Sen. Marie Pinkney

Maddy summaryThis bill designates April 29, 2026, as "World Wish Day" throughout the state of Delaware. As a concurrent resolution, it serves primarily to formally recognize this date rather than to create new laws or alter government operations. The measure does not impose any requirements on individuals or organizations and has no direct impact on daily life or policy. Its only effect is to establish an official state designation for the specific day mentioned in the title.

This Joint Resolution extends the existence of the Juvenile Justice Educational Transitions Task Force (Task Force) and the deadline for the Task Force's final report until July 31, 2026.

In Delaware, all individual health insurance policies, all group and blanket health insurance policies, the State employee health insurance plan, and Medicaid are required to cover chiropractic and physical therapy treatment for chronic back pain without annual or lifetime numerical limits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits. To evaluate the effectiveness of this coverage requirement, the Patient Centered Care Subcommittee of the Addiction Action Committee, under the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, sent a survey to chiropractic therapy and physical therapy providers in Delaware. Although the survey showed that the coverage requirement has improved treatment of chronic pain patients, the survey also showed that the coverage requirement provides supportive chronic pain treatment for only the thoracic region of the spine, which is the middle of the spine from the base of the neck to the bottom of the ribs, and the lumbar region of the spine, which is the lower back. The treatment of chronic pain through chiropractic supportive care, physical therapy, or both, can prevent a patient from requiring opioid pain medications or more expensive treatments, but excluding vital areas of the spine and body from coverage may limit the effectiveness of chiropractic therapy and physical therapy treatment and limits a chronic pain patient’s potential for improvement. This Act encourages treatment of chronic pain patients without opioids by updating the required health insurance coverage to prohibit annual or lifetime numerical visits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits that are for the purpose of treating the spine and other neuromusculoskeletal structures, including extremities. The updated coverage required under this Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2026. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Joint Resolution indicates that the reimbursement rates for Purchase of Care providers serving children ages 0-5 should be increased by 10% for FY2027 across all settings.

This Act modifies the eligibility standard from 100% disability to 80% disability or greater for veterans to qualify for the credit against school taxation on qualified property and corrects a typographical error. Section 1917 of Title 14 currently appears in 2 versions in the Code because an unrelated change in the statute will occur in 2028. This Act therefore contains both versions of the Code to indicate the intention that the change made by this Act will persist through the unrelated 2028 scheduled statutory change.

This Act clarifies that a nonhuman entity, including an agent powered by AI, may not be licensed as a professional nurse, APRN, practical nurse, physician, or physician assistant. It further clarifies that a nonhuman entity may not use any of the foregoing professional titles.

This Act codifies the Delaware State Police program that makes available a “blue envelope” for use by a person with a disability. The intent of this program is to increase safety for both officers and persons with a disability during a traffic stop. The envelope contains written information for officers regarding interacting with a person with a disability, as well as guidance for the person with a disability on safe interactions with law-enforcement during a traffic stop. The envelope is sized to be able to contain a driver’s license, motor vehicle registration card, and insurance identification card and other related documents.

The Act authorizes licensed Physician Assistants (PA) in Delaware to pronounce death and to complete a medical certification of death. This Act also removes registered nurses from the list of practitioners who may complete a medical certification of death, as it conflicts with the scope of practice set out in Title 24. This Act also makes technical changes to conform to the Legislative Drafting Manual.

The purpose of this Act is to expand patient access to physical therapy services. Currently, a physical therapist may treat an individual without a referral up to 30 days after which time a physician must be consulted. The amendment extends that deadline to 90 days with the objective of ensuring continuity of care. Physical therapists will still be required to practice within their scope of training and expertise. This Act also clarifies the requirements for renewal and reactivation of licenses to ensure consistency with other Title 24 boards and the processes used by the Division of Professional Regulation.

This Concurrent Resolution requests the Delaware Department of Education to develop a working group of health educators to continually improve the K-12 Comprehensive Health Education Programming, ensuring skills-based health education is accessible to all children throughout the state. This will require the review of information from parents and families, students, administrators, superintendents, other DE state agencies, and other organizations as needed to inform recommended changes to the Delaware Health Standards that will need to be adopted by the State Board of Education. The Department will provide a summary report of the information reviewed by the working group, summary of the annual health education survey and recommended new Delaware health standards. The summary report will be provided to the Governor, members of the General Assembly, and the State Board of Education, and the Director and the Librarian of the Division of Legislative Services.