Early access to language is essential to child development. Children identified as Deaf or hard of hearing, rely on hearing aids for language development. Language development leads to success in school. Medicaid coverage of hearing aids for children younger than 21 years old applies only to children who qualify. Delaware currently requires private insurers to provide minimum coverage of $1,000 for each hearing aid for individuals younger than 24 years old, covered as a dependent by the policyholder. The cost of pediatric hearing aids can vary widely but can cost from $3,000 to $5,000 out-of-pocket. This can be too expensive for families who are not qualified for Medicaid coverage, even with the current $1,000 coverage requirement. This Act increases the minimum required coverage for hearing aids by requiring insurers to cover the entire cost of medically necessary hearing aids, and the services of a hearing care professional related to prescribing, fitting, or dispensing the hearing aid or earmold, for individuals younger than 24 years old, covered as a dependent by the policyholder. Insurers are required to cover hearing aids at least every 3 years, or sooner if new hearing aids are medically necessary. For hearing aids with earmolds, insurers are required to cover earmolds at least annually, or sooner if new earmolds are medically necessary. For purposes of the coverage requirement, “hearing aid” means any non-experimental, wearable instrument or device designed for the ear and offered for the purpose of aiding or compensating for impaired human hearing and any related parts, attachments, or accessories, including earmolds. The required coverage for hearing aids applies to all of the following: 1. Individual policies under Chapter 33 of Title 18. 2. Group and blanket policies under Chapter 35 of Title 18. 3. The State employee health plan under Chapter 52 of Title 29. The Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2026. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and reorganizes paragraphs for clarity.
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Maddy summarySenate Concurrent Resolution 55 recognizes April 18, 2025, as "National Line Worker Appreciation Day" in the State of Delaware. This resolution aims to honor line workers for their essential role in providing power and maintaining infrastructure across the state.
This Act builds on House Substitute 2 for House Bill No. 125, enacted by the 152nd General Assembly, which extended free meals to students eligible for a reduced-price meal under federal law. This Act expands the availability of free meals by making them available to all public school students attending schools participating in the federal School Breakfast Program or National School Lunch Program. This Act requires public schools participating in the School Breakfast Program to make available free breakfasts to all attending students, regardless of household income. This Act also requires public schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to make available free lunches to all attending students, regardless of household income. This Act requires the Department of Education to reimburse schools for costs of eligible meals not reimbursed by the United States Department of Agriculture under the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program. This Act adds definitions for breakfast, lunch, and eligible meal. This Act also removes the provision about the requirement for meals to follow the meal pattern requirements under the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program because the definitions of breakfast and lunch now include that requirement by reference to federal law. This Act takes effect 30 days following the date of publication in the Register of Regulations of a notice from the Controller General that funds have been appropriated to implement the provisions of this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Maddy summarySenate Concurrent Resolution 48 officially recognizes April 2025 as "Child Abuse Prevention Month" within the State of Delaware. This resolution serves to highlight and raise awareness for child abuse prevention efforts during that month.
The Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is the percentage of electricity that utilities must source from renewables. This is presently set at 25% and will increase annually, culminating at 40% in 2035. Delaware does not currently have enough renewable energy to meet the present mandate, let alone future RPS requirements. Renewable energy is also in short supply on the regional power grid. If it is available, consumers are paying additional distribution charges to transmit it to Delaware. If renewable energy is not obtainable, Delaware utilities are paying penalties to the state for failing to achieve the RPS mandate. In each of the last two years, Delmarva Power has spent about $13 million annually in such state mandated compliance fees. All these cost multipliers are being passed along to consumers, making power more expensive for Delaware ratepayers. This bill recognizes the current flawed public energy policy that has resulted in renewable energy demand significantly outpacing supply. This legislation seeks to provide relief to Delawareans by rolling back the Renewable Portfolio Standard to 10% and maintaining the RPS requirement for the next 10 years, providing sufficient time for renewable generation capacity to meet demand. After the 10-year period expires, the RPS percentage will resume scheduled annual increases.
Maddy summaryThis bill (HCR 29) is a symbolic resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of the State Government Affairs Council. It does not create new laws or impact any specific people or policies. The resolution simply expresses legislative recognition of the Council's history through a formal statement. It has no practical effect beyond the ceremonial acknowledgment.
Maddy summaryHCR 34 is a concurrent resolution that recognizes April 2025 as "National Donate Life Month" in the State of Delaware. This resolution serves to acknowledge and support organ, eye, and tissue donation awareness.
Maddy summarySCR 51 designates April 2025 as "Month of the Military Child" in Delaware through a ceremonial resolution. This resolution does not create new policies or obligations, as it is purely symbolic recognition. It directly affects no specific groups or individuals through legislative action. The designation serves only to highlight military children's contributions during that month.
This Act protects consumers by regulating home improvement contracts. Among other things, this Act provides the buyer with a right to cancel home improvement contracts within 3 days (5 days for those over the age of 62 or with a disability); limits contract deposits and material deposits; and time periods in which construction must begin. It also prohibits confessions of judgments and hasty debt transfers. If a party to a home improvement contract violates a provision of this new subchapter, a person who is damaged as a result has a cause of action to seek damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees. This Act also creates a requirement that individuals convicted of 2 or more offenses of home improvement fraud after the effective date of this Act must be subject to debarment. This debarment will preclude these individuals from operating a business which engages in home improvement services or from employing other individuals to engage in home improvement services. Debarred individuals may work for a company which engages in home improvement themselves, so long as they are not in control of the company in question. This bill also enhances penalties for home improvement fraud for those with prior convictions for home improvement fraud; and creates enhanced penalties for individuals who engage in home improvement services while operating companies which are not registered with the Delaware Department of Labor’s Contractor Registry.
This Act provides that commissioned constables have the authority to direct traffic, if they are doing so while in the performance of the lawful duties of employment. In addition to explicitly granting constables this power under § 5609 of Title 24, the Act adds constables to the list in § 4103 of Title 21 of persons invested by law with the authority to direct, control, or regulate vehicle and pedestrian traffic. These changes will enable constables to provide additional public safety support to employers such as schools, which may benefit from assistance with directing traffic during busy times of day such as pickup and drop off. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.