This Act adopts the PA Licensure Compact, which is an interstate occupational licensure compact for physician assistants (PAs). The purpose of the Compact is to strengthen access to medical services and enhance the portability of a license to practice as a physician assistant while safeguarding the safety of patients and complementing the existing authority of state licensing boards to license and discipline physician assistants. Under the Compact, a physician assistant licensed in a Compact member state may obtain a privilege to practice in another Compact member state. Physician assistants using a Compact privilege to practice in another state must adhere to laws and regulations of practice in that state and are under the jurisdiction of the regulatory board of the state in which they are practicing. The Compact contemplates the establishment of a PA Compact Commission, which will consist of one delegate from each member state and will administer the Compact, and a data system, for the purpose of maintaining a coordinated data and reporting system containing licensure, adverse action, and investigative information on licensed physician assistants in participating states. The Compact will take effect on the date of enactment by the seventh state. Currently, 1 state has enacted the Compact and at least 4 states, not including Delaware, are considering legislation to enact the Compact.
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This act would require the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to obtain the consent of the General Assembly before promulgating any regulations restricting the sale of fuel-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs in Delaware. This Act does not change the emission standards fuel-powered vehicles must currently meet. The provisions of this bill would be retroactive to March 1, 2023.
Although lead-based paint is prevalent in many Delaware residences and causes extraordinary neurological damage in children, including seizures, behavioral disorders, developmental delays, and cognitive disabilities, Delaware does not have a comprehensive system to eliminate lead-based paint from those residences where children are still exposed to lead. This Act creates such a system, including: (1) Creating a system by which all properties where a child who is found to have high blood lead levels live are promptly screened for lead-based paint and, where that paint is found, treated to abate or remediate the lead-based paint. (2) Prohibiting landlords of properties where the State has paid for lead-based paint abatement from raising rents on those properties for a period of 3 years. (3) Taking steps to ensure that neither landlords nor local governments present unreasonable delays to the abatement of lead-based paint. (4) Creating a dedicated fund for abatement and remediation of lead-based paint hazards so that all levels of state government can be held accountable for funding lead-based paint abatement efforts. (5) Expanding the duties of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Advisory Committee to include a plan for prompt inspection and, where necessary, abatement or remediation of lead-based paint in all pre-1978 rental properties.
This Act provides state employees 30, rather than 15, days of paid leave per year to attend training camp or serve special duty as ordered by the military reserves or Delaware National Guard.
This statutory addition to Delaware’s Wrongful Death Act will permit the spouse, parents, children, and siblings of a deceased person to recover punitive damages when the actions resulting in the death of another person were maliciously intended or the result of willful or wanton misconduct by the at fault party. Punitive damages are intended to deter the at fault party from future similar conduct and to punish the at fault party for reckless conduct. Presently, an estate can recover punitive damages under a survival action pursuant to 10 Del C. § 3701. A survival action involves the death of an individual as the result of the at fault party where that individual suffers for a period of time before dying. Whereas, a wrongful death action involves the instantaneous death of an individual as the result of the at fault party. This led to cases where the issue of whether a defendant faced punitive damages depended not on the defendant's own actions, but on whether the deceased had suffered long enough for a survival action. This Act also clarifies the definitions of "child" and "parent."
This Act establishes the Office of Legislative Ethics for the General Assembly. The establishment of an Office of Legislative Ethics is necessary to ensure that potential violations of Delaware’s laws or allegations of conflict of interest by the members of the General Assembly are fully investigated. The Board of the Office of Legislative Ethics will be made up of five respected members of the community with expertise in law and legislative ethics who will volunteer to serve. The Office of Legislative Ethics will be headed by an Executive Director who will also serve as the lead investigator. Any member of the public will be able to file a complaint or request the Office of Legislative Ethics to commence an investigation and can do so anonymously. The Act provides for the specific procedures to be followed once the Office of Legislative Ethics receives a complaint or request for investigation. The Act further provides for certain reporting to the General Assembly on a quarterly basis. The Act also adds the Office of Legislative Ethics to Delaware’s whistleblower statute, ensuring that public employees who make a complaint to the Office of Legislative Ethics are afforded the same protections as employees reporting suspected violations to other reporting bodies. Finally, the Act removes the Office of Legislative Ethics and the Office of Legislative Ethics Board from the meaning of “public body” within Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act.
Section 1 of this Act removes domestic service workers from the definition of “employee” in Chapter 9, Title 19 of the Delaware Code pertaining to minimum wage. A domestic service worker who otherwise qualifies as an employee is entitled to a minimum wage under this Act. Section 2 of this Act creates Chapter 9A of Title 19 of the Delaware Code, provides definitions pertaining to domestic work employees, and specifies that such employees are entitled to overtime of at least one and a half times their regular pay for working time that exceeds 8 hours in one day or 40 hours in one week. Section 3 removes individuals who are employed in domestic work to the exception contained in Chapter 23, Title 19 of the Delaware Code pertaining to workers’ compensation. A domestic service worker who otherwise qualifies as an employee rather than a contractor or other non-covered individual under Chapter 23, Title 19 of the Delaware Code is entitled to workers’ compensation coverage under this Act.
This Act clarifies that State building code and other local codes must align with substitute standards for refrigerants as approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency through their federal listing requirements.
This Act increases the number of members of a limited liability corporation who are eligible for exemption from workers compensation reimbursement from four to eight, making the number equal to the number of officers in a traditional corporation who are eligible for exemption.
This Bill is the Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Act.