Beginning in 2002, schools, school districts, and licensed child care providers have been required to keep binders of community notifications with information about registered sex offenders. This requirement was enacted based on recommendation from the Community Notification Task Force that schools have a role in community awareness. However, this requirement has created financial, administrative, and emotional burdens for staff who maintain the binders. The binders are rarely reviewed by the public and they do not necessarily provide up-to-date information or information on sex offenders in the immediate geographic area of the school, school district, or licensed child care provider. Additionally, in its March 31, 2002, report, the Community Notification School Task Force found that schools do not have the expertise to answer inevitable questions regarding the nature of particular offenses or the risk posed by particular offenders, and that it is not an appropriate role for educators to answer those questions. This Act eliminates the requirement that a school, school district, or licensed child care provider keep community notifications in a binder. Instead, schools, school district, or licensed child care providers are required to provide “school and child care notification” that includes all of the following information: 1. Notification that searchable records available to the public can be obtained at a police agency or the Delaware State Bureau of Identification (“SBI”). 2. Notification that the public can register for community notifications on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. 3. The URL for the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. The school, school district, or licensed child care provider must provide the school and child care notification upon request from staff, faculty, or a parent or guardian of an enrolled child. Additionally, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must post the school and child care notification on its website or, if it does not have website, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must send the information to staff, faculty, and a legal parent or guardian of an enrolled child in writing at least annually. The Act also clarifies that sex offender registry information must be available on the Internet on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) guidelines require law enforcement to keep a registry of sex offenders and to provide public notification. Specifically, the guidelines require law enforcement to notify schools, but do not require schools to provide access to sex offender records. Instead, federal law enacted in 2006, 34 U.S.C. § 20920, requires states to provide public access to sex offender registry information on the Internet. The SBI maintains the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry on its website, which allows the general public to find information about registered sex offenders by searching the offender’s information or by searching in a geographic radius. The website also allows the public to sign up for e-mail notifications regarding sex offenders who appear on the website. The website is updated every Friday. It is easily accessible to most of the public, including on computers at public libraries. Additionally, the public can request sex offender registry information in-person at a Delaware State Police troop. The public also can call the SBI for information. Certain municipal police agencies, such as the City of Dover Police Department and the Newark Delaware Police Department, also provide access to community notifications for offenders located in the municipality on the agency’s website. Law-enforcement agencies are better equipped than schools or licensed childcare providers to answer questions about the registry. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
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This Act creates a background special license plate for the William Penn High School to support scholarships and community events sponsored by the high school. A background special license plate supports a cause and is available for purchase by the public at large, including members of the organization. The numbers, letters, or both, assigned will be the same as the license plate assigned to the owner’s vehicle at the time of the application for the plate. This Act requires a greater-than-majority vote for passage because § 11 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of three-fifths for the members elected to each house of the General Assembly when a new tax or license fee is imposed.
This Act adds the existence of the Division of Legislative Services and the Office of the Controller General into Delaware Code. Chapter 11 of Title 29 details the creation of Legislative Council, as well as the authority of the Council to appoint a Director of the Division of Legislative Services (Director) and a Controller General. Chapter 11 further states that the Director shall organize and supervise the Division of Legislative Services and that the Controller General may be provided with additional employees to enable the Controller General to perform their duties. However, our Code does not create the Division of Legislative Services or the Office of the Controller General, which are the offices overseen by the Director and Controller General, respectively.
This Act adopts a recommendation made by the Delaware Compensation Commission in its January 6, 2025, report. Specifically, this Act changes the minimum amount of pension payable to a member of the General Assembly elected after February 28, 2025, because the pension amount will no longer be calculated by multiplying the elected official’s years of service as an elected member of the General Assembly times the highest rate of payment being paid to any retired member of the General Assembly. Instead, the pension payable to an elected official of the General Assembly elected on or after February 28, 2025, shall be computed under § 5527(a)(1) of Title 29.
This bill makes a technical correction to the specific categories of persons required to obtain a fingerprint-based background check under this chapter in order to comply with the requirements of Public Law (Pub. L.) 92-544 for access to FBI criminal history record information.
This Substitute to HB 91 differs from HB 91 in that it further expands free breakfasts in schools participating in the federal School Breakfast Program by making them available to all students, regardless of household income, but does not expand free lunch income eligibility. The Department of Education shall reimburse a public school providing free breakfasts. The reimbursement must be equal to the federal free reimbursement rate multiplied by the total number of breakfasts that the participating public school serves during the applicable budget year minus the total amount of reimbursement for breakfasts served during the applicable budget year that the participating public school receives under the School Breakfast Program. This Act does not apply to schools participating in the federal Community Eligibility Provision, Provision 1, Provision 2, or Provision 3 special assistance certification and reimbursement alternatives. This Act takes effect immediately and is to be implemented beginning July 1, 2026.
This Act provides that, for purposes of Title 29 of the Delaware Code, Section 5527, related to the amount of monthly ordinary service or disability pension, a member of the General Assembly who is elected on Election Day in November and serves through the next Election Day in November will receive full-service credit for that term. Thus, the Act provides that a member of the House of Representatives who served five, two-year terms and, for each term, was elected on Election Day in November and served through the next Election Day in November will be credited with ten years of service. Likewise, the Act provides that a member of the Senate who served five, four-year terms and, for each term, was elected on Election Day in November and served through the next Election Day in November will be credited with twenty years of service.
This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 156. Like Senate Bill No. 156, this Substitute prohibits the reporting of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies and prohibits any medical debt from being included on a consumer report. Since 2023, at least 9 other states have passed laws that prohibit or restrict the reporting of medical debt on credit reports, including California, New Jersy, and Virginia. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 156 in that it (1) adds language to the purpose section of the statute making it clear that the intent of the chapter is for medical debt not to be used in credit, employment, or housing decisions; (2) removes the proposed definition of medical debt information and instead adds a definition of medical debt; and (3) removes the proposed prohibition language on using a credit report containing medical debt information from being used when making decisions regarding someone’s credit, employment, or housing.
Under Chapter 69 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code, the Section of Government Support Services in the Office of Management and Budget ("Section") is responsible for effectuating the State’s procurement process. This Act is a Substitute for Senate Bill No. 134. Like Senate Bill No. 134, this Act seeks to modernize the definition of reverse auctions. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 134 by providing that the Section is permitted to use reverse auctions only in the procurement of professional services for or related to pharmaceuticals or pharmacy benefits management services.
This Act creates a breastfeeding and lactation program within the DOC to provide lactation support to women in DOC custody. Among other things, it permits women to collect breast milk for later retrieval and delivery to an infant or toddler by an approved person. It also requires the DOC to provide nutrition information and a meal plan specific to pregnant, post-partum, or lactating women, based on national best practices. This Act further requires that DOC publish an annual report regarding the number of participants in the program and the nature of services provided.