Sen. Dave Sokola

This Act clarifies former HB 148 from the 151st General Assembly by defining the start and end date of the 4 year lookback period that determines if a municipality, governmental unit, the University of Delaware, or Delaware State University is subject to reimbursement for an employee’s training expenses when the employee is hired by another municipality, governmental unit, the University of Delaware, or Delaware State University.

This Act requires Family Court to award possession and provide for the care of companion animals when dividing marital property after considering the well-being of the companion animal. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution proclaims the month of October 2023 as “Depression Awareness Month” in the State of Delaware.

This concurrent resolution recognizes the month of June 2023 as Caribbean American Heritage Month in the State of Delaware.

This bill modernizes the First State Quality Improvement Fund (FSQIF) Act, using language from the field of continuous improvement and operational excellence to align with current industry accepted practices. This bill provides improved accountability for the management of FSQIF training programs with the inclusion of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) program team in partnership with the Department of Human Resources in establishing and maintaining rules and regulations for the use of the fund. This bill also establishes a data driven mechanism to allow the Joint Finance Committee to measure the return on investment of the fund on an annual basis.

This concurrent resolution recognizes and honors the young women of Delaware participating in the 2023 session of Delaware Girls State.

This bill allows pensioners to earn $50,000 (instead of $40,000) before incurring a $1.00 deduction to their state pension for every $2.00 earned over that amount.

This resolution recognizes June 2023 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month and urges all Delawareans to wear purple to help spread awareness of Alzheimer's and all other dementia.

This bill updates the State’s charter school law to codify the original intent of charter schools to encourage the use of different and innovative or proven school environments and teaching and learning methods; provide parents and students with measures of improved school and student performance and greater opportunities in choosing public schools within and outside their school districts; and to provide for a well-educated community. The substitute bill creates new subsections in Section 507(c) of Title 14 of the Delaware Code to define the licensure and certification requirements more clearly within Chapter 5 of Title 14 and provides for the ability to hire the leaders and staff that they deem beneficial to the success of the school’s educational program and the needs of students and staff. There are multiple pathways that people can travel to get to their administrative positions and all of their experiences on their journey are beneficial to the education and success of Delaware’s children. To that end, the substitute bill also defines “Instructional Administrator” at a charter school and the necessary experience and education required. It also directs the Department of Education to work with the Professional Standards Board and the Delaware Charter Schools Network to provide for the implementation of regulations for current and future Instructional Administrators in accordance with this bill. This will require modifications to Regulation 1596 Charter School Leader to make corresponding changes to align with the substitute bill if passed and signed into law. The Department of Education will also work with the Charter Schools Network to develop a “qualified alternative certification program” to provide flexibility for charter schools to hire Instructional Administrators working towards the required licensure and certification.

This Act increases funding for preschool children with disabilities who are not counted in either "intensive" or "complex" special education units by revising the current ratio of 12.8 students per unit to 8.4 students per unit for preschool children included in the basic unit count. This is the same ratio in effect as of July 1, 2023, for K-3 basic special education. The Act also consolidates the K-3 Basic Special Education Unit with the 4-12 Basic Special Education Unit as the ratio is the same for each group as of July 1, 2023. This substitute bill is different from original HB33 in that it omits the “Preschool 2 Basic Special Education Unit.” The preschool funding change is effective July 1, 2023.