Sen. Marie Pinkney

Maddy summaryThis bill mandates that Medicaid in Delaware cover doula services for pregnant and birthing individuals, affecting all health insurance carriers within the state. It requires coverage for three prenatal visits, three postpartum visits, and attendance during labor, with specific provisions for additional postpartum visits if recommended by a licensed medical professional. To implement this, the state must create a certification process for doulas and set reimbursement rates that ensure a livable income for those providing the services. The law officially took effect on January 1, 2024, and was signed into law by the Governor.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution directs the Delaware Division of Public Health to develop and release a strategic plan to implement a public health outreach campaign to assess trends, possible messaging, cost of messaging and delivery to communities of need, service needs, resources, and strategies to educate healthcare providers on Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias. In crafting the strategic plan, the Division of Public Health is directed to collaborate with various stakeholders, and the plan must include a strategy for identifying and pursuing federal funding opportunities. Finally, the Division of Public Health is directed to submit the strategic plan to the Governor, all members of the General Assembly, the Controller General, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget no later than November 1, 2024.

This Concurrent Resolution supports the Redding Commission for Educational Equity’s recommendations to move immediately to support Christina School District’s City of Wilmington students and to plan for the eventual withdrawal of the Christina School District from the City of Wilmington.

This Senate Joint Resolution directs the Office of Child Care Licensing to adopt an electronic record and filing system that will modernize the State’s child care system. The OCCL must provide a report regarding the adoption of an electronic record and filing system by January 31, 2025 with a plan to implement the system by June 1, 2026.

This Act adds procedural requirements to meetings of the State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC), revises the membership of the SEBC, and requires that the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources inform State employees and retired State employees (eligible pensioners) about changes in benefits coverages affecting eligible pensioners who are receiving or eligible to receive retirement benefits under the state employees' pension plan, including proposed changes. This Act adds the following requirements to SEBC meetings: 1. If the SEBC or a subcommittee is holding a virtual meeting, the chair or vice-chair must attend at the anchor location. 2. The chair of a subcommittee must be a voting member of the SEBC. 3. The SEBC must approve a request for proposals to select a carrier or third-party administrator for the health care insurance plan for State employees or eligible pensioners during an open meeting and that the draft request for proposals must be included with the meeting notice and agenda. 4. Adds standard language for the SEBC regarding the conduct of open meetings by public bodies, including requirements for quorum and when a member designates another individual to attend a meeting. This Act revises the membership of the SEBC by doing all of the following: 1. Removes the Delaware retiree appointed by the Governor and adds 2 members who are Delaware residents eligible to receive health care insurance under Chapter 52 of Title 29 under a pension or retirement plan. The President Pro Tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives each appoint 1 of these members. 2. Makes the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources a non-voting member of the Committee. 3. Changes the leadership of the SEBC so that only the Director of the Office of Management and Budget serves as chair and the vice-chair is elected annually by the members of the Committee. The vice-chair must be a voting member of the Committee and may not be a cabinet secretary or hold a position of equivalent rank in the executive branch. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act is known as the “Delaware State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC) Transparency and Accountability Act”.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates July 26, 2024, as "Americans with Disabilities Act Day" in Delaware to honor the anniversary of the federal civil rights law that protects people with disabilities. The resolution does not change any laws or create new regulations but serves as a symbolic gesture to raise awareness about disability rights and inclusion. It encourages the state to inform residents about the importance of equitable treatment for individuals with disabilities and reaffirms a commitment to promoting accessibility.

This Act is a substitute for House Bill No. 147. Like House Bill No. 147, this Act provides a mechanism for the nonprobate transfer of real estate. This is done by permitting an owner of an interest in real estate to execute and record a transfer on death (TOD) deed designating a beneficiary who will automatically receive the real estate on the owner's death without a probate procedure. During the owner's lifetime the beneficiary of a TOD deed has no interest in the real estate and the owner retains full power to transfer or encumber the real estate or to revoke the deed. Like House Bill No. 147, this Act adopts the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death 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 Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act has been enacted in 18 states (including Virginia) and the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a substantially similar law has been enacted in 11 states. The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act is pending before 3 state legislatures and has been enacted in New Hampshire and Utah this year. This Act differs from House Bill No. 147 as follows: (1) By making clear that a transfer of death deed takes precedence over any contrary instruction in a will to transfer the same property. (2) By making clear in the optional forms included in this Act, which may be used to create a transfer on death deed or revoke a transfer on death deed, that a transferor is a grantor and a beneficiary is a grantee. This change is made to assist the Recorders of Deeds in integrating the forms in their computerized databases. (3) By authorizing the Registers of Wills to adopt a form to be used by a beneficiary to provide notice of the death of a person whose property has transferred to the beneficiary by transfer on death deed. (4) By authorizing a beneficiary to file with the Register of Wills the death certificate of a person whose property has transferred to the beneficiary by transfer on death deed. (5) By making abundantly clear that which is already permitted under the law of this State, that a person may obtain from the Office of Vital Statistics a death certificate to establish their legal right to property and may disclose that death certificate to the Register of Wills to prove the person’s legal right to property. (6) Under Section 3 of this Act, clarifying that an individual who executed a transfer on death deed does not die seized of the property and, therefore, the property is not required to be included on an inventory and appraisal to the Register of Wills. (7) Making a clarification in § 5402 of Title 30 contained in Section 5 of this Act. (8) Delaying the effect of this Act until 90 days after its enactment into law. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act repeals the option of providing health care insurance to state pensioners under Medicare part C, known as a Medicare Advantage Plan. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act is known as "The Delaware Medicare Supplement Selection Act".

This Act makes changes to the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. It removes the employer as the party responsible for making eligibility determinations and claims decisions and instead reallocates this responsibility to the Department of Labor and gives the Department authority to enter into contracts with other entities to review and adjudicate claims for benefits. This Act makes other changes throughout Chapter 37 of Title 19 concerning eligibility criteria and requirements for the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. It clarifies that schools are not exempt from being considered employers; clarifies that family leave benefits are not payable for time taken after the death of an individual for whom an employee is on approved family leave; removes the ability of employers with fewer than 25 employees to elect to provide reduced parental leave; removes a provision that results in the aggregation and potential capping of benefits for employees who work multiple jobs with the potential for employees to pay more in contributions and receive less in benefits than they would otherwise be due; requires the Department to set contribution rates, statewide average weekly wages, and maximum benefits; removes a provision authorizing employers to require that payment be made concurrently or otherwise coordinated with payment made or leave allowed under the terms of disability or family care leave under a collective bargaining agreement or employer policy; removes a provision allowing employers to require employees to use accrued paid time off before accessing family and medical leave benefits and count that accrued paid time off toward the total length of leave allowed under Chapter 37 of Title 19; authorizes an employee an option to use a private review process of a private plan’s denial of benefits prior to appealing to the Department; clarifies that denials of claims are subject to the appeal provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act; and clarifies that employers who violate the requirements of Chapter 37 of Title 19 are subject to a penalty only where the violation is due to wilful misconduct or gross negligence. This Act makes changes to ensure that child support obligations are fulfilled and benefit checks account appropriately for child support deductions and to allow the Department to make garnishments to enforce judgments obtained under this chapter. This Act also updates relevant sections of Title 13 to allow for child support deductions of PFMLA benefits as appropriate. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The primary purpose of this Act is to remove the requirement that a public school district employee who donates leave to another employee must donate 2 days of leave for the other employee to receive 1 day of leave. Further, this Act repeals Chapter 187 of Volume 81 of the Laws of Delaware ("this law"). Adopted in 2017, this law was designed to provide full-time employees of the State, including employees of school districts, with the ability to donate leave to other employees for use in connection with the birth or adoption of a child under 6 years of age. This law has never taken effect as the law does not take effect until the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") receives a letter from the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") stating that the tax treatment of the expansion of the donated leave program contemplated by this law will receive the same tax treatment as Delaware’s current donated leave program. OMB has not requested this letter from the IRS because, based on OMB's research, OMB does not believe this law would receive the same tax treatment by the IRS and because the General Assembly subsequently enacted Chapter 285 of Volume 81 of the Laws of Delaware, which provides 12 weeks of paid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child 6 years of age or younger for those continuously employed for at least 1 year as full-time employees of this State, including employees of school districts. Sections 1 and 2 of this Act re-enact portions of Chapter 187 of Volume 81 of the Laws of Delaware that would have also applied to the existing donated leave program for catastrophic illness. Specifically these provisions are intended to do the following: (1) Clarify how much leave employees of a public school district who do not accrue annual leave must use before being eligible for donated leave. (2) Clarify the interaction between donated leave and leave available under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including transferring existing definitions to a central definition section and transferring provisions that are substantive law out of defined terms. This Act is named in honor of Christopher Chujoy, a special education instructional aide in the Red Clay Consolidated School District. Mr. Chujoy was diagnosed in August 2022 with stage IV cancer. Mr. Chujoy used up all of his available sick time before his passing and his situation raised the issue that is the primary purpose of this Act.