Sen. Marie Pinkney

Maddy summaryThis bill designates the month of May as "Veterans Month" throughout the State of Delaware. The primary mechanism of the legislation is to amend the Delaware Code to officially recognize this specific time frame for honoring military veterans. Once enacted, the change serves as a formal state acknowledgment rather than creating new laws or funding. It directly affects the state's official records and calendar designations without altering existing programs or benefits.

This Act repeals the ability of school districts to increase tax rates by up to 10% when recalculating the district’s rate of taxation after a general reassessment. This Act does not repeal the requirement under § 1916(b) of Title 14 that a school district recalculate the district’s rate of taxation after a general reassessment, but instead of the 10% maximum, limits the amount of money a district can collect as a result of increases in the fair market value of real property to an amount that is equal to or less than the sum of all of the following: 1. The actual operating revenue derived by the tax levied in the fiscal year immediately preceding the general reassessment. 2. A percentage that is equal to the average growth rate in taxable property in the district since the previous reassessment. This Act also allows school districts to increase a tax approved in a referendum election under Chapter 19 of Title 14 by up to 2% annually without a referendum if the district’s operational reserve balance is not more than 10% of the district’s annual revenue and it is not the same fiscal year that the rate of taxation is recalculated after a general reassessment. This authority will allow school districts to maintain services for students by gradually adjusting to challenges such as inflation, enrollment changes, and increased student needs. Under this Act, the new recalculation equation under § 1916(b) of Title 14 applies beginning for the fiscal year following the next general reassessment and a school district cannot begin to increase tax rates by no more than 2% without a referendum until after the next general reassessment or for fiscal year 2031, whichever is earlier. This Act does not do any of the following: • Allow school districts to levy an additional tax that is more than 2% without an approved referendum. • Change the differences under current law for tax rates for vocational-technical districts. Under current law and this Act, vocational-technical districts are required to use the same calculations as other school districts when recalculating the rate of taxation after a general reassessment. However, the tax authority for vocational-technical districts is under Chapter 26 of Title 14, not Chapter 19, so the authority to annually increase a tax rate by 2% does not apply to vocational-technical districts. This Act also makes the following corresponding and technical changes to Chapter 19 of Title 14: • Revises the definitions in § 1901 by adding “general reassessment” and “reassessed” as defined terms and updates the definition of “district” to reflect current school district boundaries. • Clarifies that if Chapter 26 applies to a school district, the ability of a district to levy an additional tax under § 1902(a) does not apply to that district. • Technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act adds a clarifying interpretive paragraph to the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act (Subchapter II, Chapter 25, Title 6 of the Code) to address a recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court and to make clear that the Consumer Fraud Act’s use of the phrase “in connection with” in § 2513 should be interpreted to include unfair and deceptive acts and practices that occur “before, during, and after” the sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement of any merchandise. The Delaware Supreme Court recently construed the Consumer Fraud Act to be confined to conduct “between businesses and consumers which happen before a transaction or during the transaction itself.” Blue Beach Bungalows DE, LLC v. State, No. 14, 2025, 2025 WL 3768232, at *11 (Del. Dec. 30, 2025). However, in recognition of the broad purpose of the Consumer Fraud Act set forth by the 123rd General Assembly in Section 2512, subsequent amendments to the Consumer Fraud Act to include the “receipt” of merchandise, and the scope of comparable statutes in other states, this bill ensures that the Consumer Fraud Act is interpreted to apply to unfair or deceptive conduct that occurs after a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement, including, but not limited to, conduct occurring in instances in which a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement creates an ongoing relationship or a continuing obligation, or where performance has not yet been completed. This aligns the Consumer Fraud Act with Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (“UDAP”) laws with similar language in other states, as well as many other UDAP laws, including the FTC Act, that cover post-transaction conduct. This Act will allow the Delaware Department of Justice to use the Consumer Fraud Act to address the full range of unfair and deceptive acts or practices that consumers report to the Delaware Department of Justice, including, for example, false and threatening landlord communications, unscrupulous debt collection tactics, and failures to honor promises to fix returned merchandise. It will also ensure that businesses throughout the state can compete on a level playing field throughout the duration of their relationships with consumers, without being undercut by unscrupulous competitors who engage in post-transaction misconduct. Additionally, it ensures that the Delaware Department of Justice is not disadvantaged when coordinating with other states to hold entities accountable for unfair or deceptive acts or practices that are nationwide in scope.

This Joint Resolution directs the Department of Education to compile and submit a comprehensive report regarding the workforce data and compensation of education support professionals for the most recent school year. The report must identify staffing levels, vacancies, average wages paid, and the number of employees earning below a $40 hourly wage threshold. The Department is further required to recommend pay scales that align with a minimum living wage and submit its findings to the General Assembly and relevant state offices by November 2, 2026.

In 2013, Congress enacted the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, 34 U.S.C. § 60105, which requires states to report to the U.S. Department of Justice the deaths of individuals who die in the custody of law enforcement. Failure to comply may result in the reduction of certain federal grant funds. In 2024, the Criminal Justice Council, which is responsible for ensuring Delaware's participation in the data collection required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, arranged for the Statistical Analysis Center to serve as the Criminal Justice Center's agent to coordinate and manage the logistics of this data collection. The Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center issued guidance to law enforcement on the requirements of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 and the process and procedures to be used to comply with these reporting requirements. This Act codifies the process and procedures established by the Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center related to the reporting required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013. In addition, this Act requires compliance reporting and provides that a law-enforcement agency that fails to comply with this Act is ineligible for certain funding until the agency complies with this Act.

This Act updates Delaware laws relating to Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) prevention and control, much of which are outdated and do not reflect current research and medical practice. To that end, this Act does the following: (1) Clarifies that Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are to be treated in the same manner as STDs. (2) Removes the requirement that reportable STDs be reported to DPH within 1 working day. (3) Repeals the provision permitting the Director of DPH to examine a person suspected of being infected with an STD and to order that person to isolate or quarantine. (4) Repeals the provision relating to apprehending, committing, mandating treatment, and quarantine of an infected person. (5) Repeals the provision permitting the Director to bring an action in the Justice of the Peace Court when a person suspected of having an STD presents an imminent danger to public health. (6) Removes the provisions concerning the DOC and DPH isolating or quarantining persons with suspected or known STDs. (7) Provides that health care providers must provide STD and STI testing, but that a pregnant person may refuse testing. Documentation of refusal must be retained in the patient’s medical record along with documentation of test counseling. (8) Repeals the provision permitting a DPH investigator without a medical license to withdraw blood for test purposes. (9) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act requires the Department of Education, in collaboration with school districts, charter schools, and vocational-technical school districts, to make findings and recommendations regarding the advisability of incorporating Delaware homeschool students into public school extracurricular activities within the public school that the student would be attending based on residence if that student were enrolled in public school or within charter schools or vocational-technical school districts, including the creation of a pilot program. The Department shall report its findings and recommendations by December 31, 2027. This Act expires on the date of publication in the Register of Regulations of a notice that the Department has submitted its findings and recommendations. The Director of the Division of Legislative Services shall provide notice to the Registrar of Regulations. Since the legal effect of a joint resolution would expire on November 3, 2026 (the date the General Assembly expires), this reporting requirement is being placed in the Laws of Delaware so as to continue its legal effect until the submission of notice that the Department has submitted its findings and recommendations. This Act expires on the promulgation of notice of the report required in Section 3 of this Act being submitted, which is why the Laws of Delaware are being amended rather than a more permanent change in Title 14 of the Delaware Code.

This Act requires the Division of Public Health to submit a report to various government officials and post on its website the data it receives from schools regarding the number of kindergartners who meet the requirements under this chapter for screening for lead poisoning.

School nurses are a vital link in implementing the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act and in preventing lead poisoning among Delaware’s children. Since the 1990s, school nurses have been on the front lines of ensuring that students entering pre-kindergarten and kindergarten have a lead screening completed prior to the start of school. The Delaware School Nurse Association (DSNA) Advocacy Committee has actively participated in the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Advisory Committee (CLPPAC) as a stakeholder, collaborating to improve blood lead testing rates and to address racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in lead poisoning. School nurses also contribute to the development, updating, and implementation of the statewide screening plan. Most importantly, when a child tests positive for an elevated blood lead level, school nurses are uniquely positioned to connect that student and family with the academic and health resources needed for success. This Act adds a school nurse as a member on the CLPPAC. The presence of a school nurse as a voting member will strengthen the Committee’s work and ensure that the voices of those most directly supporting children are represented in both policy and practice.

This Act updates the requirements for Department of Education’s regulations for personnel records to include charter schools. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.