Sen. Jack Walsh

This Act allows for juniors and seniors majoring in education at a Delaware college or university to be paid $83 per day as substitute teachers, the same rate paid to those who hold a bachelor's degree but not a teaching license. This will encourage education students to gain some field experience, while also incentivizing a larger pool of potential substitute teachers to address a growing difficulty in finding qualified, reliable substitute teachers for our schools.

Enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act amended the Individuals with Disability Education Act (“IDEA”) by mandating that special education teachers must have obtained full certification and may not be working under emergency certifications. The Delaware Department of Education must stop issuing emergency certifications in special education in order for for the State to continue receiving $36 million in federal IDEA funding for our schools. This Act creates a mechanism that is in compliance with federal requirements to enable educators to obtain a certificate of eligibility in the areas of special education. Educators will be able to meet federal requirements while being enrolled in an approved, alternative routes to certification program. This Act will allow local education agencies to staff special education classrooms while ensuring the educators are receiving high quality training working toward their standard certificate in the appropriate area of special education. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act restores the Delaware Prescription Drug Payment Assistance Program which was eliminated in the Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Appropriations Act.

This Act permits a county and the State to intercept payments to landlords from the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Trust Fund to collect debts.

This Act enhances penalties for drivers who cause serious physical injury, as defined in § 222 of Title 11, to a vulnerable user, as defined in this Act. For a person to be guilty under this Act, the injured vulnerable user must be lawfully using a highway, defined in § 101 of Title 29 as "the entire width between boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature open to the use of the public as a matter of right for purposes of vehicular travel . . . ." This Act also expands the circumstances in which a driver is criminally liable from violations of the careless or inattentive driving law to any violation of the rules of the road, Chapter 41 of Title 21, that result for a serious physical injury to a vulnerable user. Finally, this Act gives Superior Court jurisdiction over these violations due to the serious nature of the injuries required to be suffered by a vulnerable user.

This Act clarifies the authority of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee ("Committee") to hold over entities unless or until certain conditions are met or modifications are made. This Act also provides the authority for the Committee to recall an entity that has been released from review when the entity has the ability to meet the recommended condition or make the modification but has failed to do so, or when the Committee recommended legislation to amend an entity's governing statute or a related statute, but the legislation fails to be enacted for any reason. If the Committee recalls an entity, it may recommend any of the options available in subsection (a) of this section.

This Act will improve guidelines for training by school districts and charters as it pertains to School Resource Officers (SRO), their duties and training when interacting with students with disabilities. The limitations and prohibitions described in this section are in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other constitutional, statutory, or regulatory rights otherwise conferred by federal or state law or regulation.

This bill creates a requirement that all public high schools, including charter schools, shall offer at least one computer science course at the high school level by the 2020-2021 school year. Also, this bill creates a requirement that, by the 2018-2019 school year, a computer science course may satisfy one year of the total credit requirement in mathematics, excluding Algebra I, Geometry, or Algebra II or the equivalent courses. The State Board of Education shall develop guidelines addressing how computer science courses can satisfy graduation requirements.

This bill will remove the requirement for signatures to be in pen and ink when provided for driver license, identification card, or registration application processes. Removing this provision enables the Division of Motor Vehicles to develop more efficient means of serving customers including expanding online services.

This Act fulfills recommendations made by the Joint Legislative Overview and Sunset Committee (“JLOSC”) by making amendments to the State Human Relations Commission’s (“the Commission”) governing statute. First, this Act changes the number of members on the Commission to a more manageable number, 18 members, and adjusts appointment language accordingly, including providing for staggered appointments so that members’ terms do not expire all at the same time. To provide the Commission with sufficient time to reorganize itself with the new number of members, Section 1 of this Act takes effect 1 year after the date of enactment. Next, this Act adds several provisions that are administrative in nature: defining the Commission’s quorum and requiring quorum to meet and conduct business; language standard to boards and commissions regarding the removal of members for gross inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance; and technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Finally, this Act fulfills the JLOSC recommendation that the Commission’s governing statute include reference to its duties under other chapters of the Delaware Code. Current Delaware law provides that the Commission has duties under Chapters 45 and 46 of Title 6, the Equal Accommodation Act and Fair Housing Act, respectively. Senate Bill No. 49 (“SB 49”) of the 149th General Assembly, however, if enacted, will create a new Chapter 78 in Title 6, under which the Commission will have duties related to Homeless Individuals’ Bill of Rights. In order to accommodate the possibility of a new chapter in Title 6 which should be referenced in the Commission’s governing statute, §§ 3004 and 3005 have been drafted as two versions. The first version of each, Sections 4 and 6, include references to the new Chapter 78, while the second version of each, Sections 5 and 7, do not. Therefore, Section 10 of this Act provides that Sections 4 and 6 take effect if SB 49 is enacted during this General Assembly, and Sections 5 and 7 take effect if SB 49 is not enacted during this General Assembly.