Sen. Trey Paradee

Maddy summarySB 325 allocates state funds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, covering expenses for various state government agencies and departments. The bill also establishes specific rules and limits on how these funds can be spent and updates related laws to reflect those requirements. By passing both legislative chambers and receiving the governor's signature, the act officially authorizes the release of money to support state operations for the upcoming year.

Maddy summaryThis bill provides a one-time funding allocation of $168,362,517 to the Office of Management and Budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. The money is designated to support specific one-time projects managed by that office. The legislation was passed by both the Senate and the House and was signed into law by the Governor.

This Act provides supplementary appropriations to certain Grants-in-Aid recipients for Fiscal Year 2025. Section 1 – Government Units and Senior Centers $ 34,521,948 Section 2 – One-Times and Community Agencies $ 51,643,425 Section 3 – Fire Companies and Public Service Ambulance Companies $ 11,634,433 Section 4 – Veterans Organizations $ 698,220 GRAND TOTAL $ 98,498,026

This substitute bill provides more clarity on the process by which a tenant may file an action in the Justice of the Peace Court to withhold rent payments in escrow. Specifically, the bill provides what the tenant must file in order to bring such action and how such actions proceed in court. This substitute bill also provides the remedy of termination of lease when the conditions of the rental unit threatens the life, health, or safety of the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household. This substitute bill also clarifies the appeal process for actions to withhold rent payments in escrow. This substitute bill also provides a tenant the right to raise as an affirmative defense to an action for summary possession filed by the landlord that a condition exists that threatens the life, health, or safety of the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household if the tenant satisfies specific requirements. If the Court determines that the tenant has satisfied those requirements, the Court may order that in lieu of summary possession, the tenant pay all base monthly rent owed to the landlord to an escrow account established by the Court. The Court may order the landlord to remedy the conditions alleged by a specific date. If both the landlord and tenant comply with the Court’s order, the amount held in escrow will be paid to the landlord within 30 days, and no judgment for possession shall be entered. Finally, this substitute bill provides that the Act will take effect 180 days after its enactment into law in order to provide the Justice of the Peace Court sufficient time to enact rules to implement the Act.

This is a substitute for House Bill No. 326. Non-profit hospitals are granted tax-exempt status on the premise that they serve a vital role in promoting the health and well-being of the communities they serve. Community benefit spending is a means by which hospitals fulfill this obligation. Such spending includes activities like providing uncompensated care, supporting medical research, offering health education and prevention programs, subsidizing community clinics, and addressing social determinants of health. Like House Bill No. 326, this substitute bill requires Delaware’s non-profit hospitals to provide the state and public with an annual report outlining their community benefits spending, bringing Delaware in line with 31 other states, including all of Delaware’s neighboring states, that require reporting. Like House Bill No. 326, this substitute bill defines “community benefits program,” outlines the minimum contents that must be included in a community benefits activity report, and requires that the report be made available to the public. This substitute contains provisions allowing the report to be submitted electronically to State officials on an annual basis. It differs from the original bill in that the deadline for submitting the report is changed from January 31 of each year to 30 days after a hospital files a federal Form 990. This substitute also contains technical changes to reference and accord with appropriate law and regulations, and broadens the list of information that must be included in the community benefits report.

This Act is the statutory recognition of the recommendations set forth in the June 2, 2023, report of the DEFAC Benchmark Evaluation and Review Panel. This Act builds on the State’s existing appropriation limit methodology by formalizing and maintaining the flexibility inherent in the Budget Stabilization Fund process currently enabled by Executive Order No. 21, approved on June 30, 2018, and the last 6 operating budget acts, including § 65 of the fiscal year 2024 Operating Budget Act. Acknowledging this process in statute includes defining rules for deposits to and withdrawals from the Budget Stabilization Fund and adding an objective and stable measure of sustainable budget growth through an advisory index comprised of certain State economic indicators. This Act requires that only the Governor’s recommended Budget Appropriation Bill consider this methodology and detail proposed plans, if any, deemed necessary or desirable in relation to state revenues or reserve funding.

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 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”.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to make technical corrections to the Delaware Constitution. First, this Act makes the language of the Delaware Constitution gender silent. Senate Bill No. 97 (152nd General Assembly), enacted as Chapter 42 of Volume 84 of the Laws of Delaware, directed the Code Revisors to use gender silent techniques to ensure masculine or feminine pronouns are not used in Delaware Code unless the usage requires otherwise. Thus, instead of drafting a law to say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if he or she deems him or her qualified”, following gender silent techniques the law would say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if the Governor deems the individual qualified.” This technique has the added benefit of providing clarity as many times use of multiple masculine or feminine pronouns can result in confusion as to which noun the pronouns refer. This Act would apply this same drafting technique to the Delaware Constitution. This action is consistent with the General Assembly’s amendment of the Constitution in 1999 following the adoption of a law directing the Code Revisors to gender neutralize or otherwise ensure that a solely masculine or feminine designation never occurs unless it could only apply to one gender. Second, this Act makes additional technical corrections identified by the General Assembly's Division of Research. Specifically, these technical corrections include the following: (1) Officially authorizing the headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution as the headings are contained in the “Constitution of the State of Delaware, Adopted 1897, As Amended”, as published by the Delaware Code Revisors in the Delaware Code. The headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution are not original to the Constituiton adopted in 1897. These headings were added during the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code. Since the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, publication of the Constitution has included headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution in the version of the Delaware Constitution published in the Delaware Code. Almost immediately after the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, the General Assembly began enacting new constitutional amendments with headings and amending existing Sections of the Delaware Constitution using the headings provided or making amendments to the headings provided. However, these headings were not officially authorized by the General Assembly. Consistent with § 306 of Title 1 of the Delaware Code, the intent of authorizing all headings in the Delaware Constitution is for the purpose of convenient reference, not as an interpretive tool for the courts. (2) Based on the adoption of headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution, removing existing Section numbers and relying instead on the adopted headings. (3) Consistently using the series (Oxford) comma. (4) Implementing a consistent hierarchy scheme and naming, consistent with the Delaware Code. (5) Implementing a consistent scheme for naming, capitalization, and citing of references to provisions of the Delaware Constitution. (6) Implementing a consistent scheme for numbers used for time, dates, and money by using the numerical form of the number only. (7) Capitalizing consistent with standard capitalization rules. (8) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution” with “this Article”. (9) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution becomes effective” with “May 14, 1951”, which is the date the referenced amendments took effect. (10) Removing usages of “but not limited to”. (11) Removing from § 8 of Article IV a definition providing that “Supreme Court”, as used in § 4 of Article V, means the Superior Court and replacing “Supreme Court” in § 4 of Article V with “Superior Court” for clarity. (12) Removing § 11(c) of Article VIII from the Constitution. This provision was not intended to be included in the Constitution as it was drafted as a separate bill section of the bill that proposed and concurred in the constitutional amendment creating § 11(a) and (b). It was intended to apply only to taxes or licenses fees authorized by the General Assembly but not yet effective and so not intended to be included in the Constitution. (13) Inserting the effective date of the constitutional amendment that enacted § 12 of Article VIII for clarity. (14) Correcting misspellings and misused words. (15) Making corrections to Section headings. (16) Making technical changes to § 4A of Article V, including to remove an “either” that is inappropriately used in a list of more than 2 items. (17) Removing the hyphen in “Lieutenant Governor” and “Attorney General”. (18) Changing references to “the State” to “this State”. (19) Removing usages of “said”. Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution.