Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos

Sections 1 and 2 of this Act identify DHIN as the State’s sanctioned provider of Health Data Utility (HDU) services. The HDU concept arises and builds off of services provided by Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) such as DHIN. Including this language will align with DHIN’s development and assist the State in responding to federal and other grant funding opportunities that require or prefer collaboration with a sanctioned HDU. Section 2 of this Act is a clarifying provision that states DHIN’s ability to contract with organizations in furtherance of its mission in business arrangements that facilitate DHIN’s underlying mission, notwithstanding that those organizations may provide services (such as direct provision of treatment to patients) that DHIN does not directly provide under this chapter. It also makes a technical change to align the list of stakeholders identified with lists that appear elsewhere in the statute. Section 3 of this Act aligns DHIN’s use cases more clearly with the requirements of federal law that relate to using health data for analytic and research purposes, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Federal Policy for Protection of Human Subjects (the Common Rule) and makes a technical correction to a description of DHIN processes. This change will also ensure consistency between permitted uses of claims data for research purposes and permitted uses of clinical data. Sections 4 and 5 clarify DHIN’s ability to incorporate clinically relevant information into a patient’s longitudinal record, excluding pricing information, for access as permitted by the laws and regulations governing DHIN’s HIE services. This clarification ensures patients will have access to the clinical information included in claims data for their own uses. Section 5 makes a technical correction to recognize that DHIN’s enabling legislation and applicable federal law do not permit DHIN to “report” data to the public that would be suitable for the public health improvement research and activities purposes designed to be encouraged by that section, and clarifies that the identified agencies will have access to the standardized claims data sets curated by DHIN from the Delaware Health Care Claims Database as otherwise permitted under this statute at no cost.

This Act expands the use of green lights to include vehicles and equipment used for road construction and maintenance activities. Other states have already expanded their laws to allow green lights on these types of vehicles and equipment in addition to snow plows. This Act removes potential confusion over whether those lights may be operated in Delaware.

This Act seeks to address the undue burden placed on individuals who are required to surrender their driver's license due to a medical condition. Under current law, individuals must physically surrender their license, often during already traumatic circumstances, and are then, in some cases, required to purchase a separate identification card to maintain a valid form of ID during the suspension period. This Act allows a medically disqualified individual to retain the individual's physical driver’s license for identification purposes by signing an affidavit acknowledging the individual is prohibited from operating a motor vehicle. This approach balances public safety with compassion, streamlines administrative processes, and eliminates unnecessary costs for affected individuals. This Act also makes technical corrections to existing law to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act requires that a hospital create a discharge plan if a pregnant patient who is experiencing signs or symptoms consistent with labor is discharged before delivery. This requirement to create a discharge plan applies to patients discharged from either in-patient treatment or observation status and must contain all of the following: 1. Aftercare instructions and guidelines and that these instructions and guidelines were explained to the patient, patient’s agent, or patient’s lay caregiver. 2. An assessment of travel distance and time between the primary residence of the patient and the hospital. 3. Verification of reliable transportation between the primary residence of the patient and the hospital. 4. Identification of a back-up hospital or facility at which the patient may obtain labor and delivery services. This Act is modeled on the Women Expansion of Learning and Labor Safety or WELLS Act, H.R. 7830, which was introduced in Congress on March 5, 2026. The WELLS Act is named after Mercedes Wells, a Black woman who was forced to give birth on the side of the road minutes after being discharged from a hospital while in active labor. Under existing law, Chapter 30J of Title 16 provides discharge planning requirements when a patient is being discharged home after admission to a hospital. The requirements under this Act are in addition to, but can be combined with, these existing discharge planning requirements if the patient being discharged is pregnant and experiencing signs or symptoms consistent with labor. This Act also renames and reorganizes Chapter 30J of Title 16 by making existing law Subchapter I and creating a new Subchapter II with the requirements under this Act. As such, this Act makes corresponding changes to existing law to change references to Chapter 30J to the new subchapter.

Currently, if a licensed Delaware attorney pays off a mortgage in conjunction with a real-estate settlement and the lender fails to file a satisfaction piece within 60 days, the attorney may administratively satisfy that mortgage to clear the title record. Unfortunately, often other types of liens that are paid off remain unsatisfied and cloud title for the homeowner. This Act clarifies that a licensed Delaware attorney may also file an administrative satisfaction or partial release for any other type of lien that the Delaware attorney paid off.

This Act prohibits state agencies, counties, and municipalities from entering into nondisclosure agreements that would restrict the public from accessing information about potential or actual large-scale data center development in this State. Large-scale data centers, defined in this Act as data centers that use or are capable of using 100 megawatts of power or more, can pose significant challenges for the communities in which they are located. When nondisclosure agreements are used to shield information about proposed or planned data centers from the public, it deprives those communities of the opportunity to understand and respond to issues that directly affect them.

This Act requires that when all or part of the tenant’s rent is paid from a state fund for reentry services, a landlord must assist the tenant in completing a discharge plan to attempt to provide a warm handoff before terminating the tenant’s lease. This Act also closes a loophole in existing law that allows unlicensed or uncertified operators of residential housing to claim exemption from the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, including the procedural requirements for an eviction. Existing laws prohibit someone from losing their housing without notice because • A landlord must comply with the notice and judicial procedure under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Part III, Title 25. • Licensed health care providers must provide discharge planning before an individual is required to leave a residential treatment program under § 1127, § 5161, and § 3004J of Title 16. • Certified recovery homes must make a reasonable effort to connect a resident with appropriate services when terminating the resident’s admission agreement under § 2206A of Title 16. Section 1 of this Act closes a loophole in current law that allows some landlords to claim their tenants are excluded under § 5102(1) of Title 25 from the protections required before eviction under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code without being required to provide discharge planning or connecting the resident with appropriate services. This Act revises 3 of the exclusions by using the modern terms and where possible, the applicable licensing law for this State, to prevent housing providers from claiming exclusion from the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code even if the provider is not licensed or certified to provide services. This Act does not apply to or revise the exclusions to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code under paragraphs (4) through (6) of § 5102 of Title 25, including the existing exclusion for certified recovery houses. Section 2 of this Act creates new requirements under § 5512A of Title 25 if all or part of a tenant’s rent is paid using money from a State reentry fund. Before or with the first payment, the person responsible for payments from the fund must provide the landlord with an explanation of these requirements, contact information, and the model discharge plan. The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), in consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ), must create a model discharge plan. Then, before terminating the tenant’s lease, the landlord must assist the individual in creating a discharge plan that includes shelter or housing and provide notice that the tenant’s lease is being terminated as follows: • To the person making rent payments from the fund. • If the landlord knows that the tenant is under the supervision of the Department of Correction, to the Department of Correction and the local law enforcement agency. If a landlord fails to comply with the discharge planning and notice requirements, the landlord is debarred from receiving payments from any State reentry fund for 1 year. If the landlord is receiving payments from a State reentry fund for any other tenants, those tenants are not responsible for the share of the rent that was paid by the fund and have the option to do any of the following: • Continue the tenancy without payments from the fund. If the tenant chooses to continue their tenancy, the amount of their rent becomes the tenant’s share of the rent, calculated by subtracting the amount paid by the fund from the total rent under the rental agreement. • Terminate the lease immediately. • Terminate the lease with 30 to 60 days notice. These requirements are enforceable by the Department of Justice and also by the Justice of the Peace Court, because the contents of an eviction complaint must include a brief statement of compliance with the requirements under § 5512A(c) and copies of all required notices. Section 3 of this Act is a technical clarification to clarify that “this Code” and “Landlord-Tenant Code” both refer to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code under Part III of this title. Both “this Code” and “Landlord-Tenant Code” are used throughout Chapter 51 through Chapter 59 of Title 25 as abbreviations of the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code and under § 101 of Title 1, “this Code” could also refer to the entire Delaware Code. Section 4 of this Act makes the new requirements for reentry funds under § 5512A of Title 25 applicable to the rental of single rooms in owner-occupied buildings under § 5512 of Title 25. Section 4 also reorganizes the existing language in § 5512 because as 1 sentence, the current language is difficult to understand. This Act takes effect 6 months after enactment to provide time for DHSS and DOJ to develop the model discharge plan and for agencies, including the Department of Correction and local law enforcement agencies, to develop policies and procedures necessary to implement and respond to notification under these requirements. The new requirements under § 5512A of Title 25 apply to rental agreements entered into on or after the effective date of this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act is known as “The Grace Peterson Act”.

Net crediting is the preferred utility consolidated billing methodology for Delmarva Power and Light as it has already been successfully implemented in Atlantic City Electric, Pepco Maryland, and Delmarva Maryland jurisdictions. Net crediting delivers a simpler, more transparent experience for both subscribers and subscription coordinators by netting subscription charges from monthly credits on behalf of the subscribers, who receive the net credit. Then, the utility aggregates those subscription charges on behalf of the subscription coordinators, who receive a payment from Delmarva. Net crediting marries the concept of world class customer experience with market scalability, while also being the lowest risk option for Delmarva's customers.

Enacted in 2015, Chapter 25A of Title 16, the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment Act created a voluntary process and a document that can used by patients with serious illness or frailty to provide direction to emergency care personnel regarding the patient's preferences in regard to scope of care and treatment. This Act changes the name "Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (DMOST)" under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to "Delaware Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)" to align with the national effort to create a uniform form. This Act contains a savings provision so that the name change under this Act does not affect the validity or effect of DMOST forms. This Act also revises Chapter 25A of Title 16 as follows: • Repeals requirements that conflict with the national model law regarding a patient’s ability to limit the future authority of the patient’s authorized representative to modify the orders in the patient’s POLST form. • Allows any health-care practitioner authorized under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to complete a POLST form to find that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. Under existing law, all practitioners who are licensed and authorized to write medical orders under Title 24 may complete POLST forms but only physicians can determine that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. This change is consistent with the capacity provisions under Chapter 25 of Title 16, the recently enacted Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act. • Requires that a health-care practitioner document their finding that a patient lacks decision-making capacity in the patient’s medical record. • Clarifies the existing requirement that a patient’s authorized representative may not execute a POLST form for a patient unless the patient’s lack of decision-making capacity is documented in the patient’s medical record. Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including corresponding name changes to other Code sections that reference the DMOST form. In § 2718(c)(5) of Title 21, the name for an advance health-care directive under Chapter 25 of Title 16 is also corrected.

This Act updates § 503 of Title 13 by replacing the outdated term “poor person” with the term, “a person unable to financially support oneself”. This language change is a technical change to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. In addition, this Act clarifies that § 503 of the Title 13, relating to the duty to support a person unable to financially support oneself (formerly “poor person”), includes the duty to a support an adult child with a disability that cannot support oneself. This duty is articulated in H. v. V., 2018 Del. Fam. Ct. LEXIS 4, where the Family Court found that a parent of a 22 year-old adult child diagnosed with severe autism was statutorily obligated to provide support to the adult child.