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 establishes requirements for the handling of treatment records for all of the following health-care providers under Title 24: 1. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (certified nurse practitioners), Chapter 19. 2. Licensees under the Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals, Chapter 30: mental health professional counselors and associate counselors, chemical dependency professionals, marriage and family therapists, professional art therapists. 3. Psychologists, Chapter 35. 4. Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Chapter 39. Under current law, a patient or client does not have a right or clear procedure by which to obtain a copy of their record when one of these practitioners closes a practice, dies, terminates a patient relationship, or is incapacitated. The requirements established under this Act are modeled on the patient record requirements and procedures for physicians and correspond with the changes that would be enacted under House Bill No. 105 (152nd). These requirements and procedures also apply when a patient or client requests copies of their records. Under existing law, the governing boards established under these chapters have authority to promulgate regulations, if necessary, to address intersections between the requirements under this Act and professional codes of ethics. Sections 5 through 8 of this Act make technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and corrects the spelling of the word “health-care” to be consistent throughout these chapters.
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 Act increases the length of time for a valid temporary tag from 60 days to 90 days. This Act also adds a new provision requiring temporary tags be issued through a temporary tag system, approved by the Division of Motor Vehicles, to further reduce fraud in the issuance of temporary tags, unless the Division of Motor Vehicles determines the temporary tag issuer must continue using temporary registration plates.
According to the Mayo Clinic, miscarriages occur in about 20% of all pregnancies, and generally, in the first 12 weeks. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 out of every 100 American pregnancies ends in stillbirth. Black women have a significantly higher risk of miscarrying— 43% higher when compared to white women. Black mothers are also more than twice as likely to experience stillbirth compared to Hispanic and white mothers. This bill provides State employees who suffer a miscarriage, stillbirth or other loss, a maximum of 5 days of paid bereavement leave. This Act shall be known as the "Sloane Hajek Act of 2023".
This Bill allows for the use of green lights on state owned and operated snow removal equipment and vehicles during winter weather operations. Studies have shown green lights are more visible to the traveling public during winter weather conditions.
This legislation establishes a voluntary certification program for 24/7 Emergent Physician Care Centers and is designed to help Delawareans chose the right level of walk-in, medical care. The importance of 24/7 Physician Care Centers in the delivery of urgent and emergent health care services in times of crisis was exhibited during the recent COVID-19 Pandemic. Currently, Delawareans have no assistance in determining the varying levels of services available at urgent care facilities. This legislation creates the category of and defines the minimum level of services necessary for 24/7 Emergent Physician Care Centers. The minimum requirements for 24/7 Emergent Physician Care Centers include being open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, having a Delaware licensed physician and registered nurse on site at all times, providing lab and diagnostic imaging services, providing on-site splinting, fracture care and suturing, and not refusing care to any person due to inability to pay or lack of identification.
This Act eliminates the need to file a lawsuit against a person, who has caused injury with the person's vehicle, when that person's liability insurer has offered the limits of liability coverage to the injured person and the injured person’s underinsured motorist insurer either consents to the settlement or fails to timely reply to the request for permission to settle. The goal of this Act is to have fewer lawsuits filed merely to obtain permission to accept liability insurers' offer to settle a claim. This Act is not intended to require any person to seek permission from an underinsured motorist insurer to resolve a bodily injury claim.
This Act amends the renewal period for obtaining background checks for employees of the Department of Labor who have access to Federal Tax Information. This amendment is necessary to conform to revisions of the federal Internal Revenue Service in Publication 1075, which shortened the renewal period from 10 to 5 years. The language is intended to allow conformity with this and any future revisions to the renewal period.
This resolution recognizes that the compassionate release of incarcerated people—such as elderly individuals experiencing infirmities, in addition to individuals in terminal or severe medical circumstances—can promote individual and community-wide justice while preserving public safety and realizing fiscal efficiencies. The resolution acknowledges the merit of immediately considering early release of all statutorily eligible incarcerated persons and commutation for individuals who would be eligible if Delaware were to have a stronger model of compassionate release, encourages all stakeholders involved in such consideration to assist, and pledges that the General Assembly will explore and consider potential modifications to Delaware’s early-release framework.
