Rep. Debra Heffernan

This Bill is the Fiscal Year 2022 Bond and Capital Improvements Act.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution establishes the purpose and protocol for the creation of an annual report on home visiting programs in Delaware. The report is to be prepared by the Department of Health and Social Services in consultation with the Department of Education and the Delaware Home Visiting Community Advisory Board for review by the Governor, the Delaware State Senate, the Delaware State House of Representatives, the Delaware Kids' Caucus, and the Delaware Early Childhood Council no later than December 1 of each year, and is to include a summary of current practices and challenges, as well as program recommendations.

This resolution directs the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources to cause the Department to instruct Executive agency human resources to conduct an equity review and analysis for every employee new hire or new promotion across State Executive Branch agencies, including whether there are gender or racial inequities, utilizing the State’s advanced starting salary procedure, when reviewing the starting rate on initial appointment. The Secretary and the Department are also directed to develop a plan to remedy any inequities and issue a comprehensive written progress report to the General Assembly on or before October 30, 2021.

This Act, known as the Telehealth Access Preservation and Modernization Act of 2021, continues and enhances Delawareans’ access to telehealth and telemedicine services and, through the adoption of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, ensures that telehealth services can be provided through qualified medical practitioners in a streamlined and efficient pathway to licensure that meets the health care delivery system needs of the 21st century. With respect to telemedicine and telehealth, this Act consolidates the existing law relating to telehealth within a single new chapter applicable to all health-care providers authorized to practice telemedicine and participate in telehealth and makes permanent the telehealth flexibilities put in place for the Covid-19 pandemic. The Act carries through many of the changes embodied in the Covid-19 telehealth legislation passed by the 150th General Assembly in 2020 (HS 1 for HB 348 with HA1, signed 7/17/20), which will otherwise expire on July 1, 2021. The changes made in HB 348 that are made permanent by this Act include: 1. Removing all existing Title 24 statutory requirements that patients present in-person before telemedicine services may be provided. This Act continues the suspension of those requirements, but specifies that the requirement that a patient present in-person prior to the delivery of telemedicine services and telehealth is excused only under circumstances rendering an in-person examination impractical or when there is already an existing relationship established. 2. Modernizing the modality of permissible telemedicine and telehealth services; instead of limiting telehealth to interactions that must involve both audio and visual technology; this Act preserves flexibility for situations where patients do not have access to broadband connections or smartphones and need to consult with a physician by landline or audio-only cell phone, subject to existing professional standard of care requirements. Audio and visual visits will continue to be the preferable method for delivery of telehealth and telemedicine services. This Act also consolidates telehealth and telemedicine scope of practice, which currently appear in each separate chapters of Title 24 pertaining to regulated practitioners in order to provide consistent telehealth practice across license categories. This is increasingly important for facilitating integrated health-care services delivery, but it does not limit any of the existing authority of the State’s professional licensing boards in Title 24 to regulate their respective licensed professions and occupations. This Act adopts the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) in Delaware, joining the 29 States that are already members of the IMLC, including many of our neighboring states (Maryland is a member; Pennsylvania is in process of implementing the Compact; New Jersey has introduced IMLC legislation). https://www.imlcc.org/participating-states/ The long-term benefits of telehealth are best realized when accompanied by cross-state medical licensure capabilities available through adoption of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. The Compact creates a voluntary, expedited pathway to state licensure for physicians who want to practice medicine in multiple states. An eligible physician can qualify to practice medicine in multiple states by completing one application within the Compact, and receipt of separate licenses from each state in which the physician intends to practice. The Compact does not change the scope of Delaware’s authority to regulate physician practice under the existing Medical Practice Act. It simply creates another pathway for licensure.

This Substitute amends Senate Bill No. 3 by doing the following: (1) Prohibiting the Department of Safety and Homeland Security (“Department”) from retaining a record, data, information, or a report related to the transfer of a handgun for longer than 2 years, except in furtherance of an open criminal investigation or during the course of a criminal prosecution. (2) Redrafting § 1448D(e) of Title 11 to cite to the grounds on which a person is a person prohibited under § 1448 of Title 11, rather than repeating them in § 1448D(e) of Title 11 and potentially create unintentional differences. (3) Making clear that a decision by the Justice of the Peace Court on the denial or revocation of a handgun qualified purchaser card by the Department may be appealed to the Superior Court for a hearing de novo. (4) Delaying the implementation of the requirement to obtain a handgun qualified purchaser card until the Department is ready to implement § 1448D of Title 11 or 18 months from the date of enactment, whichever comes first. Like Senate Bill No. 3, this Substitute does all of the following: (1) Creates an application process to obtain a handgun qualified purchaser card to authorize the purchase of a handgun. While an applicant will incur costs related to fingerprinting and required training, a fee will not be charged to obtain the permit. (2) Requires licensed importers, manufacturers, or dealers, as well as unlicensed persons, to require an individual to present the individual's handgun qualified purchaser card before selling or transferring a firearm to an individual. (3) Requires that an applicant complete a firearms training course within 5 years before the date of application, similar to what is required by Delaware’s concealed carry permit law. An individual licensed to carry a concealed deadly weapon is exempt from this requirement as they must already complete a firearms training course to be licensed. (4) Sends to law-enforcement information that is already collected at the time of sale and required under federal law to be made available to law-enforcement. This change assists law-enforcement in the criminal investigations they already conduct. (5) Makes clear that § 904A of Title 24 is not intended to prohibit law-enforcement officials from keeping records of sales and transfers of firearms for their use during criminal investigations or prosecutions. (6) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act establishes an optional mid-year unit count and associated funding provisions. School districts and charter schools that elect to participate in the optional mid-year unit count shall receive state financial support for each additional unit, or fraction thereof, in an amount determined by the annual Appropriations Act.

This Act requires each school district and charter school to establish and implement a curriculum on Black History for students in grades K through 12. This Act incorporates contemporary events into discussions of Black History and the tools of experience.

In 2019, Delaware amended the state constitution to prohibit the denial or abridgement of equal rights under the law based on sex, and thereafter in 2020, race, color, and national origin were added. This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to add sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to Article I, § 21 of the Delaware Constitution to declare explicitly that protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability is one of Delaware's fundamental rights.

This Act is the final leg of a constitutional amendment that would eliminate from the Delaware Constitution the limitations as to when an individual may vote by absentee ballot. This amendment to the Delaware Constitution provides that the General Assembly shall enact general laws providing the circumstances, rules, and procedures for absentee voting.

This Concurrent Resolution congratulates Melissa Hopkins for receiving Delaware's Mother of the Year Award.