Sen. Brian Pettyjohn

Affordable housing is key to building strong communities and neighborhoods. This act provides that the developer of a residential subdivision is provided a percentage credit towards the expense of offsite improvements to state-maintained highways consistent with the percentage of units set aside for affordable housing in a residential subdivision project.

This Act is a Substitute for Senate Bill No. 82. Both this Act and SB 82 require State programs to provide annual reports to the General Assembly about compliance with federal and State law and regulation that require meaningful access to services for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) and effective communication for individuals with disabilities. Both this Act and SB 82 provide support for language and communication assistance for individuals renting or purchasing a home or facing eviction or foreclosure. This Act and SB 82 create a short-term program within the Office of the Manufactured Housing Ombudsperson and the Department of Justice. This program will provide special language and communication assistance support for individuals with limited English proficiency and individuals with disabilities to better understand and participate in matters related to residential leases and evictions and home purchases and foreclosures. The Department of Justice is not required to spend more than $48,500 on translation and interpretation services, and auxiliary aids, in the fiscal year following 30 days after enactment. This Act differs from SB 82 as follows: (1) Some definitions are updated to conform more closely to federal law. Additionally, this Act narrows the definition of "individual with a disability" to be someone with a disability affecting communication, since this Act is designed to gather data and provide support related to effective communication. (2) This Act narrows the scope of agency programs about which reporting must occur. Instead of collecting information about agency-wide compliance, this Act will gather preliminary information about compliance by obtaining reports about a sample of agency programs. This Act requires the secretaries and directors of various departments and divisions to select and report about at least 2 operations, units, or services provided by their department or division. Certain enumerated entities under § 10604(b) of Title 29 will be required to report about their compliance. Also, the Department of Justice shall select 5 programs that will be required to submit reports. (3) In SB 82, programs had to complete narrative reports for the first 3 years after enactment. Beginning 4 years after enactment, the reporting programs were required to submit reports that required data collection. This Act keeps only the narrative reports. (4) Revises the special language and communication assistance program to allow the Department of Justice to create 1 program to fulfill its obligations under this Act to provide support for language and communication assistance for individuals renting or purchasing a home or manufactured home or facing eviction or foreclosure, as well as limits the program’s obligations to the extent of the appropriated funds received. (5) In SB 82, the special language and communication assistance program was to sunset 2 years after enactment unless otherwise extended, while the reporting requirements were to continue. In this Act, the entire Act sunsets 2 years after enactment unless extended by an act of the General Assembly.

This Act updates the statute on disclosure of pupil records to ensure compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, and improve information sharing between educational institutions and programs operating in this State, including local postsecondary institutions and programs and local education agencies, and the Department of Education (“Department”). Specifically, the Act does the following: (1) Provides that educational records of students, and personally identifiable information contained therein, may only be disclosed or redisclosed in accordance with FERPA and its implementing regulations. (2) Allows local education agencies and educational institutions and programs who outsource their data exchange and compliance with reporting requirements to the Department to consider the Department a school official as defined by FERPA regulations. This allows educational institutions and programs to disclose to the Department, without parental consent, information necessary for federal and state reporting when there is a legitimate educational interest. (3) Gives the Department authority to redisclose educational records for the purposes of ensuring the effectiveness of publicly funded programs and improving educational outcomes for students. Like initial disclosures, redisclosures must comply with FERPA and its implementing regulations. The Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This substitute bill for Senate Bill No. 307 clarifies the meaning of custom fabrication as first defined in Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill No. 102 in the 152nd General Assembly. That substitute bill modified the relationship between custom fabrication and the prevailing wage. This substitute removes custom fabrication as a term in Title 19 to avoid confusion of the term being defined differently in two different titles. Section 3 of this substitute bill becomes effective immediately. Sections 1, 2 and 4 of this substitute bill become effective January 1, 2025.

This Act is a result of the Delaware Interscholastic Association ("DIAA") Task Force. Based on the findings of the task force, this Act updates and modernizes the DIAA Board of Directors' composition. This Act also makes technical corrections that conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act implements a recommendation from the December 31, 2023, Report of the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee. Under this Act, the state group health insurance program must include a pensioner coordination of benefits policy for eligible pensioners who were first employed by the State on or after January 1, 2015, and are eligible for health care coverage through their employer that is not through a plan under Chapter 52 of Title 29. The new pensioner coordination of benefits policy begins July 1, 2027, and must be comparable to the exiting coordination of benefits policy for the spouse of a state group health insurance program participant who is eligible for health care coverage through the spouse's own employer. This Act also codifies the existing spousal coordination of benefits policies for the state group health insurance program. The existing spousal coordination of benefits policies and the pensioner coordination of benefits policy created under this Act apply to all participants in the state group health insurance program, which includes regular officers or employees, eligible pensioners, and individuals eligible under § 5208 and § 5209 of Title 29. In addition, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act increases the amount of the annual appropriation to prefund future State employee retiree health insurance as recommended by the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee of the State Employee Benefits Committee. Like other required contributions to the Other Post-Employment Benefits Fund (OPEB) Fund, this appropriation must be included in the review of and plan for proposed expenditures that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget submits to the Governor and in the Governor's Budget Appropriation Bill. This Act also revises existing law to allow the current practice of making the annual payment to the OPEB Fund of 1% of the operating budget appropriations for the prior fiscal year in a Supplementary Appropriation Bill and makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The governance of this State relies on the qualifications and performance of the members of the Governor’s cabinet. The General Assembly finds that the confirmation process is an important step to ensure the qualifications and performance of the Governor’s cabinet. This Act implements the process of aligning the end of the term of each of the members of the Governor’s cabinet with the end of the Governor’s term by designating the principal officer of each executive department who is subject to the amendments to § 10 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution proposed by Senate Bill No. 15. The General Assembly’s intent in making this change is to require each member of the Governor’s cabinet to be reconfirmed by the Senate at the beginning of each term of a Governor. This Act also makes the following consistent: (1) The method of determining the annual salary of members of the Governor’s cabinet, by providing that the General Assembly is to set the salary in the annual appropriations act, thereby conforming the Delaware Code to current practice. (2) The preference for members of the Governor’s cabinet being residents of this State on appointment, by removing from the Delaware Code the preference for residency for the Secretary of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, the Secretary of the Department of Finance, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, the Secretary of Labor, the Housing Director of the Delaware State Housing Authority, and the Secretary of the Department of State. Residency requirements for members of the Governor’s cabinet are being removed from the Delaware Code by this Act and replaced with a notation that residency requirements are as provided in the Delaware Constitution. Residency requirements for members of the Governor’s cabinet will now be consistent, requiring the members to be residents of this State within at most 1 year after appointment and to remain residents of this State or be deemed resigned from office. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Because the next General Assembly must concur in the proposed amendment to the Delaware Constitution, this Act does not take effect until the passage of the second leg of the constitutional amendment in the 153rd General Assembly.

This Act implements a recommendation from the December 31, 2023, Report of the Retiree Healthcare Benefits Advisory Subcommittee. Under this Act, the amount of the premium for a health-care insurance plan that this State will pay on behalf of eligible pensioners who were first employed as a regular officer or employee on or after January 1, 2025, and who are not subject to mandatory retirement, is changed as follows: 1. For eligible pensioners employed by the State for at least 15 years but less than 20 years at the time of retirement, 50% of the of the premium. 2. For eligible pensioners employed by the State for at least 20 years but less than 25 years at the time of retirement, 75% of the of the premium. 3. For eligible pensioners employed by the State for 25 or more years at the time of retirement, 100% of the of the premium. All other revisions to current law under this Act are technical changes to improve clarity and conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. These technical changes include the addition of new defined terms and the reorganization of existing law. In § 5201 of Title 29, this Act makes the following technical changes: 1. Revises the definitions of “eligible pensioner”, “plan”, and “regular officer or employee” to remove inconsistent language and align with each other and current law. 2. To avoid repeating phrases in § 5202 of Title 29, clarifies that only for purposes of the amount of the premium paid by the State for health-care insurance plans, the term “eligible pensioner” includes the eligible pensioner’s eligible spouse and dependents and defines the following terms: • “First employed” means the date when the eligible pensioner began work as a regular officer or employee. • “Mandatory retirement” means mandatory retirement for members of the State Police under § 8361 of Title 11. • “Maximum state share" means the amount of the premium that the State pays for a plan before the proration ratio is applied. • “Premium” means the total premium or subscription charge for a health-care insurance plan provided under Chapter 52 of Title 29. In § 5202 of Title 29, this Act makes technical changes to clarify current law regarding the amount of the premium for a health-care insurance plan that this State will pay on behalf of a regular officer or employee or an eligible pensioner by doing the following: 1. Creates the following terms: • “Proration ratio”, which means the percentage applied to the maximum state share. For eligible pensioners, the “proration ratio” is based on when the eligible pensioner was first employed and the number of years the eligible pensioner had been employed as a regular officer or employee at the time of retirement. • “Prorated state share”, which means the dollar amount that the State pays for a plan on behalf of a regular officer or employee or an eligible pensioner. The “prorated state share” is the product of multiplying the proration ratio with the maximum state share. 2. Revises subsection (a) to use the new terms defined under this Act. 3. Transfers the current provisions in paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2) that provide the maximum state share for eligible pensioners to subsection (a), so they are with the maximum state share for regular officers and employees. 4. Revises subsection (b) so that the proration ratio and how it is used to determine the prorated state share is explained in paragraph (b)(1) and the proration ratios are provided in paragraphs (b)(2) and (b)(3). • Paragraph (b)(2) lists all groups for whom the proration ratio is 100% because there are no deductions to the maximum state share. • Paragraph (b)(3) provides the proration ratios for eligible pensioners based on the date the eligible pensioner was first employed and years of employment as a regular officer or employee. These ratios clarify that for eligible pensioners who worked for less than the minimum number of years for the 50% proration ratio, the State does not pay anything towards the maximum state share.

This Act removes “supervision” from the scope of practice of a master’s social worker. This Act also prohibits a master’s social worker from providing supervision to a licensed clinical social worker applicant. The Board of Social Work Examiners (Board) determined that a master’s social worker lacks the education and experience needed to provide clinical supervision. Under this Act, an applicant for licensure as a licensed clinical social worker may still obtain supervision from a licensed psychologist or licensed psychiatrist where a licensed clinical social worker is not available, under the Board’s rules and regulations. This Act also adds a grandfathering provision so that an applicant or licensed clinical social worker who started or completed supervision with a master’s social worker on or before the enactment date of this Act satisfies the supervision requirement under § 3907(b)(4) of this title as long as the applicant or licensed clinical social worker is otherwise in compliance with § 3907(b)(4) of this title. The grandfathering provision also allows a master’s social worker who is supervising an applicant as of the enactment date of this Act to continue supervision under the applicant completes the 2-year supervised experience requirement.