Rep. Raymond Seigfried

This bill creates a pilot program for the Red Clay School District to utilize external camera systems on their school buses to catch motorists that illegally pass school buses and to punish these motorists by issuing them a civil penalty. The purpose of this bill is to protect children as they are in the process of boarding and exiting the school bus and to spread awareness of school bus traffic safety. At least 16 states have implemented similar legislation, including Pennsylvania in 2018. As Red Clay School District already has these cameras in operation, this program grants the authority to begin issuing violations to motorist that illegally pass school buses in their district.

A placard must be prominently displayed at all entrances of massage and bodywork establishments that have failed to obtain a valid license or have a license that is suspended, revoked, or expired. This bill provides that no placard can be removed unless the establishment is validly licensed and the removal of the placard is approved by the Division of Professional Regulation. This bill makes the unlawful removal of the placard a Class A misdemeanor, punishable of up to 1 year in jail and up to a $2300 fine.

This Act classifies pesticides containing a neonicotinoid as a restricted use pesticide and prohibits the use of a pesticide containing a neonicotinoid on land owned or maintained by the State. Neonicotinoids have been linked to impaired memory, movement, and death in bees, which are critical to crop production.

This Act allows any qualified voter evidencing a desire to vote by mail in writing to the State Elections Commission to vote by mail in primary, general, and special federal elections. The State Elections Commission shall administer the program, creating rules and regulations that allow processing and scanning of mail ballots ahead of Election Day without tabulation until Election Day, dropping off mail ballots at any polling place on Election Day and dropping off mail ballots in a secure drop box of each county Department of Elections office before and leading up to Election Day.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to prohibit the imposition of the death penalty. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly when the General Assembly amends the Delaware Constitution.

This Act establishes employment practices for call centers, including: • Requiring that a call center immediately notify the Secretary of the Department of Labor (“Secretary”) if staffing levels fall below 70% of customer volume of communications, based on the call center’s previous 6-month average volume. • Requiring that a call center notify the Secretary at least 90 days prior to relocating the call center or transferring 1 or more facilities or operating units comprising of at least 20% of a call center’s total operating volume of communications as measured against the previous 12-month average volume of the operation. • Establishing a civil penalty of up to $7,500 per day for each day an employer violates notification requirements. The civil penalty is collectible by the Secretary, and the Secretary has the discretion to waive the penalty. • Requiring the Secretary to compile and maintain a list of employers who provide notification required by this Act. •Requiring the Secretary to update the list, make the list available to the public, and post the list prominently on the Department of Labor website. • Prohibiting an employer that is added to the list from receiving a direct or indirect State grant, guaranteed loan, tax benefit, or other financial support for 36 months after being added to the list. Grants for specified training programs or other employment assistance are exempted. • Requiring an employer that has been added to the list to remit to the appropriate governmental entity the unamortized value of a direct or indirect State grant, guaranteed loan, tax benefit, or other financial support that the State governmental entity provided to the employer. Grants for specified training programs or other employment assistance are exempted. • Providing that when a State department or agency makes or awards a contract for call center service, the department or agency shall grant preference to qualified businesses. “Qualified business” is defined as a business that is located in and employs residents of this State. • Requiring the Secretary to promulgate regulations that identify qualifying businesses and establish limits on the amount of preference granted to qualified businesses. • Specifying that nothing in this Act may be construed as permitting the withholding or denial of payments such as unemployment benefits, disability benefits, or worker retraining or readjustment benefits for certain employees. This Act applies to the relocation of a call center or transfer of a facility or operating unit of a call center that occurs after the effective date of this Act. And, this Act takes effect on the first day of the month 6 months after the date of enactment.

This Act prohibits the import, export, sale, transport, distribution, or propagation of any plant identified by the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, with the advice of the Delaware Native Species Commission, as an invasive plant. This Act also requires that plants identified as potentially invasive be sold with a tag that identifies the plant as potentially invasive. A violation of this Act may result in a civil penalty of $50 to $500, but only after the person has had the opportunity for an administrative hearing and the opportunity to come into compliance with this Act. This Act takes effect July 1, 2022.

This bill extends the amount of years an identification card is valid from four (4) to eight (8) years. This bill is necessary for the Division of Motor Vehicles to maintain consistent business processes. The driver license is currently valid for eight (8) years, and this change would maintain consistency with the driver license requirement.

This Act establishes a Behavioral Health Professional of the year award program throughout the State. Through this legislation, the state will formally honor and recognize the work behavioral health professionals, such as, school counselors, social workers, licensed clinical social workers, school psychologists, and school nurses.

This Act implements recommendations of the Interagency Pharmaceuticals Purchasing Study Group created by House Concurrent Resolution No. 35. First, this Act creates the Interagency Pharmaceutical Purchasing Collaborative (“Collaborative”) to leverage the total volume of State pharmaceutical purchases to negotiate lower prices. The Collaborative must conduct a data analysis of current pharmaceutical purchasing prices paid by State agencies to create a data analytic profile. After building the data analytic profile, the Collaborative must build a market database by assessing the value, as determined by cost and patient outcome, of individual drugs and calculating the volume of individual drug purchases by all State agencies. The Collaborative must use the market database to identify opportunities to leverage the total volume of State pharmaceutical purchases to negotiate lower prices which may include a group purchasing agreement or a consortium with other states. Second, this Act requires that State agency contracts to purchase pharmaceuticals must contain specific transparency provisions. These transparency provisions will allow the State to monitor and control the cost of pharmaceutical purchases. Finally, this Act clearly provides that information received or generated by the Collaborative or under contract transparency provisions is not public information under the Freedom of Information Act. However, the Collaborative must provide an annual report that summarizes the Collaborative's work. House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 287 differs from House Bill No. 287 as follows: 1. In § 6317A(e)(2)a. of Title 29, requires the Interagency Pharmaceutical Purchasing Collaborative to assess the value of individual drugs using evidence-based cost and patient outcomes instead of by the simple cost and patient outcomes. 2. Changes “pharmacy benefit manager” to “wholesaler” in § 6937(a)(1) of Title 29, because the acquisition cost is negotiated between a wholesaler and manufacturer not between a pharmacy benefit manager and manufacturer. 3. Requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services to provide and purchase the data analytics required under § 6317A(e)(1) of Title 29 by March 31, 2021.