| SB 39 | Signed | Walsh | This Act is the result of the recommendation made by the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee in its review of the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline ("the Board") that the Division of Professional Regulation amend applicable statutes that are outdated and unnecessary, to provide for consistency with § 8735, Title 29 of the Delaware Code, relating to administrative procedures.
Specifically, this Act permits the Board to utilize non-board member medical licensees as coinvestigators when specialties are required to opine on the disciplinary cases, as long as the co-investigator is licensed in the specialty at issue; creates administrative licensure for medical professionals who do not wish to practice medicine but serve as administrators in the state to applicants who meet all qualifications for licensure except active practice hours; removes antiquated language from Title 17 regarding hearing procedures and instead reiterates hearings are conducted pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act; and deletes references to the removed language.
Finally, this Act makes minor modifications to each of the sub-councils organized under the Board, to standardize procedures across each of the five councils. Specifically, the Act add a duty to report unprofessional conduct to Respiratory Care Practitioners, permits the Genetic Counselor Advisory Council and the Regulatory Council for Physician Assistants to waive their quarterly meeting requirement with the approval of the Board; clarifies that temporary licenses may be granted by each of the councils under the signature of the Executive Director and the council chair; and permits council members appointed to fill vacancies to serve out those vacancies, along with two three-year terms.
The language submitted for this Act has not been corrected to conform the Act to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE BOARD OF MEDICAL LICENSURE AND DISCIPLINE. |
| SB 51 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Pettyjohn | This Act clarifies the definition of "subsequent offense" to mean a like offense occurring within 3 years of the former offense. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION DEVICES AND PENALTIES. |
| SB 56 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Bushweller | This bill implements a portion of the federal requirements in the bipartisan Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act to promote greater “normalcy” for youth in foster care. Specifically, it provides a limitation from liability provision for foster parents who exercise the reasonable and prudent parent standard for those youth in their care to allow their participation in age appropriate activities. Section 2523(b) provides certain criteria to determine whether a decision is reasonable and prudent, including: the wishes of the child; the wishes of the child’s parent; best interests of the child; the child’s age, maturity, and any potential risk factors to the child or others; and the appropriateness of the activity and experience for extracurricular, cultural, or social enrichment. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CHILDREN IN DSCYF CUSTODY. |
| SB 59 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Walsh | This Act replaces the current multistate nurse licensure compact with an enhanced version. The enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact allows for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to have one multistate license, with the privilege to practice in their home state and other compact states. Under the enhanced version, all nurses practicing under a multistate license must meet a minimum set of licensure requirements, including a fingerprint federal criminal background check. Nurses who fail to meet these requirements will not be eligible for a multistate license, and multistate privileges will be removed from nurses when disciplinary actions are taken against a home state multistate license. If Delaware fails to enact the enhanced nurse multistate licensure compact, Delaware nurses with current multistate licenses will no longer be permitted to practice in states that have enacted the enhanced version. Currently, 13 states have adopted this enhanced Compact and legislation to adopt it is pending in 15 other states. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO A MULTISTATE NURSE LICENSURE COMPACT. |
| SA 1 to SB 59 | Passed | Walsh | This Amendment repeats the Compact's effective date (lines 445 through 448 of Senate Bill No. 59) to clarify that the current Chapter 19A of Title 24 remains in effect until the new Multistate Nurse Licensure Compact becomes effective. In addition, this Amendment requires the Director of the Division of Professional Regulation to notify the Registrar of Regulations if the Compact becomes effective before December 31, 2018, because 26 states have adopted it. | |
| SB 65 | Signed | McDowell | Conversion therapy is a practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including any effort to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender. Conversion therapy has been rejected by all mainstream medical and mental health organizations, and there is no credible evidence that it is effective. Moreover, this practice poses enormous health risks to LGBTQ youth, including an increased sense of shame, guilt, hopelessness, stress, and anger, thus increasing the risk of anxiety, depression, and self-harm. The harm done by conversion therapy can last well into adulthood.
Therefore, this Act makes it unprofessional conduct or a ground for discipline for individuals granted a certificate to practice medicine under Chapter 17 of Title 24 or licensed under Chapter 19 of Title 24 (regarding nurses), Chapter 30 of Title 24 (regarding mental health and chemical dependency professionals), Chapter 35 of Title 24 (regarding psychologists), and Chapter 39 of Title 24 (regarding clinical social work examiners) to engage in conversion therapy with a child or to refer a child to a practitioner in another jurisdiction to receive conversion therapy. This Act also prevents the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families from engaging in conversion therapy with a child or recommending that a child receive conversion therapy.
Additionally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 24 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONVERSION THERAPY. |
| SA 1 to SB 51 | Passed | Pettyjohn | This Amendment changes the look back period for a subsequent like offense to two years to maintain consistency within Title 21. | |
| SA 1 to SB 56 | Passed | Bushweller | This amendment strikes the heightened gross or wanton negligence language from the original bill, but still protects from liability foster parents who exercise the reasonable and prudent parent standard when allowing the foster children placed in their care to participate in appropriate activities and experiences, so long as the foster parent has received the prudent parent training. | |
| HCR 29 | Passed | Schwartzkopf | This concurrent resolution thanks the Career and Technical Student Organizations for their presentation of geraniums. This concurrent resolution also extends the General Assembly's best wishes for continued success to these exemplary students. | EXTENDING SINCERE THANKS TO THE CAREER AND TECHNICAL STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS OF DELAWARE FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE BEAUTIFUL GERANIUMS AND EXTENDING BEST WISHES FOR MUCH SUCCESS TO EACH OF THESE EXEMPLARY STUDENTS. |
