Rep. Larry Lambert

The purpose of this act is to open up The Delaware Student Excellence Equals Degree Act (SEED Act) to adult Delaware residents, who are not recent high school graduates. Currently, about 56% of Delawareans age 25-64 lack a post-secondary degree. This expansion of the SEED grant program will encourage adult learners to return to school to enhance their knowledge and skills and increase their job opportunities. Adult individuals with a high school diploma or less education were significantly impacted by Covid-19-related job loss. This legislation can help to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on those adults. Tennessee has instituted a similar program called the Tennessee Reconnect Act.

This Act creates the Korey Thompson Student Emergency Housing Assistance Fund for the benefit of housing insecure undergraduate students at any college or university in Delaware and appropriates $90,000 to the Fund for FY2022. DSHA is charged with administering the Fund and reporting to the Governor and the General Assembly how the funds are spent.

This bill will allow all surviving spouses of persons killed in the course and scope of employment to receive the same level of death benefits as the surviving spouses of those persons defined as “covered persons” in Section 6601(2), Title 18 of the Delaware Code, in the event that the surviving spouse remarries. This expansion of the death benefit beyond the surviving spouses of those persons specified in Section 6601(2) will result in all surviving spouses, who decide to remarry, being treated equally under Delaware’s Workers’ Compensation laws.

This bill removes the training minimum wage and youth minimum wage, which takes effect 90 days after enactment.

This Act requires that home health-care services for Medicaid long-term care services and support providers be reimbursed for services by Medicaid-contracted organizations at a rate equal to or more than the rate set by the Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance for equivalent services. This rate floor system is currently used for reimbursement rates for home health-care nursing services paid for by Medicaid-contracted organizations. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act provides a phased in approach to further the reduction of single-use plastic bags. This Act increases the minimum thickness for a plastic bag to qualify as a reusable bag from 2.25 mils to 10 mils effective January 1, 2022 and makes the restrictions applicable to stores regardless of size effective July 1, 2022. This Act also makes corrections to existing law to make it conform to the standards of the Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act permits an individual to practice dentistry for the Division of Public Health (Division) under a provisional license. Delaware law provides several routes for entering practice on an interim basis until full licensure can be obtained, however, none of these routes specifically permit hiring by the Division with the intent to practice in a state-supported dental clinic. This Act will assist the Division in recruiting dentists to serve those in need. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Section 1 of this Act addresses a condition of confinement issue that could adversely affect inmate rehabilitation efforts by eliminating solitary confinement imposed by the sentencing court. Section 2 of this Act clarifies language in the Code that states inmates will be assigned to programs based on a risk and needs assessment relative to their criminogenic risk factors and that inmates are consequently assigned to programs that correspond with those criminogenic risk factors. Section 3 of this Act makes changes to recidivism reports compiled by the Statistical Analysis Center. Section 3 of this Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including removing a deadline that has already occurred.

This Act expands eligibility for the Department of Correction's Education Assistance Fund beyond correctional officers to employees who hold a position at paygrade 15 or below and meet the other existing requirements. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including by creating a new Subchapter III of Chapter 89 of Title 29, because the Department of Correction's Education Assistance Fund is not related to the topic of Subchapter II.

This Act makes the Board member terms of appointment equal in length to each other by eliminating language pertaining to when a Board member is appointed to fill a vacant seat. This Act also changes the Board meeting requirement from at least once per quarter to at least once per calendar year. The ability to meet more frequently remains intact.