Sen. Laura Sturgeon

This substitute bill requires the Secretary of DNREC to follow certain procedures when conducting public hearings, while giving discretion to the Secretary in choosing which hearings the procedures apply to. The bill becomes effective August 1, 2024.

Maddy summaryThis bill allows farm wineries in Delaware to apply for a license to operate a restaurant on their property. Currently, the law prohibits farm winery owners from running other businesses like importers or retailers, but this change creates an exception for food service. By amending the state code, the legislation enables these wineries to serve food to customers alongside their wine sales. The bill was passed by both the House and Senate and was signed into law by the Governor.

This Act requires that a candidate’s political committee’s contribution and expense report, provided to the Department of Elections, include the primary employer and job title of each person contributing to the committee. This Act also requires the Department of Elections to provide a telephone number and online form for reporting alleged campaign financing violations. The informant must provide their name and contact information to the Department. The information provided to the Department is not to be considered a public record under FOIA. This Act also allows reporting parties who unintentionally receive a prohibited contribution or make a prohibited expenditure to return or reimburse the contribution or pay the contribution to the State Treasurer. This Act also eliminates the ability of anyone who makes or accepts a prohibited campaign contribution from donating the money to a designated Title 30 charitable organization. The Act requires anyone who knowingly accepts an unlawful campaign contribution to pay the money to the State Treasurer for deposit to the General Fund.

Senate Bill No. 288 of the 151st General Assembly (Chapter 371 of Volume 83 of the Laws of Delaware) created a pilot program whereby motorcyclists are permitted to use pulsating headlights as a way to alert other drivers of their presence, without allowing the use of flashing lights that would otherwise be used on emergency vehicles. SB 288 contained a sunset clause providing that the pilot program would expire on January 1, 2025, unless the General Assembly took action to extend or remove the sunset clause. This Act extends the sunset clause until June 30, 2030. The main reason for the extension is that many motorcycle owners have and are continuing to replace their lights with LED technology... up until 2024 the technology of a modulating device was not available for the LED lights only standard lighting had that option. To be able to better see if the pulsating lighting is effective the pilot program should be extended to adequately gauge what the new LED systems effectiveness is.

This Act requires health spas selling subscription services online to provide a prospective buyer of such a subscription the right to cancel the automatic renewal online. The option to cancel is also to be presented on the website in a clear and conspicuous manner to simplify such cancellation for the buyer.

This bill updates the current law relating to the Spay Neuter Fund and the administration of that fund to make it easier to administer the fund and animal population control programs. Changes have also been made to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act provides legal protections for financial institutions and other entities that provide financial or accounting services to cannabis-related businesses that are licensed or registered under Delaware law. Specifically, it clarifies that banks, credit unions, armored car services, and providers of accounting services are not subject to prosecution under Delaware law merely by providing lawful services to licensed businesses engaged in the production, distribution and sale of cannabis in Delaware. This Act aims to facilitate the operation of cannabis-related businesses by helping to ensure that such businesses have access to necessary financial and accounting services.

This Act requires that Medicaid and State employee health plans cover: (1) ovarian cancer monitoring tests for women treated for ovarian cancer; and (2) annual screening tests for women at risk for ovarian cancer.

This Act provides civil and criminal remedies for the wrongful disclosure of deep fakes that depict individuals in the nude or engaging in sexual conduct. It provides the same remedies as those available under: (1) the Delaware Uniform Civil Remedies for Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Images Act, Chapter 78 of Title 10; and (2) a Violation of Privacy offense under §1335 of Title 11. It further provides that when an adult creates a visual depiction of a minor that is nude or engaging in sexual conduct, the adult would be subject to a felony prosecution, rather than a misdemeanor prosecution.

Like House Bill No. 286, House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 286 prohibits discrimination in life insurance based on genetic characteristics, genetic information, or the result of any genetic test. House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 286 differs from House Bill No. 286 as follows: 1. Provides a definition of “direct-to-consumer genetic testing”. 2. Allows the use of any genetic information that is in an individual's medical record or application for life insurance. 3. Allows a person engaged in the business of life insurance to request that an individual share genetic information from a direct-to-consumer genetic testing or to request that an individual provide written consent for entity to provide that information. 4. Allows an entity that provides direct-to-consumer genetic testing to share information with a person engaged in the business of life insurance but only with the written consent of the individual. 5. Clarifies that a person engaged in the business of life insurance may not do any of the following: a. Require that an individual take a genetic test. b. Require that an individual provide genetic information received from an entity providing direct-to-consumer genetic testing or provide written consent for the entity to provide that information. c. Take into consideration the refusal by an individual to take a genetic test, provide genetic information received from direct-to-consumer genetic testing, or provide written consent to share information from direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Like HB 286, HS 1 for HB 286 also does all of the following: 1. Makes corresponding corrections to § 2317 of Title 18 by revising the heading for clarity and the definition of "insurance" to conform with the terms and definitions used in Title 18. 2. Is known as "The Ericka Byler Act”.