Sen. Nicole Poore

Pay range transparency empowers job applicants with crucial information to negotiate salaries and make informed career decisions. It also encourages businesses to proactively review compensation practices, address unjustified pay disparities, and strengthen their ability to attract and retain top talent. This Act requires that employers include salary or wage range information and a general description of benefits in all postings for job opportunities, and ensures that applicants have access to that information prior to any offer or discussion of compensation. Employers are required to maintain records relating to job descriptions and wage rates for employees for at least 3 years. The Department of Labor may bring an administrative action to enforce the pay transparency provision. This Act does not apply to employers with 25 or fewer employees. The Act takes effect 2 years after its enactment. House Substitute No. 2 to House Bill No. 105 differs from House Substitute No. 1 to House Bill No. 105 as follows: It provides that where a job opportunity is covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the compensation or compensation range disclosed in a notification should be one that has been agreed upon for disclosure in the CBA itself. It provides that the pay transparency provision becomes applicable to postings for opportunities covered by a CBA only when the CBA is amended, modified, or renewed after the effective date of the Act, to give the parties opportunity to consider the disclosed range in the course of negotiating a CBA. It provides that an employer is not liable for job postings that are digitally replicated and published without the employer’s consent. It specifies that the pay transparency provisions in this section apply to Delaware-based jobs or non-international remote positions offered by an employer based in Delaware. It makes the record preservation requirement consistent with § 907 of Title 19.

This Act would limit the opportunity to remain as a licensed apprentice electrician after an individual has already completed an apprentice program approved by the Board of Electrical Examiners. Apprenticeship is meant to be a first step on a career journey, not a destination. Since the apprentice electrician license was created, the ranks of apprentices have steadily swollen, but a significant number of those apprentices have not moved forward toward more advanced licensing. As the number of these apprentices grows beyond the capacity for more senior licensees to supervise their work, the situation is likely to create confusion among and to threaten the safety of consumers of electrical services in Delaware and the general public. This bill also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

HS 2 to HB 48 seeks to streamline accessible parking laws and improve enforcement of accessible parking laws in Delaware. Although federal and state laws currently require specific design and construction requirements for accessible spaces, these laws are often ignored and rarely enforced. To that end, this Act requires that a permit be issued by the local county or municipal authority to ensure that accessible parking spaces are compliant with the design and construction requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and any existing local laws. This Act permits a county or municipal government to assess a civil penalty of up to $500 on an individual or entity that does not construct and maintain ADA compliant parking spaces. This Act also increases the fine for unlawfully occupying an accessible parking space. Rather than imprisonment, the penalty for unlawfully occupying an accessible parking space may include community service. All accessible parking space signs must display the current maximum fine. HS 2 to HB 48 differs from HB 48 in that it does the following: (1) Requires state facilities to obtain approval through the Architectural Accessibility Board in lieu of a permit. (2) Removes state-specific accessible parking provisions of the bill and adopts the federal accessible parking provisions that are already in effect under the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design issued by the Department of Justice on September 15, 2010, and its accompanying guidance. (3) If an existing accessible parking space is not ADA compliant within 5 years of the effective date of this Act, authorizes a civil penalty to be assessed against the individual or entity that is responsible for maintaining the accessible parking space. (4) Requires that all accessible parking space signs display the current maximum fine for unlawfully occupying an accessible parking space.

Ohio recently adopted “Braden’s Law”, named after Braden Markus. Braden, a high school student, tragically took his own life after being coerced into sharing sensitive photographs online and then threatened with release of the photographs on social media if he did not pay money. Braden’s parents, Jenn and Jarod, endured months of anguish after being denied access to Braden’s personal cell phone records. In response, part of Braden’s Law requires courts to adjudicate a parent or legal guardian’s request for an order directing access to a deceased minor’s digital assets and digital accounts within 30 days. In Delaware, a fiduciary can access to digital assets and digital accounts under Chapter 50 of Title 12. A fiduciary must send to the custodian of digital assets or digital accounts a valid written request for access. The custodian must comply with the valid written request within 60 days. If the custodian fails to comply, the fiduciary can ask the Court of Chancery (the “Court”) for an order directing the custodian to grant access to the digital assets. If the fiduciary seeking access to a digital asset or digital account is a parent or legal guardian of a minor deceased account holder, this Act requires the Court to treat the application as expedited and aim to resolve the application within 30 days after the application is filed. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The Delaware State Inspire Scholarship Program (Inspire scholarship) pays undergraduate tuition for 8 semesters at Delaware State University (DSU). Some students complete their undergraduate degrees in less than 8 semesters because they take heavier than average course loads each semester or because they earned college credits during high school. This Act aims to reward students for their hard work and provide additional access and opportunity for them to continue their higher education by allowing students to use the Inspire scholarship program towards additional levels of higher education if the student obtains their undergraduate degree before using all 8 semesters of eligibility. Specifically, this Act extends eligibility for Inspire scholarships as follows: 1. Under current law, most students may use Inspire grant money for up to 8 continuous semesters towards a bachelor's degree at DSU. This Act allows students who complete a bachelor's degree in less than 8 continuous semesters to use the remaining Inspire grant money towards a graduate degree program at DSU. 2. The Inspire scholarship program provides additional time for individuals who lived in foster care to complete an undergraduate degree. This Act makes corresponding changes to the eligibility for these individuals so that they also can use remaining Inspire grant money towards a graduate degree at DSU if they complete their undergraduate degree before exhausting the time available to do so. In addition, this Act modifies 2 requirements for eligibility for the Inspire scholarship program for students using the scholarship for a graduate degree program so that students may be enrolled on a part-time basis and are not required to maintain continuous enrollment. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act is a Substitute for SB 142 and differs from SB 142 in the following ways: 1. Specifies that schools must provide age-appropriate training to students about the dangers and warning signs of sexual extortion, including online safety. 2. Delays implementation of employee training and student instruction to August 1, 2027. 3. Makes additional technical corrections to § 4163 of Title 14. In 2022, the FBI reported that law enforcement received over 7,000 reports related to the financial sexual extortion of minors, resulting in 3,000 victims and more than a dozen suicides. In 2023, South Carolina adopted “Gavin’s Law” in honor of Gavin Guffey, the son of Representative Brandon Guffey. Gavin was victim of sexual extortion, which led him to tragically take his own life at only 17 years old. Gavin’s Law created the crime of sexual extortion in South Carolina. In Delaware, sexual extortion is a crime under § 774 of Title 11. It is classified as a Class E felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison. This Act increases the penalty for sexual extortion to a Class B felony, which is punishable by a minimum of 2 years in prison up to a maximum of 25 years in prison, under the following circumstances: 1. The defendant is an adult and the victim is a child, as defined in § 1100 of Title 11, or a vulnerable adult, as defined in §1105 of Title 11. 2. The defendant’s sexual extortion of the victim causes the victim to suffer serious physical injury or death. Gavin’s Law also requires school districts to educate students, and their parents or guardians, about the crime of sexual extortion. South Carolina’s Department of Education recommended including the required education in the Erin’s Law curriculum. Delaware has adopted its own version of Erin’s Law, under § 4163 of Title 14, that requires school districts and charter schools to provide appropriate training to employees and students, and to provide information to parents, about personal body safety, child safety, and how to detect and report child abuse. This Act specifies that information about the crime of sexual extortion must be included in the educational programming required by Erin’s Law. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including restructuring § 774 of Title 11.

This Act adopts the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act ("the Act") authored by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” The Act was adopted by the Uniform Law Commission in October 2020 and has been adopted in 10 states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is currently pending in 10 states. The Act protects the public’s right to engage in activities protected by the First Amendment without abusive, expensive legal retaliation. Specifically, the Act combats the problem of strategic lawsuits against public participation, also called “SLAPPs.” A SLAPP may come in the form of a defamation, invasion of privacy, nuisance, or other claim, but its real goal is to entangle the defendant of a SLAPP in expensive litigation and stifle the ability to engage in constitutionally protected activities. While Delaware has an “anti-SLAPP” law (see §§ 8136 through 8138 of Title 10 of the Delaware Code), the law received a score of “D-” from the Institute for Free Speech due to limited types of speech it protects and lack of basic protections provided by the Act.

This Act increases the maximum amount of fees that the State Fire Marshal's Office can charge as follows: 1. The maximum fee for a license to service portable unit fire suppression applicance is changed from $50 to $100. 2. The maximum fee for all other permits, licenses, and certifications as required in the State Fire Prevention Regulations is changed from $25 to $100. These changes are being made to reflect the increasing cost of providing these services since the maximum fees were last set several decades ago. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 10 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to increase the effective rate of any tax levied or license fee imposed.

Currently, the Delaware Volunteer Fire Service Revolving Loan Fund may only obtain funding from the General Assembly through appropriation. This Act would allow for funding and donations to be made by any person, charitable organizations, and counties of the State. When a county contributes to the Fund, the Act requires the Fund ensure county specific contributions are spent on loans to fire companies within that county. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware legislative Drafting Manual.

Section 1 of this Act requires that $7,000 be paid for the funeral expenses of a deceased member of a volunteer fire company, volunteer fire company ladies auxiliary, or volunteer ambulance and rescue. Consistent with a legal interpretation of the existing law by state agencies, Section 1 of this Act continues to enable the payment of funeral expenses for the funeral of a deceased member of a volunteer fire company, volunteer fire company ladies auxiliary, or volunteer ambulance and rescue company even if the member was also a state employee entitled to burial benefits under § 8331 of Title 11, § 8395 of Title 11, § 8846 of Title 11, or § 5316 of Title 29. However, Section 1 of this Act makes changes to existing law to make this legal interpretation clear and to specifically identify the state employee burial benefits to which this provision applies. Section 2 of this Act delays the effect of this Act until October 1, 2025, to provide time to implement this Act after the enactment of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations act containing the funding for this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.