This Act makes changes to provisions related to behavioral health and the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health to reflect current practices.
This bill creates the Delaware Personal Data Privacy Act. The Act delineates a consumer’s personal data rights and provides that residents of this State will have the right to know what information is being collected about them, see the information, correct any inaccuracies, or request deletion of their personal data that is being maintained by entities or people. This Act is modeled after existing frameworks for data privacy in other jurisdictions. This Act will apply to entities that conduct business in the State of Delaware who controlled or processed the personal data of not less than 35,000 consumers or controlled or processed the personal data of not less than 10,000 consumers and derived more than 20 percent of their gross revenue from the sale of personal data. This Act requires Delaware Department of Justice to engage in public outreach to educate consumers and the business community about the Act beginning at least 6 months prior to the effective date of the Act.
This Act updates the definition of a catalytic converter and limits the purchase or sale of a catalytic converter to a licensed automotive recycler or licensed scrap metal processor, and their respective employees and agents. The Act prohibits minors from selling catalytic converters. The Act specifies the amount of time the catalytic converter must be held before sale as well as what contact information must be obtained from the purchaser and seller as well as identification information on the catalytic converter and requires the information be maintained for 1 year. The Act places a 48 hour hold on payments and limits payment form to checks and limits the time of day and location for the sale of a catalytic converter. The Act requires the licensed sellers to make the purchasers’ and sellers’ contact information available to the police. This Act makes a catalytic converter, in violation of this chapter, considered contraband and, possession thereof, subject to seizure and forfeiture. This Act is for the purpose of regulating the purchase and sale of catalytic converters and for the purpose of assisting law enforcement in response to the high level of catalytic converter theft that has occurred in Delaware. This Act also makes technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act expands the rights of long-term care facility residents by ensuring that long-term care facility residents are entitled to care that recognizes cultural differences and preferences and that long-term care facility residents are made aware of their rights in a language and format that is accessible to the resident. This Act also requires the Department of Health and Social Services to prepare a standardized notice listing all rights detailed in § 1121 of Title 16 in a language and format that is accessible to each resident or their authorized representative. This bill also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act is the second substitute for Senate Bill No. 8. Like Senate Bill No. 8 and its first substitute, this Act protects patients from unfair debt collection practices for medical debt, including prohibiting large health care facilities from charging interest and late fees, requiring facilities to offer reasonable payment plans, limiting the sale of debt to debt collectors unless an agreement is made to keep protections in place, providing minimum time before certain collections actions may be taken, limiting liability for the medical debt of others, and preventing the reporting of medical debt to consumer credit reporting agencies for at least one year after the debt was incurred. Violations of the provisions of this Act are considered Prohibited Trade Practices and Consumer Fraud violations. Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill No. 8 differed from Senate Bill No. 8 as it required large health-care facilities to provide information to uninsured patients regarding eligibility and the application process for medical assistance. This information must be provided at the time of service or prior to discharge and again with each billing statement. It also created a minimum threshold for eligibility for payment plans, and it reduced the timeframe in which a bill under a payment plan may be first due. The first substitute also defined “medical assistance” and “time of service,” which were not defined in Senate Bill No. 8. This Substitute differs from Senate Substitute 1 in that it changes which medical providers are subject to this Act; it increases the threshold of outstanding debt that requires a payment plan to be offered to patients; it extends the amount of time allowed to provide the medical assistance notice; it refines the definition of medical assistance; it removes examples of companies that are currently credit reporting agencies; it removes a requirement that medical assistance information be printed in any patient’s primary language; it adds a requirement that providers make oral interpretation services available to patients for anything provided under this chapter; it clarifies that the Division of Child Support Services nor anyone filing a child support action is a medical debt collector; it clarifies that anything charged to a credit card is not medical debt; it removes the minimum time before the first payment under a payment plan is due. It also adds Section 2 making this Act effective 6 months after enactment.
Section 1 of the bill amends Delaware’s file-and-use statute for insurance rate filings to extend the timeline for filing and reviewing insurers’ rate filing by (1) requiring rate filings to be filed at least 60 days in advance of the proposed effective date, and (2) authorizing the Commissioner to extend the timeframe to review the filing and postpone the effective date of the filing pending completion of the extended review. Section 2 of the bill sets forth the process for when the Commissioner proposes to deny a rate filing and requires that a filing may not become effective until a final order is issued. Section 2 of the bill also corrects technical errors in the current law.
This Act extends the date that the requirements created by Senate Bill 283 in the 151st become effective to allow the Division of Professional Regulation more time to implement these requirements.
This Senate Joint Resolution directs the Department of Services for Children, Youth & Their Families to explore participating in the federal title IV-E Guardianship Assistance Program to increase support to relative guardians and facilitate permanency solutions for Delaware youth in foster care.
This Act allows Dental Clinicians possessing a DDS or DMDS to participate in the Health Care Provider Loan Repayment grant program. The Act also extends the time in which providers may apply for a Health Care Provider Loan Repayment grant from six months to two years following completion of their graduate education.
Senate Bill No. 80 codifies the current practice in Delaware of not requiring proof of citizenship or a specific immigration status on an application for a professional license. By affirmatively providing eligibility for professional licenses regardless of immigration status, Senate Bill No. 80 brings Delaware into compliance with a federal requirement in place since August 22, 1996, under 8 U.S.C.S. § 1621(d), and provides public notice of this policy. Senate Bill No. 80 also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 80 differs from Senate Bill No. 80 by also codifying the current practice of allowing an applicant for a professional license who does not have a social security number to submit instead, an attestation stating that if the applicant obtains a social security number in the future, the applicant will update their application with that social security number.
