Sen. Margaret Rose Henry

This bill provides Statewide consistency in the law that protects the public from dangerous dogs and clarifies that dogs may not be held potentially dangerous or dangerous for animal control enforcement or for purposes of criminal liability based solely on breed-specific criteria. Findings to deem a dog dangerous will be based on actions of the dog, or an individualized demonstration of vicious behavior. It also prohibits municipalities from enacting breed-specific ordinances or regulations. The bill deletes outdated references to the now-defunct Dog Control Panel and replaces them with reference to the Justice of the Peace Court procedure laid out in Chapter 30F of Title 16.

In an effort to reduce overdose deaths relating to the growing epidemic of opioid addiction, this Act requires carriers to provide coverage for medically necessary inpatient treatment of alcohol and drug dependencies and prohibits carriers from imposing precertification, prior authorization, pre-admission screening, or referral requirements for the diagnosis and treatment, including in-patient treatment, of drug and alcohol dependencies. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

The denial by private and public health benefit administrators of adequate coverage for substance abuse treatment has been identified as a major source of failed treatment efforts by persons addicted to controlled substances. These denials have also been identified as a cause of the shortage of adequate treatment facilities in Delaware. This Act seeks to ensure that persons with private and public insurance coverage have the ability to insist that they receive the substance abuse coverage to which they are entitled by law and by their insurance plans. It does so by (1) allowing the Department of Justice to provide legal assistance where appropriate to persons seeking benefits from the state’s Medicaid program, traditional health plans, or from employer-funded health benefit plans (which are exempt from state regulation), (2) requiring the state’s Medicaid program and private insurance carriers to provide notice to persons who are denied substance abuse treatment of the possibility of legal assistance in challenging those claim denials, and (3) permitting the Department of Justice to use funds in its Consumer Protection Fund to offset the cost of providing medical and legal expertise to DOJ and the Department of Insurance for the purpose of assisting persons with controlled substance addictions who are seeking treatment. This Act contains a sunset provision so that the General Assembly can assess the impact of its provisions on private and public health care costs and effective treatment of substance abuse before making its provisions permanent.

This Act creates the Delaware African and Caribbean Affairs Commission.

This bill imposes a filing fee on write-in candidates of $1,000.00 for federal office and $100.00 for statewide or local office and changes the deadline for write-in candidates to file their declaration and filing fee from September 30 to September 1.

This bill fixes a drafting error in Senate Bill 198 of the 148th General Assembly that inadvertently made it harder for juveniles to get mandatory expungements by adding the term ‘violent misdemeanor’ as an excepting factor that would prevent a youth from receiving an expungement. Previously, violent misdemeanors were never included in the state’s statute regarding mandatory expungements. The bill also strikes the definition of violent misdemeanor, which is no longer applicable to the state’s juvenile expungement statute.The phrase “sex offense” was added after the word “felony” for clarity and to mirror the definition in § 1016. No substantive change is made by this clarification.

This resolution recognizes the month of May as "Poppy Month" in the State of Delaware.

This concurrent resolution thanks the Career and Technical Student Organizations for their presentation of geraniums. This concurrent resolution also extends the General Assembly's best wishes for continued success to these exemplary students.

This Act increases the age requirement for compulsory school attendance in Delaware from 16 to 18 years of age. The age increase is phased in over a two-year period; accordingly, there is a one-year interim period where the compulsory school attendance age requirement will be 17 years old. The Act further provides that a child may be exempt from the age requirement for compulsory school attendance if the child has received a high school diploma or a certificate of performance or obtains permission to withdraw from school from the superintendent of the district in which the child is enrolled or from the president of the board of the charter school in which the child is enrolled. To obtain a waiver from the date of enactment of this Act until August 31, 2018, a child must be at least 16 years old. To obtain a waiver on or after September 1, 2018, a child must be at least 17 years old. The Act preserves the exemption under which a child may be excused from compulsory attendance upon request of the child's parent or legal guardian coupled with supporting written documentation from a qualified health professional.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes and commends speech-language pathologists and audiologists throughout this State for their work with citizens of this State to lead independent, productive, and fulfilling lives.