Sen. Tizzy Lockman

This Act makes changes to House Bill 202 from the 150th General Assembly creating a pilot program for the Red Clay School District to use external camera systems on their school buses to catch motorists that fail to stop when a school bus is stopped and displaying flashing lamps to take on or discharge school children and assess a civil penalty as punishment. The changes in this bill are necessary to make clear that the Act, which mirrors 21 Del. C. § 4101(d), the State’s Electronic Red Light Safety Program, only creates a civil, not a criminal penalty.

This Resolution: 1) Celebrates Senate Bill No. 56 and the immediate investment of targeted funding for student needs; 2) Describes the need for additional action from the General Assembly to update and modernize remaining underlying education funding issues; 3) Requires the Department of Education to report information to help illuminate systemic inequities in the current education funding system to inform future legislative proposals.

This Concurrent Resolution creates the Justice Forty Oversight Committee to study and make findings and recommendations regarding environmental justice in this State.

This Act does the following: (1) Removes the requirement that applicants for initial and continuing educator licenses obtain a passing score on an approved performance assessment. (2) In place of the performance assessment requirement, requires professional development and mentoring activities include a focus on acquisition of pedagogical knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to meet student needs and requires the Department of Education (Department) to establish a committee of stakeholders to gather input and make recommendations on how to achieve professional development and mentoring activities that satisfy the requirements. (3) Removes requirements related to performance assessments, including reporting requirements and rulemaking requirements, from Chapter 12 of Title 14. (4) Allows individuals who serve in educator roles that are not teaching positions to receive their Delaware educator license by changing "teaching experience" to "experience as an educator" in § 1210(d) of Title 14 and § 1211(c) of Title 14. (5) Requires the Department to ensure there are a variety of professional development opportunities across different modes that meet a high standard of quality, including evidence-based programs. (6) In place of the performance assessment requirement for participants in alternative routes for teacher licensure and certification programs and participants in alternative routes to certification programs for teachers of students with disabilities, requires an assessment of program participants' abilities to apply pedagogical skills to meet the needs of students and requires the Department to establish a committee of stakeholders to gather input and make recommendations on how to assess the pedagogical skills of program participants. (7) In place of a performance assessment requirement, requires that educator preparation programs assess prospective educators' ability to apply pedagogical skills to meet student needs and requires the Department to establish a committee of stakeholders to gather input and make recommendations on how to assess the pedagogical skills of program participants. (8) Makes corrections, including standardizing references to the educator evaluation system and changing "certificate" to "license" in places where improperly used. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act codifies a reasonableness requirement for the use of force, both non-lethal and lethal. This is important when the state of mind is an issue in a criminal trial, such as when the judge or jury must decide as to what someone believed, knew, or intended at a given time. The justification law as currently written uses the term “defendant believes” throughout its several sections. This Act makes it clear that the determination of one’s state of mind is an objective standard —that is, what a reasonable person would have believed, rather than what the defendant believed. Additionally, this Act makes clear that deadly force includes the use of a chokehold.

This Act allows one excused absence per school year for students grades 6 through 12 to attend civic engagements such as visits to the United States Capitol, Legislative Hall, and sites of political and cultural significance, or participation in a rally, march, protest, or walkout. For a student to attend a civic engagement event, the student’s parent or guardian must provide written permission no later than 3 school days prior to the student’s planned absence. The school shall determine what is acceptable as written permission. If the principal or another school or school district official does not confirm receipt of written permission with the parent or guardian prior to the student’s planned absence, permission for the student to attend the civic engagement event as an excused absence is presumed.

This Act appropriates $221,121,200 to provide one-time funded projects through the Office of Management and Budget.

This Resolution provides the official revenue, refund, and unencumbered funds estimates for Fiscal Year 2022.

This Act provides supplementary appropriations to certain Grants-in-Aid recipients for Fiscal Year 2022. Section 1 – Government Units and Senior Centers $27,599,217 Section 2 – One-Times and Community Agencies $28,158,601 Section 3 – Fire Companies $7,059,096 Section 4 – Veterans Organizations $431,348 GRAND TOTAL $63,248,262

This Bill is the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Act.