This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 82. Like Senate Bill 82, this Substitute does all of the following: (1) Codifies the Department of Education’s (“Department”) current efforts to establish a uniform public school registration process and requires that, beginning with the 2023 through 2024 school year, all public schools shall use the uniform public school registration process. This registration process will simplify the process for families, enable public schools to engage with families and plan in advance of the school year, and integrate data systems to eliminate duplication of effort. (2) Requires the uniform public school registration process to be Internet-based and in paper form and in English and Spanish and may be in other languages. This Act also requires that certain information must be provided in the process and that the Internet-based uniform public school registration process must include certain features. (3)Requires the Department to provide training to certain school district and charter school employees regarding the uniform public school registration process and issue guidelines for privacy of information submitted as part of the registration process. (4) Requires the Department to report to the Governor and General Assembly, no later than March 14, 2022, on the Department’s ability to connect the Internet-based uniform public school registration process to other Internet-based systems that are used to collect student data by the State; the Department; a licensed child care provider, including Head Start; or a public school serving preschool through age 21. This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 82 by doing all of the following: (1) Clarifying that a student must be registered in the student’s school district of residence before being eligible for the school choice process. (2) Requiring a public school be certified as completing training from the Department on the uniform public school registration process before providing paper forms as part of the in-person registration process. (3) Requiring the Department to provide uniform information about the uniform public school registration process to public schools and requiring the public schools to post the information on the school’s website and in other publications. (4) Requiring a public school to provide a parent with certain information after the parent completes the registration process, including the public school and school in which the child is enrolled.
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Like House Bill No. 166, House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 166 establishes the Elevate Delaware program. Elevate Delaware will provide payments for tuition and auxiliary expenses, up to $10,000, for individuals to attend an approved non-credit certificate program. The Workforce Development Board will create a list of non- credit certificate programs eligible for the Elevate Delaware program and establish priorities based upon the skill requirements of employers in Delaware. It also allows the Department of Labor to provide payments to participants in Elevate Delaware to cover auxiliary expenses necessary to meet basic living expenses or purchase supplies necessary for the non-certificate program or employment upon completion of the program. House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 166 differs from House Bill No. 166 as follows: 1. Instead of basing eligibility upon graduation from a Delaware high school, individuals are eligible for Elevate Delaware if they are employed by an employer with under 51 employees and are subject to Delaware income tax. This change helps small employers expand by investing in workforce development and helps Delaware residents increase their earning capacity. Currently, over 83% of Delaware employers have under 51 employees. 2. States that the intent of Elevate Delaware is to preserve jobs in Delaware and for Delaware residents and that the Department of Labor may recoup payments made on behalf of individuals if either the individual or an employer acts in bad faith under the requirements of Elevate Delaware. 3. Requires that if an individual is not a resident of Delaware, the individual’s employer must intend to retain the individual as an employee for at least 1 year following completion of the eligible program and the individual must intend to work in Delaware for at least 1 year following completion of the eligible program. 4. Tuition payments are made directly to an eligible program. 5. Allows Elevate Delaware payments to be made for supplies an individual needs for the training program or employment upon completion of the program. 6. Requires the Workforce Development Board to approve non-credit certificate programs throughout the State, based upon the population of each county. 7. Takes effect for program that begin after December 31, 2021 instead of within 1 year from enactment of this Act. 8. Removes the requirement that the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee review this Act because this review can occur without a specific requirement in this Act.
This Act allows pharmacists to administer or dispense contraceptives under a standing order from the Division of Public Health. At least 11 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands allow pharmacists to dispense contraceptives without a prescription from another health-care practitioner. This practice is supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Delaware has been irreparably harmed by the opioid crisis. In 2018, 400 people died of an overdose in Delaware, and in 2019, 431 people died of an overdose. Settlements from opioid distributors, manufacturers, and pharmacies are expected to provide significant monies over a substantial period of time to Delaware. These funds are intended to address to harm caused by the opioid crisis in our communities. This Act establishes the Prescription Opioid Settlement Fund (Settlement Fund) and Prescription Opioid Distribution Commission (Commission), to ensure that settlement money is used to remediate and abate the opioid crisis and is not diverted to other purposes. The Commission is part of the Behavioral Health Consortium and is established to ensure that decisions on how to spend funds are reached through consensus driven process that takes into account the views and experience of affected communities. The Behavioral Health Consortium will distribute money received by the Settlement Fund and the Prescription Opioid Impact Fund (Impact Fund), enacted by Senate Bill No. 34 of the 150th General Assembly, according to the recommendations of the Commission. The Commission shall seek input from the public and relevant stakeholders and shall convene a Local Government Committee to ensure that recommendations from counties and municipal governments are carefully considered. The terms of settlement agreements, bankruptcy plans, or other agreements for the payment of monies by defendants in opioid-related litigation will likely include terms that establish how the money must be spent. The Commission is required to adhere to those terms. The Commission must produce an annual report regarding the receipt and disbursement of funds. This Act preserves the status quo of the existing parties to litigation while limiting the ability for new local government opioid suits to be brought, because new lawsuits could limit the size of Delaware’s recovery in global settlements that are expected to be reached. This Act repeals the sunset of the Prescription Opioid Impact Fee (Impact Fee) and Impact Fund It also repeals the report requirement for the Impact Fund because the information in that report will be included in the new report that the Commission must produce. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 4 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of three-quarters of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to appropriate funds to a county or municipality. This Act also requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a charter issued to a municipal corporation.
The purpose of this act is to open up The Delaware Student Excellence Equals Degree Act (SEED Act) to adult Delaware residents, who are not recent high school graduates. Currently, about 56% of Delawareans age 25-64 lack a post-secondary degree. This expansion of the SEED grant program will encourage adult learners to return to school to enhance their knowledge and skills and increase their job opportunities. Adult individuals with a high school diploma or less education were significantly impacted by Covid-19-related job loss. This legislation can help to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on those adults. Tennessee has instituted a similar program called the Tennessee Reconnect Act.
This Act creates the Korey Thompson Student Emergency Housing Assistance Fund for the benefit of housing insecure undergraduate students at any college or university in Delaware and appropriates $90,000 to the Fund for FY2022. DSHA is charged with administering the Fund and reporting to the Governor and the General Assembly how the funds are spent.
This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 120. Like Senate Bill No. 120, this Substitute continues recent efforts to strengthen the primary care system in this State by doing the following: (1) Directing the Health Care Commission to monitor compliance with value-based care delivery models and develop, and monitor compliance with, alternative payment methods that promote value-based care. (2) Requiring rate filings limit aggregate unit price growth for inpatient, outpatient, and other medical services, to certain percentage increases. (3) Requiring an insurance carrier to spend a certain percentage of its total cost on primary care. (4) Requiring the Office of Value-Based Health Care Delivery to establish mandatory minimums for payment innovations, including alternative payment models, and evaluate annually whether primary care spending is increasing in compliance with the established mandatory minimums for payment innovations. (5) In Sections 2 and 3 of this Act, revising the appointment process for members of the Primary Care Reform Collaborative who are not members by virtue of position to comply with the requirements of the Delaware Constitution. These revisions are largely similar to those proposed in Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 59 (151st General Assembly) (“the Substitute”). As such, Section 2 is designed to take effect if the Substitute does not pass both chambers or passes but is not enacted; Section 3 is designed to take effect if the Substitute passes both chambers and is enacted. (6) Making technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 120 as it does all of the following: (1) Adds a “whereas clause” stating that the Department of Insurance does not regulate Medicaid or employer-based plans provided under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or their rates. (2) Provides that rate filings for health benefit plans may not include aggregate unit price growth for nonprofessional services that exceed the greater of 2% or Core CPI plus 1% in 2024, 2025, and 2026. (3) Makes a technical correction to properly alphabetize definitions in Section 4 of the Act (relating to § 2503 of Title 18). (4) Removes “mental health and substance abuse disorder” from the definition of an “inpatient hospital”. (5) Adds a definition of “professional services” and makes clear that “nonprofessional services”, which are subject to the aggregate unit price growth limits of § 2503(a)(12)a. of Title 18, do not include professional services. (6) Amends the definition of “other medical services” to make clear the term includes the facility component of vision exams, dental services, and other services when those services are billed separately from the professional component. (7) Changes the date for mandatory minimums for payment innovations to support a robust system of primary care to January 1, 2026. (8) Make clear that the Office of Value-Based Health Care Delivery is to annually evaluate whether primary care spending is increasing in compliance with the requirements of, and regulations adopted under, all of Title 18. (9) Requires the Office of Value-Based Health Care Delivery to collect data and develop reports to monitor and evaluate the percentage of spending in primary care that is delegated to hospitals and related networks for care coordination through alternative payment models. (10) Removes the sunset date on provisions requiring individual, group, and State employee insurance plans to reimburse primary care physicians, certified nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other front-line practitioners for chronic care management and primary care at no less than the physician Medicare rate. (11) Sunsets Sections 5 and 6 of this Act and § 2503(a)(12)a. of Title 18 as contained in Section 4 of this Act on January 1, 2027.
This bill removes the training minimum wage and youth minimum wage, which takes effect 90 days after enactment.
This Act implements the procedure for the notice of a proposed amendment to the Delaware Constitution authorized by the amendment to § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution proposed by House Bill No. 130 by doing the following: (1) Making the Secretary of the Senate ("Secretary") and Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives ("Chief Clerk") responsible for ensuring that a proposed amendment by their respective house is disseminated to the public as required by § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution and this Act. (2) Requiring the notices be published in at least 1 newspaper of general circulation in each county and posted on the Department of Election's and General Assembly's websites. (3) Requiring the Secretary, Chief Clerk, State Election Commissioner, and Director of the Division of Research to review and approve the notice to be disseminated. (4) Requiring the Secretary and Chief Clerk to provide notice of, and certain information about, the dissemination of the notice of a proposed amendment. 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 152nd General Assembly.
This Act establishes a Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Program that allows for companies to facilitate the shared usage of vehicles in Delaware.