This Act would move the 2024 presidential primary election for major political parties from the fourth Tuesday in April to the first Tuesday of April.
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 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.
Speeding is a contributing factor in many serious injury motor vehicle crashes and roadway fatalities. This Act adds operating a motor vehicle at a speed of 90 miles an hour or more to the definition of reckless driving.
This Act requires drivers to change lanes or reduce their speed while approaching a stationary vehicle displaying warning signals, including vehicle hazard warning lights, road flares, traffic cones, cautions signs, or any non-vehicular warning signs.
Currently, every adult operating or riding as a passenger on a motorcycle is required to have a helmet in their possession and wear eye protection while operating or riding a motorcycle and every person up to 19 years of age must wear a helmet and eye protection. This Act requires that everyone who obtains a new endorsement for a motorcycle on or after the effective date of this Act, or someone riding with the newly endorsed person, to wear a helmet and eye protection for the first 2 years after the newly endorsed person receives the endorsement. In 2022, Delaware experienced 10 motorcycle fatalities where the rider was not wearing a helmet. Over the last 5 years, among crashes involving a Delaware licensed motorcycle rider, 25% of fatal and serious injury crashes involved a rider in their first 2 years of having a motorcycle endorsement. Helmets and eye protection are already required for those operating with a temporary motorcycle instruction permit as required under § 2703 of Title 21 of the Delaware Code and no passengers are allowed. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia currently require all motorcyclists to wear a helmet. According to research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helmets are highly effective in protecting motorcycle riders’ heads in crashes and significantly reduce deaths and serious head injuries in crashes. This Act creates a civil penalty for violation of the helmet law, both the existing law and the law created by this Act.
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 Act does all of the following: (1) Creates a Director of Classification/Compensation and Talent Acquisition and a Director of Training and Human Resource Solutions. (2) Changes the name of the Director of Personnel Management to Director of Talent Management. (3) Directs the Director of Talent Management to assume a central leadership role for the development and maintenance of the Department of Human Resources. (4) Renames the Division of Diversity and Inclusion to the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. (5) Renames the Division of Labor Relations and Employment Practices to the Division of Employee and Labor Relations. (6) Renames the Division of Statewide Benefits to The Division of Statewide Benefits and Insurance Coverage. (7) Removes references to the Blood Bank due to lack of State participation with the program. (8) Increases membership within the Commission for Women and the Delaware Women's Hall of Fame Committee. (9) Expands the duties and role of the Delaware Commission for Women to subsume the responsibilities of the Delaware Women's Workforce Council. (10) Removes the statutory language creating the Delaware Women's Workforce Council. (11) Establishes The Division of Classification/Compensation and Talent Acquisition and the Division of Training and Human Resources Solutions with its associated powers, duties, and functions. (12) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
