Chiropractic care is a drugless system of health care. It is uniquely positioned as a treatment for back pain and chronic headaches, which a peer-reviewed medical journal has indicated are alarming drivers of opioid-related deaths. Other peer-reviewed studies have indicated that chiropractic physician care reduces opioid usage rates, costs significantly less than the opioid treatment path, and contributes to preventing addiction and overdose death. In Delaware, back problems are a top-three cost driver and are among the most common conditions resulting in disability and lost productivity. This Act helps to address these issues in Delaware and improves access for Delawareans seeking opioid-free treatment by ensuring chiropractors are reimbursed at least at the level of Medicare and not at historically persistent lower rates.
Sponsored bills
This bill seeks to amend sections of Chapter 66 concerning the Delaware State Fire Prevention by: imposing a timeframe on the Delaware Volunteer Firefighters’ Association to recommend nominate Commission members to the Governor; imposing a presumption of neglect if a Commissioner misses three consecutive Commission meetings; adjusting the terms and term limits of the Commissioners; to prohibit a Commissioner from also serving in a politically elected or appointed position while serving as a Commissioner; and to eliminate the requirement for an Advisory Board. The Commission also creates an Executive Director position, which will be currently filled by a current Commission employee serving in that function. That bill makes clear that that person’s current merit status will remain, but will become an exempt position when the position next becomes vacant. The bill proposes to authorize the imposition of fines for violations of applicable Code and regulatory provisions and reasonable fees for Commission's certifications to help defray costs and expenses with the Commission’s administration and enforcement of its powers under the Code and its regulations. Finally, the bill proposes to make several amendments to clarify and synthesize language in other sections of Chapter 66.
This Senate Joint Resolution designates August 31, 2021 as "International Overdose Awareness Day" in the State of Delaware and directs the State flag to be lowered to half-staff at State facilities and encourages local governments, businesses, and Delawareans to do the same.
This Act establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware elementary schools. The unit is at a ratio of 250 full-time equivalent students grades K-5 for a full-time school counselor, school social worker, or licensed clinical social worker. Additionally a unit ratio of 700 full time equivalent students for grades K-5 for employment of a full-time school psychologist. This Act defines “mental health services” as prevention, response, and coordination services delivered to students in elementary schools. Mental Health disorders are the most common health problem for school aged youth. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five youth are affected by a mental health disorder. Additionally, 50% of lifetime mental illnesses begin by age 14. Untreated mental illness leads to negative outcomes including increased risk of dropout, homelessness, substance abuse, other chronic illnesses, incarceration, and possibly suicide. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, ninety percent of people who have taken their own life have had an underlying mental health condition, and suicides are on the rise. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides are now the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-14. Delaware schools need trained and experienced mental health professionals to provide prevention and support programs and services to students. Currently, as reported by Delaware school districts, 86% of elementary schools do not employ a school social worker, and ratios of students to school counselors and school psychologists far exceed national best practices. This bill will lower ratios and increase access to mental health services for elementary school students.
This Act creates the Disabled Veterans Property Tax Relief and Education Fund. Pursuant to this legislation, school districts are authorized to create a credit against school taxes for up to the full amount of school tax liability for property owned by a veteran with a 100% disability rating who is domiciled in this state. The full amount of such credit will be reimbursed by a transfer from the State’s General Fund to the County Receiver for distribution to such school districts. It has a delayed effective date to allow for implementation of the program.
Year-long teacher residency programs are a partnership between an educator preparation program and a Delaware school district or charter school to provide a year-long immersive experience for teacher candidates, allowing them a full and supported, on the ground experience of teaching in a Delaware school. The teacher resident also receives a stipend while participating in the program, which may be used to defray education and living expenses. These programs are the gold standard for teacher preparation and they assist in attracting and retaining quality, diverse educators. For the last several years, the General Assembly has appropriated funds in the annual budget to support and sustain these programs. This bill codifies the program and establishes guidelines for how and when the funds will be awarded and what they may be used for. The Department of Education continues to be charged with administration of the funds.
This Act provides protections for consumers in connection with contracts with automatic renewal provisions. Multiple states have enacted laws regulating the automatic renewals of contracts, often described as "evergreen" clauses. These state laws are aimed at protecting consumers from unknowingly entering into these types of agreements by requiring that evergreen clauses be presented in a clear and conspicuous manner and that sellers of such contracts provide notice to consumers about an upcoming renewal. This Act also requires sellers of such contracts to provide consumers with a means to cancel the contract that is at least as easy to use as the means available to sign up for the contract. It also updates the language of the enforcement provision in Subchapter IV, Chapter 27 of Title 6 of the Delaware Code. This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 93 by extending the length of covered contracts from 6 months to 12 months. It also adds audio disclosure to the definition of "clearly and conspicuously" and removes the provision stating that a cancellation that is in the same medium as the medium used to enter the contract is considered "cost effective, timely, and easy to use." It further specifies that a consumer who signs up for a covered contract online must be able to cancel online. The substitute eliminates the requirement that businesses notify consumers the date at which the contract will automatically renew if not canceled and establishes a right to cure. It also adds matters subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission to the exempted entities. Finally, the effective date is changed to January 1, 2022.
This Act enhances 2 existing agricultural horse racing programs, the Delaware Standardbred Breeder's Program and the Delaware Certified Thoroughbred program, by providing additional funding. Under this Act, horsemen provide half of the additional funds from purse money and the State provides half of the additional funds with matching funds.
Section 1 of the Act amends subsection (b)(1) of section 12A-103 of Title 6 to remove a reference to testamentary trusts that is either a redundancy or otherwise might conflict with new section 3550 of Title 12 (which is a part of the Act). Section 2 of the Act addresses statutes under Chapter 33 of Title 12 and (i) amends section 3315(b) to make clear that a discretionary interest in a trust is not a property right and to define more clearly what constitutes a discretionary interest, and also to make clear that these clarifications do not affect the standard of review applicable to the discretion of a trustee or other fiduciary; (ii) amends section 3326 to expand its application to the resignation of officeholders (such as advisers under section 3313 or designated representatives under section 3339) and not just to the resignation of trustees; (iii) amends section 3327 to expand its application to the removal of officeholders (such as advisers under section 3313 or designated representatives under section 3339) and not just to the removal of trustees, and to permit other officeholders (in addition to trustors and beneficiaries) to petition to remove an officeholder; (iv) amends section 3331 to expand its application to governing instruments (beyond just wills and trust instruments, such that it is not intended to change the statute’s application to wills and trust instruments); (v) amends section 3339 to make clear that a designated representative begins to serve when the representative is appointed (and not merely when authorized) and has accepted the role (whether by written acceptance or through service or other action signifying acceptance), to prioritize appointment methods (that is, to provide that certain appointment methods are available if a designated representative is not appointed under previously-enumerated methods), to define for what purposes a designated representative may be appointed, to provide that the surviving parent or parents or custodial parent of a minor for whom a designated beneficiary has been appointed must be given notice of such appointment, to enable a trustor to appoint a designated representative to represent and bind beneficiaries who are minors or are otherwise described in paragraph (b)(2) of section 3339 in any nonjudicial matter, to enable a beneficiary to appoint a designated representative to represent and bind such beneficiary in any nonjudicial matter, and to provide that a person accepting appointment as a designated representative submits to personal jurisdiction in this State regarding any matter involving the trust (without precluding other methods of obtaining jurisdiction over the designated representative); (vi) amends section 3342 to make clear that, consistent with section 3303 of Title 12, a trustor may opt out of the application of section 3342 by express reference; and (vii) amends section 3344 to make clear that the statute applies unless a governing instrument expressly provides that a trustor may not be reimbursed by the trust for the trustor’s income tax liability, to expand the scope of permissible reimbursement to include county, metropolitan-region, city, local, foreign, and other income taxes (in addition to state income taxes), and to make clear that the statute does not apply if it would eliminate or reduce a marital or charitable deduction available to any person for state or federal income, gift, or estate tax purposes. Section 3 of the Act addresses statutes under Chapter 35 of Title 12 and (i) amends section 3536 to add to the flush language of subsection (c) to provide that a person who becomes a beneficiary of a trust due to the exercise of a power of appointment by someone other than such person is not considered under this title to be a trustor of a trust—even if the person who so became the beneficiary created and funded the trust and granted the power of appointment of another, such that if the trustor did not otherwise retain a beneficial interest in the trust that was otherwise reachable (e.g., the trustor did not name himself as a beneficiary of the trust at the time it was created), the mere fact that some other person exercises a power of appointment to later make the trustor a beneficiary will not create an interest that is reachable by the trustor’s creditors—which change would abrogate the common law relation back doctrine as it pertains to who is to be deemed the trustor of a trust created upon exercise of a power of appointment, if such doctrine were extant in Delaware, although the applicability of the common law relation back doctrine to this particular issue does not appear to have been adjudicated or acknowledged in any decisional case law in Delaware; (ii) amends section 3545 to add a new subsection (c), which confirms that other writings that create, modify, or revoke trusts and that are not described in subsection (a) of section 3545 are validly executed if they are executed in conformity with subsection (a), but also confirms that subsection (c) does not limit the creation, modification, or revocation of a trust by other means that Delaware law permits, and further confirms that subsection (c) does not apply to trusts formed under Delaware’s Statutory Trust Act and other trusts formed for the purpose of consummating a commercial transaction; and (iii) adds a new section 3550 providing that governing instruments and certain other trust-related documents, if validly executed under the sections of the Delaware Code that apply to those documents, may also be executed under Chapter 12A of Title 6 of the Delaware Code (the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act). Section 4 of the Act provides that Sections 2 and 3 apply to trust whenever created.
This resolution congratulates the class 2019-2020 Eagle Scouts for having attained the highest rank one can earn in the Boy Scouts of America.