Sen. Stephanie Hansen

This Act would enhance the ability of the prescription monitoring program to make informed determinations as to prescribers who may be making extraordinary prescriptions of opiates or other controlled substances, and to refer such cases to law enforcement or professional licensing organizations for further review. The Act would also provide a more usable standard for provision of specified information to law enforcement agencies upon a showing of need.

In an effort to reduce overdose deaths relating to the growing epidemic of opioid addiction, this Act requires carriers to provide coverage for medically necessary inpatient treatment of alcohol and drug dependencies and prohibits carriers from imposing precertification, prior authorization, pre-admission screening, or referral requirements for the diagnosis and treatment, including in-patient treatment, of drug and alcohol dependencies. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The denial by private and public health benefit administrators of adequate coverage for substance abuse treatment has been identified as a major source of failed treatment efforts by persons addicted to controlled substances. These denials have also been identified as a cause of the shortage of adequate treatment facilities in Delaware. This Act seeks to ensure that persons with private and public insurance coverage have the ability to insist that they receive the substance abuse coverage to which they are entitled by law and by their insurance plans. It does so by (1) allowing the Department of Justice to provide legal assistance where appropriate to persons seeking benefits from the state’s Medicaid program, traditional health plans, or from employer-funded health benefit plans (which are exempt from state regulation), (2) requiring the state’s Medicaid program and private insurance carriers to provide notice to persons who are denied substance abuse treatment of the possibility of legal assistance in challenging those claim denials, and (3) permitting the Department of Justice to use funds in its Consumer Protection Fund to offset the cost of providing medical and legal expertise to DOJ and the Department of Insurance for the purpose of assisting persons with controlled substance addictions who are seeking treatment. This Act contains a sunset provision so that the General Assembly can assess the impact of its provisions on private and public health care costs and effective treatment of substance abuse before making its provisions permanent.

This Act creates the Delaware African and Caribbean Affairs Commission.

This resolution continues to raise awareness that the month of May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month in Delaware and celebrates new research predicting lower melanoma rates.

This resolution recognizes the month of May as "Poppy Month" in the State of Delaware.

This concurrent resolution proclaims May 10, 2017, as “Early Childhood Advocacy Day” to affirm the importance of quality early learning for every citizen and every sector of our State, to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year, and to rededicate ourselves to our shared responsibility for the construction and support of a Delaware early childhood system that will positively impact children, families, communities, and workforce and economic development across the State.

Seeking to address the pervasive problems of littering and illegal dumping in Delaware, this concurrent resolution would create the Delaware Anti-Dumping and Anti-Littering Solutions Task Force. The task force would be charged with developing actionable strategies for curtailing littering and illegal dumping in The First State and delivering a report to the General Assembly and the governor as to how these policies could be implemented and financed. The task force would be required to report no later than April 1, 2018.

This Resolution recognizes May 10, 2017, as the 100th Anniversary of the Delaware Department of Transportation.

This Concurrent Resolution establishes a task force to study the issue of the local extinction of species in Delaware and recommend solutions to reverse the present course. The task force is required to deliver its report no later than December 1, 2017.