Currently, Delaware is in the minority of states that bar public access to police misconduct records, and is the only state in the country with a specific confidentiality clause in its Law-Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (“LEOBOR”). Under Delaware's LEOBOR (Chapter 92 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code) police misconduct records are secret and not accessible to the media or the public. This information is tremendously important. Law-enforcement officers are pillars of their community and often the most significant witnesses in criminal trials, where defendants can sometimes face the rest of their lives in prison. This Act would ensure that the public will have access to all serious and substantiated records of law-enforcement misconduct making our criminal justice system fairer and improving trust within our community. Public access, through Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act (Chapter 100 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code), will increase transparency and allow for more meaningful oversight. This Act adds affirmative language to LEOBOR that serious and substantiated law-enforcement disciplinary records are public records. And, this Act makes clear that the only materials that are released relate to disciplinary issues, and do not include personal information. Additionally, this Act makes changes to LEOBOR to increase transparency by enabling the creation and operation of effective community review boards at the State, county, and municipal level. These boards are critical to increasing public trust in the criminal justice system. Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Sponsored bills
This Concurrent Resolution encourages Delaware sports organizations to utilize services offered by the U.S. Center for SafeSport. This Concurrent Resolution describes the authority of SafeSport and its initiatives to protect athletes in every sport.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution requests that the Department of Health & Social Services explore strategies for Medicaid to provide coverage for Prescription Digital Therapeutics authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat substance use disorder and opioid use disorder.
This Act establishes the Office of New Delawareans to help improve the lives and economic prosperity of those foreign-born individuals who come to Delaware and of all Delawareans generally.
This bill increases the penalties for a second offense of a firearm owner’s failure to report the loss of theft of a firearm pursuant to the statute from just a civil penalty to a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine of up to $2,300 and incarceration of up to 1 year.
This Act requires that the state exempt pregnant persons and the parent or other relative primary caregiver of a child six months of age or younger from TANF work requirements.
This Act removes the requirement that a pregnant patient enrolled in the state Medicaid program receive prior authorization for an automated take home blood pressure cuff when the automated take home blood pressure cuff is recommended by their doctor. Without this Act, pregnant members enrolled with a Managed Care Organization (MCO) can receive an automated take-home blood pressure cuff without prior authorization while patients enrolled in the Medicaid fee for service program cannot.
This Act requires candidates for either House of the General Assembly to obtain a criminal history background check to ensure that they have not been convicted of or plead guilty to any crime that, per the Delaware state constitution, disqualifies them from holding said office. The results of the background check are provided to the Commissioner of the Department of Elections who has the duty to review the results and ensure that individuals are qualified under § 21, Article II of the Delaware Constitution before the individual may be considered a candidate for election to either House of the General Assembly. The Act makes any and all information revealed by the background check obtained by the Commissioner of Elections confidential and not a public record. The cost of the criminal history background check is the responsibility of the candidate and may be paid from campaign funds.
This resolution recognizes March 11, 2022 as COVID-19 Day of Remembrance in the State of Delaware.
This Act creates additional partnership and employment opportunities, as opposed to the current framework of employment-only opportunities within the corporate employment setting, and gives the same parity to Delaware physical therapists, physicians, and podiatrists as exists in all other 49 states who already permit this. This Act permits physical therapists, physicians, and podiatrists to organize as a professional corporation on the basis that they are licensed professionals "legally authorized to render... qualified related professional services." Further, this Act enables professional fees to be divided with physical therapists, physicians, and podiatrists who practice within the same corporate entity. Finally, this Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.