Like Senate Bill No. 4, Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 4 requires the Department of Education (Department) to maintain and publish a list of evidence-based, reading instruction curricula for grades kindergarten through 3. Each curriculum on this list must align with the essential components of literacy, known as the “science of reading” and use high-quality instructional materials. School districts and charter schools must provide an annual report to the Department regarding the implementation of these requirements and the Department must produce an annual report summarizing this information. The information required in the Department’s report may be consolidated into a single report with the requirements under § 158 of Title 14, if House Bill No. 304 is also enacted this year. Like Senate Bill No. 4, Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 4 also requires that by the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year, school districts and charter schools serving students in grades kindergarten through 3 do all of the following: 1. Adopt a reading instruction curriculum from the Department list. 2. Demonstrate that all educators who teach reading successfully complete professional development aligned with the essential components of evidence-based reading instruction. 3. Identify a school-based supervisory position responsible for assisting with the implementation of the adopted curriculum. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 4 differs from Senate Bill No. 4 by doing all of the following: 1. Requires the Department to maintain, on its website, the criteria and rubric used to identify high-quality curriculum. 2. Allows school districts and charter schools to apply to have alternative curriculum that meet these criteria approved. 3. Clarifies the requirements. 4. Adds to the list of positions that are responsible for reading instruction and coaching. 5. Makes technical corrections.
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This Act codifies the principle set forth in Doe v. Bicking, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 43, *32, 2020 WL 374677 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2020) that recognizes that in cases of childhood sexual abuse by an employee of a school, organization, or business that serves or cares for children, the perpetrator often has authority and power over the child victim, which can be enabled by the perpetrator’s position in that institution. If a child is abused while the perpetrator is doing the perpetrator’s job, the employer should be responsible. This Act also changes the standard of culpability from “gross negligence” to “negligence” for public schools in civil claims based on childhood sexual abuse. Children who are sexually abused by private employer employees (e.g. daycare providers, private schools, etc.) have more protection than children abused by their teachers and coaches at public schools. There should be one standard of care that holds schools and businesses equally accountable when their recklessness, inattention, or failure to act causes a student to be sexually abused. This Act seeks to avoid future instances of the result in Bates v. Caesar Rodney Sch. Dist., No. 13, 2021, 2021 Del. LEXIS 315 (Del. Oct. 6, 2021), a case which held that when a student is abused at school by a teacher, the school has no legal responsibility. This Act takes effect 90 days after its enactment into law.
This Act expands the scope of the sexual extortion law to include: a) compelling or inducing another person to produce a visual depiction of the person or another who is nude or who is engaging in sexual conduct, and b) threatening to reproduce, distribute, exhibit, publish, transmit, or otherwise disseminate a visual depiction of a person who is nude, or who is engaging in sexual conduct.
All too often, persons who produce or transmit images of partially nude children cannot be prosecuted under our current statutes because our current statutes only criminalize images of a child engaging in a sexual act or if the child is nude. This bill seeks to remedy this problem by adding “partial nudity” to the definition of “prohibited sexual act”. By doing so, this bill criminalizes the photographing or filming of a partially nude child as well as the production, publication, transmission, selling, distribution, and dissemination of photographs or images of partially nude children if the child in such image or photograph is scantily clothed, posed provocatively, or otherwise posed with the obvious intent to arose, and such image of photograph is intended for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification of any individual who may view such image or photograph. Under this bill, such crime would be a class D felony punishable by up to an 8-year jail sentence.
This bill reflects the reality that “grooming” children for the purpose of committing crimes of sexual violence against them is often preceded by conduct that perpetrators know will make the child particularly susceptible to abuse. The bill requires proof that a person has engaged in three or more specific instances of conduct proscribed by the statute. Each of these predicate acts would not otherwise be considered criminal conduct, so the bill requires proof of a pattern of conduct aimed at a specific outcome. By outlawing “grooming,” the State will be explicitly empowered to stop a predator who engages in certain conduct with the intent to entice, persuade, induce, or coerce a child into participating in a sexual act with the perpetrator. A conviction for “grooming” is a stand-alone offense and is a felony punishable by up to 3 years in jail.
This Act expands Erin's Law to require training and education on issues related to inappropriate relationships between adults and children, such as grooming. Erin's Law requires the Child Protection Accountability Commission and the Division of Family Services of the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families to develop and maintain a curriculum to be used by Delaware's public schools to educate public school employees about personal body safety and child sexual abuse. Erin's Law is named in honor of Erin Merryn, a victim of child sexual abuse, who is working to enact legislation on this subject throughout the country. This act expands Erin's Law in several respects. The Act expands the range of grades that Erin's Law applies to from pre-kindergarten to grade 6 to pre-kindergarten to grade 12. In addition, the Act expands Erin's Law to require training for school employees on the prevention of inappropriate sexual misconduct, the establishment of appropriate adult and student interactions, and the warning signs of suspected adult sexual misconduct, with an emphasis on sexual grooming. It also expands the information available to parents and students to include information on the warning signs of adult sexual misconduct, including the derivative grooming of parents, methods for discussing adult sexual misconduct with students, resources for reporting suspected abuse, and counseling available to students and parents. Finally, the Act requires training and education for school administrators, school nurses, and school counselors on issues relating to inappropriate sexual relationships and grooming, such as strategies for the prevention of such misconduct, skills for responding to student disclosures of such misconduct, and measures to promote school recovery after an incident of such misconduct.
This Act requires each school district and charter school to adopt a policy regarding appropriate relationships between school employees, contractors, coaches, and volunteers and students. The policy must include a provision establishing appropriate and inappropriate interactions; a prohibition against adult sexual misconduct; a prohibition against any sexual relationship between a school employee, contractor, coach, or volunteer and a student; an emphasis on the mandatory reporting obligations under § 903 of Title 16; a procedure for notifying the Department of Education and law enforcement of suspected adult sexual misconduct; guidelines for the preferred and prohibited methods of electronic communication; notice that substantiated incidents of adult sexual misconduct will be reported in future reference checks; and a provision requiring the development of hiring practices to screen for adult sexual misconduct. This Act will be implemented for the 2023-2024 school year.
This Act establishes the Delaware Expanding Access for Retirement and Necessary Saving (“EARNS”) program to serve as a vehicle through which eligible employees may, on a voluntary basis, provide for additional retirement security through a State-facilitated retirement savings program in a convenient, cost effective, and portable manner. The EARNS program will be designed to serve small businesses who are unable to offer retirement plans to employees due to the cost and administrative burden. Because there are documented wealth gaps in Delaware, disproportionately impacting women and people of color, a state-facilitated savings plan aims to alleviate barriers small employers face in offering options, close the wealth gap among low to modest wage earners and keep Delaware competitive with neighboring states by attracting talented workers to Delaware. A state-sponsored savings plan, funded by employees, facilitated by employers, and overseen by the State, will offer one solution to the quickly emerging crises stemming from generations of workers without adequate savings. The Act creates the Delaware EARNS Program Board to oversee initial design and implementation of the program. The board will be disbanded no later than December 31, 2025, at which point all duties and functions of the board will be transferred to and assumed by the Plans Management Board. The effective date of the Act is contingent upon an appropriation by the General Assembly necessary to implement the Program. This Act also makes technical changes to the existing law to make it conform to the standards of the Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act, modeled on similar laws in Virginia and Maryland, requires a health-care provider to provide notice to a patient at the time blood is drawn to perform a laboratory test for Lyme disease that explains the limitations of the test and instructs the patient to see their health-care provider if the patient continues to experience unexplained symptoms. This Act was previously passed by the 150th General Assembly in Senate Bill 15, and is the same except for the removal of the sunset provision.
This Act renames the Human Trafficking Interagency Coordinating Council as the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council (Council) for the purpose of providing a clearer description of the work that the Council performs. This Act also transfers the Council from under the authority of the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to the Criminal Justice Council. DHSS's clerical staffing duty is removed. This Act requires the Council to appoint an Executive Director, who will serve at the Council's pleasure. The Executive Director shall support the Council in carrying out its statutory duties. Subject to the approval of a quorum of the Council and within the limits of any appropriation made by the General Assembly or available funding from another funding source, the Executive Director shall also employ staff and contract for services as necessary to assist the Council with performing its duties. By providing the Council with staff, the Council will be better able to comply with its statutory mandates under Delaware's Human Trafficking law. It will also be able to pursue grant funding opportunities that it previously did not have the infrastructure to support. Additionally, this Act broadens several existing statutory duties of the Council to ensure the Council has the flexibility necessary to perform its work and allows it to pursue work that may broaden opportunity to obtain grant funding. This Act also clarifies that one member of the Council must be an individual with prior experience in working with victims of human trafficking in a legal or advocacy capacity and that this individual may reside in any county. This Act also clarifies how this member must be appointed. This Act adds additional reporting requirements, clarifies that the report is intended to be an annual report, and adds that the report must also be submitted to the Executive Director of the Criminal Justice Council. This Act removes language related to the initial startup of the Council because this language is no longer relevant. This Act also repeals § 787(k)(2)j. of this Title because the paragraph contains language that is no longer relevant. Procedural requirements for Council business are located in § 787(k)(4), so the procedural requirements in § 787(k)(2)j. were moved to § 787(k)(4)b. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including corresponding corrections to internal references in § 787(l) and § 787(m) since paragraphs within § 787(k) have been renumbered. The Council wishes to name this Act for and honor the late Ms. February O’Donnell and the late Ms. Amy Day. Ms. O’Donnell, a human trafficking survivor, and Ms. Day, a victims’ services volunteer who started the nonprofit, Meet Me At The Well, were remarkable women who helped lead the way in Delaware’s fight against human trafficking.