attacks on electric utility equipment have reached a 10-year high in 2022. Recent attacks in Washington and North Carolina have caused substantial outages and damage to the power grids in both states.

This Act creates a professional loan-to-grant incentive program to encourage Delawareans to pursue careers in nursing at long-term care facilities. Funding for the incentive program is to be appropriated annually by the General Assembly, in an amount not less than $1 million. Qualifying nursing students who agree to fulfill a 4-year service obligation at a long-term care facility may apply for loans to assist with expenses associated with (a) prelicensure education at a (i) State Board of Nursing approved nursing education program that is authorized to prepare persons for licensure as a registered nurse or a (ii) State Board of Nursing approved practical nursing education program, or (b) a graduate-level education at an advanced practice registered nurse program accredited by a national accrediting body. Individuals who have been employed for at least 1 year as a nurse in a Delaware long-term care facility and who have obtained qualified educational loans are eligible to apply for loan repayment under this Act. Loan repayment will be subject to the availability of funds and will be allocated at the discretion of the Delaware Higher Education Office. An applicant may receive only 1 loan payment per year, not to exceed $5,000, and may not receive more than 4 loan repayments under this program. The program will be administered by the Delaware Higher Education Office.

This concurrent resolution designates February 2024 as “Turner Syndrome Awareness Month” in the State of Delaware.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes February 4, 2024, as "USO Day" in the State of Delaware and honors USO Delaware for its important and inspiring work supporting military members and their families.