Sen. Kyle Gay

This bill is the Community Workforce Agreement Act. It requires that all large public works construction projects, utilizing state funds, are to be governed by a Community Workforce Agreement with labor organizations engaged in the construction industry to provide structure and stability and promote efficient completion.

This Act is a result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee's ("JLOSC") review of Adult Protective Services ("APS"). In the process of the review, and with APS's agreement, JLOSC recommended eliminating the Adult Protective Services Advisory Council under § 3903 of Title 31 and absorbing that council's role into the Council on Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities. This Act makes the required changes to the Council on Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities. The APS Advisory Council is removed from Title 31 in separate legislation. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill does all of the following relating to the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. First, it adds the Chief Magistrate of the Justice of the Peace Court to the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. Second, it removes the limitations on the use of voting by proxy by members of the Council. These limitations are unnecessary because § 2104(f) provides that the Council promulgate rules of procedure governing its operations so long as they are in accordance with Chapters 100 and 101 of Title 29. Thus, the Council, not the statute, should determine the rules necessary to govern its own operations. Finally, the bill adds the Fatal Incident Review Team of the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council to the list of entities that are entitled to receive protected health information without informed consent. The protected health information at issue is essential for the Fatal Incident Review Team to review. Due to federal law, certain providers are prohibited from providing such information even with a subpoena. However, these providers can provide the protected health information if the statute specifically permits such protected health information to be disclosed without informed consent.

The Bill expands the availability of free feminine hygiene products at all public and charter schools.

This Act requires Delaware to use the Wireless Emergency Alert (“WEA”) system to notify the public of emergency alerts and requires that the emergency alert system be used when a catastrophic release occurs. A catastrophic release is a major uncontrolled emission, fire, or explosion that presents an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health. This Act also requires that emergency alerts be broadcast in Spanish, in addition to English, when possible. The WEA system is a federal public safety system, currently used by the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA), that allows customers who own mobile devices to receive geographically targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. Delaware still uses reverse 911 notifications to landline phones for environmental hazards, but only 6.5% of U.S. households use landlines as their only form of phone communication. In contrast, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that during the first 6 months of 2020, 62.5% of adults and 73.8% of children lived in wireless-only households. To ensure that Delaware’s cell phone users receive WEA alerts, DEMA asked cell phone users to manually register their cell phones with the Delaware Emergency Notification System ("DENS") to receive WEA notifications. After numerous years of marketing campaigns, and encouragement from public officials, private entities, and advocacy groups, only 3% of Delawareans have manually registered their cell phones with the Delaware Emergency Notification System to receive wireless emergency alerts. In addition, because the WEA system targets geographic areas, emergency alerts are sent to all wireless devices with service provided by participating carriers. Thus, emergency alerts are provided to wireless devices in the geographic area affected by the hazard, regardless of whether people register their phones, live in the area, or have phone numbers with a local area code. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This resolution congratulates the class 2021 Eagle Scouts for having attained the highest rank one can earn in the Boy Scouts of America.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming more and more popular. Between 2012 and 2016, EV sales grew at an annual rate 32%. In 2017, growth in sales reached 45%. Batteries for EVs have become much cheaper in the last 10 years, enabling EVs to compete with traditional, fossil-fueled vehicles. In addition, major vehicle manufacturers are pledging to go all electric. Some researchers are predicting that EV sales will outnumber those of traditional, combustion engine vehicles by 2040. However, only minimal electrical charging infrastructure is available today. Like Senate Bill No. 187, this Substitute will make it easier and more convenient to own an electric vehicle in this State in the years to come, resulting in increased purchases of electric vehicles, promoting cleaner air and water, and resulting in improved health outcomes for Delawareans and a reduction of greenhouse gases to curtail global warming. Specifically, like Senate Bill No. 187, this Substitute achieves these ends by requiring municipalities with a population of 30,000 or more to develop a procedure to obtain permission for the installation of an electric vehicle charging station on real property zoned for residential use that abuts a residential street. This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 187 as follows: (1) By removing the requirement that an ordinance adopted by a municipality establish the qualifications required by the licensed electrician who installs an electric vehicle charging station. (2) By clarifying that a municipality may not require an individual owner of real property to install an electric vehicle charging station for another person, including a tenant, guest, or customer, unless the requirement is adopted as part of a municipal zoning or building code that is of general applicability. This Substitute Act 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 municipal charter, whether directly, by amendment to a specific municipality’s charter, or, as in this Act, indirectly, by a general law.

Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) was intended to create a State-wide and generally applicable standard for citizens’ access to public records and to further the accountability of government to the citizens of this State. To ensure consistency in the processing of requests for public records, and to ensure the goals of FOIA are being realized, this bill amends earlier-enacted provisions in the Delaware Insurance Code and Administrative Procedures Act related to public inspection of State agency documents to incorporate by reference the requirements of the later-enacted FOIA statute.

This Act, known as the Delaware Climate Change Solutions Act, follows the issuance of Delaware’s Climate Action Plan in 2021, and establishes a statutory requirement of greenhouse gas emissions reductions over the medium and long term to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions on the State, establishing a mandatory and regularly updated plan to achieve those emissions reductions and develop resilience strategies for the State, and requires State agencies to address climate change in decision-making and rulemaking.

This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the regular session of the General Assembly from extending beyond 5:00 p.m. on the last day of June, unless the session is recalled by the Governor or the presiding officers of both Houses. This changes the time beyond which a regular session of the General Assembly may not extend from midnight on June 30 to 5:00 p.m., which changes the time at which the presiding officers of both Houses must act to recall the General Assembly into special session. This means the General Assembly no longer has to remain in session until midnight to recall itself into special session. This Act does not change the date of or process for “final adjournment,” as defined in Opinion of the Justices, 175 A.2d 543, 545 (Del. 1961) (“‘[F]inal adjournment’ . . . means the adjournment sine die of the second regular session, or, in the absence of such adjournment, the extinguishment of the particular General Assembly by reason of expiration of the terms of office of the members.”). In addition, this Act contemplates that each House will continue its traditional practice of recessing to the call of the chair. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution.