| SB 7 w/ HA 1 | Signed | McDowell | This Act provides county and municipal police and firefighters with the same pension burial benefit that is provided to state employees effective July 1, 2016. This Act is named for Wilmington Firefighters Captain Christopher M. Leach, Lieutenant Jerry W. Fickes, and Lieutenant Ardythe D. Hope, who lost their lives fighting a house fire on September 24, 2016. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL POLICE/FIREFIGHTER PENSION PLAN. |
| SB 11 w/ HA 1 | Signed | McDowell | This Act relates to police and fire pension funds created under Title 18 of the Delaware Code. The General Assembly created a special fund in the hopes of ensuring adequate pensions for affected police officers and firefighters, and their surviving spouses. This has not come to pass with regard to all pensions, however. By way of example only, the average surviving spouse in the Wilmington Police and Fire retirement plan receives a pension of only $10,080, which is $1,090 dollars below the 2012 poverty level. Moreover, there have been only five disbursements under the special fund in its 48 year history. To address this, the Act would allow for an additional manner of providing distributions from the related special fund established for Police and Fire pensions. Specifically, disbursements from the fund to be made under this Act would be biennial and structured in 3 categories. The 3 categories are based upon length of retirement and whether the eligible individual is a surviving spouse or receiving a disability pension. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SPECIAL FUNDS. |
| SB 113 w/ SA 1, SA 2, SA 5, SA 4 | Signed | McDowell | This bill authorizes the creation of a Delaware Voluntary Property Assessed Clean Energy (D-PACE) program to establish a clean energy financing program for the installation of energy efficiency technologies and clean energy systems for qualifying commercial real properties statewide. PACE programs are authorized in more than 30 states nationwide. The financing will be secured by and payable from a voluntary assessment imposed on the property benefited by the qualifying energy improvement. The bill calls upon the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) to administer the program and establish a statewide financing program to aid counties in expanding clean energy projects in their jurisdictions. Projects under D-PACE can be financed through the SEU or other participating financial institutions. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO A DELAWARE VOLUNTARY CLEAN ENERGY FINANCING PROGRAM THROUGH LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSESSMENTS. |
| HB 292 | Signed | Jaques | This Act implements the recommendations of the March 2105 Autism Educational Task Force report regarding § 1332 of Title 14, the Program for Children with Autism and its Special Staff. Enacted nearly three decades ago, this law established a network of educational programs initially within a separate school structure known as The Delaware Autism Program (DAP). Today, this network continues as a combination of both separate school programs and within local school district support services.
However, the current model does not reflect current practices in special education, especially regarding inclusive education, and parents’ desire to have their children educated in their local communities. In addition, the increase in students with an educational classification of autism spectrum disorder (“ASD”) has made it difficult for the Statewide Director to provide the level of services and support that once was offered.
This Act establishes the qualifications and duties of the Statewide Director and enhances the current mandatory committee structure to include a Parent Advisory Committee, in addition to the Peer Review Committee and Statewide Monitoring Review Board, to increase family input, monitoring, and protections.
This Act creates a 3 year pilot program that revises the concept of DAP toward a system in which the statewide Director will work in collaboration with a team of experts to provide technical assistance and training to districts and educational entities. It allows for and provides adequate resources for all students with ASD in Delaware by eliminating the distinction between DAP-approved programs and other in-district options and by providing in-state experts at a lower cost than out-of-state residential treatment and consultants. The pilot program created under this Act makes changes that recognize and support the need for specialized technical assistance and training staff to be available to build capacity for teachers in all districts and other programs educating students with ASD. These changes expand available supports so that excellent, evidence-based training and technical assistance can be made available to all Delaware schools and the students who attend them. The pilot program created under this Act establishes a technical assistance team of educational autism specialists numbering a ratio of 1 for every 100 students (currently estimated at 15 positions).
The fiscal mechanism to support the pilot program will be accomplished through mandated district participation that is consistent with the current needs-based funding system in Delaware and by redirecting state spending towards lower cost, community-based supports from out-of-state residential placements. The number of training specialists will be phased in over several years or until the pilot program ends.
Finally, this Act is known as "The Alex Eldreth Autism Education Law" in memory Alex Eldreth, who passed away unexpectedly on November 24, 2017, and his dedication to this work. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SERVICES FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER. |
| HB 298 | Signed | Postles | This bill creates a special license plate for honorably discharged veterans of the United States military. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SPECIAL LICENSE OR REGISTRATION PLATES. |
| HB 332 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Bolden | This bill mandates reporting by certain employees of broker-dealer or investment adviser firms who have a reasonable belief that financial exploitation of an eligible adult has occurred, been attempted, or will be attempted. Reporting will be to both the Investor Protection Director and the Department of Health and Social Services. It also enables broker-dealers and investment advisers to delay disbursement from an account of an eligible adult where financial exploitation is suspected.
This also includes definitions of “eligible adult,” “financial exploitation” and “qualified individual” to be inserted into the Securities Act.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 6 AND 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION. |
| SB 157 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Townsend | Expedited partner therapy (EPT) is the clinical practice of treating the sex partners of patients diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease without clinical assessment of the partners. In August 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended EPT as an evidence-based option to manage chlamydial infection and gonorrhea by treating index patient’s sex partners to prevent reinfection and curtail further transmission. As of July 2017, EPT is permissible in 41 states.
This Act makes EPT clearly permissible in Delaware and requires that health care professionals provide information developed by the Department of Health & Social Services when providing EPT. This Act provides immunity to health care practitioners and pharmacists acting in compliance with the statute and also provides immunity to health care practitioners who do not provide EPT and pharmacists who do not fill a prescription written under this statute if doing so would violate any of the laws that govern pharmacies and pharmacists.
This Act also makes technical corrections to the definitions section to correct a reference and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EXPEDITED PARTNER THERAPY. |
| HB 368 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Viola | This Act creates the Green Alert Program to aid in locating missing members of the armed forces, including veterans, who have a physical or mental health condition that is related to their service. This Act is modeled after Delaware’s existing Gold Alert and Blue Alert Programs. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE GREEN ALERT PROGRAM FOR CERTAIN MISSING PERSONS. |
| SB 172 w/ SA 1 + HA 2 | Signed | Sokola | This bill will increase the public transparency of education funding information by directing the Department of Education to:
1. Establish, in collaboration with stakeholders, a statewide approach for districts and charter schools for reporting expenditures at the school level and the school’s share of central office expenditures so that per-pupil expenditure data is consistent and comparable across the State.
2. Report per-pupil expenditure data with key information that provide context on differences in funding such as school type, student demographics, and student outcomes.
3. Provide optional trainings to increase understanding of the data.
As a result, this bill is intended to enable all taxpayers, parents, and schools to understand their school spending and resources in order to make data-driven decisions for students.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL FUNDING TRANSPARENCY. |
| HB 374 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Schwartzkopf | This bill adds glaucoma, chronic debilitating migraines, pediatric autism spectrum disorder, pediatric sensory processing disorder to the list of debilitating medical conditions which may qualify a person, upon certification by a physician, to be eligible for the use of medical marijuana in accordance with the terms of the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT. |
| HB 380 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Schwartzkopf | This bill allows first-time home buyers to pay their portion of the realty transfer tax at the rate that was in effect prior to the increase that took effect on August 1, 2017. The credit is calculated as 0.5% of the first $400,000 in home value, with a maximum allowable credit of $2,000. This legislation is retroactive for any first-time home buyer who entered into a transaction for the transfer of real estate on or after August 1, 2017. The seller in any transaction with a first-time buyer will still pay the current tax rate. The bill also removes a provision that applied to contracts entered into prior to 1971, since such provision is no longer relevant. For ease of application, the new definition of "first-time home buyer" is cross-referenced in the already existing Code provision directing the counties to exempt such buyers from any county-imposed realty transfer tax. This reduction in the tax rate for first-time home buyers will be effective for transactions entered into on or after the effective date of this Act.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 9 AND 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REALTY TRANSFER TAX. |
| HB 386 | Signed | Baumbach | This Act requires that individual, group, State employee, and public assistance insurance plans provide coverage for treatment of pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections and pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome. This Act suspends this requirement for individual and group insurance plans if, under the Affordable Care Act, the State is required to assume the cost of this coverage. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO COVERAGE FOR TREATMENT OF PEDIATRIC AUTOIMMUNE NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH STREPTOCOCCAL INFECTIONS AND PEDIATRIC ACUTE ONSET NEUROPSYCHIATRIC SYNDROME. |
| SB 189 w/ SA 2 | Signed | McDowell | The U.S. Department of Transportation has recently found Delaware to be non-compliant with enforcement of underground excavation violations. This jeopardizes federal funding for the Commissions pipeline safety program. Two principal reasons for this have been the lack of notification to State agencies and the lack of enforcement when damage is known. This bill updates Title 26, Chapter 8 by ensuring notification of excavation damage to the appropriate State agencies for potential penalties or other enforcement proceedings. It provides that either the Attorney General or the Public Service Commission may enforce penalties appropriate for the circumstances and gravity of the violation. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE UNDERGROUND UTILITY AND SAFETY ACT. |
| SB 197 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Lavelle | This Act provides mandatory expungement eligibility to individuals who were convicted of the possession, use or consumption of marijuana prior to Delaware’s decriminalization of these offenses. To be eligible for the mandatory expungement, the marijuana conviction must be the applicant’s only criminal conviction. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA, POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA AND EXPUNGEMENT. |
| SS 1 for SB 169 | Signed | Poore | This Act makes a technical correction to SB 169 by changing the designations of the new statutes and incorporates Senate Amendment No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 169. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SEXUAL OFFENSES AND SEXUAL RELATIONS IN A DETENTION FACILITY. |
| HB 401 | Signed | Heffernan | Currently the US FDA is reviewing a New Drug Application (NDA) of a pharmaceutical product containing cannabidiol (CBD) to treat patients with rare pediatric seizure disorders. If approved, this drug will be required to be prescribed and dispensed like other FDA approved products. However, to make sure that this product and future FDA approved marijuana containing products are available to patients as soon as possible, a change in Delaware law is required. This bill would exempt federally lawful FDA approved marijuana containing products from Schedule I of the state’s Controlled Substances Act until they are rescheduled under Delaware law. This would allow patient access to new therapies without an administrative delay, and allow FDA approved marijuana containing medicines to be prescribed, dispensed and regulated like other FDA approved pharmaceutical products. Illegal possession or sale of these drugs would be prosecuted as any other violation of the Controlled Substance Act. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT. |
| HB 412 | Signed | B. Short | This Act amends § 918 of Title 5 of the Delaware Code, which sets forth limitations on pledging or hypothecating assets of banks and trust companies, to modernize these limitations to apply to the current practices of banks and trust companies while not affecting the safety and soundness of banks and trust companies.
Section 1. This section amends § 918 of the Delaware Code (i) to clarify that the limitations in § 918 apply to pledges and hypothecations to secure guarantees, credit exposures, or other potential liabilities in addition to borrowings; (ii) to exclude from the limitations in § 918 any pledge, hypothecation, repledge, or rehypothecation by a bank or trust company supervised by a federal banking agency if the pledge, hypothecation, repledge, or rehypothecation is permitted under applicable federal law or regulations or orders promulgated thereunder by the federal banking agency; and (iii) to make technical changes to update § 918 to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Manual.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 5 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LIMITATIONS ON PLEDGING OR HYPOTHECATING ASSETS OF BANKS AND TRUST COMPANIES. |
| SB 212 | Signed | Poore | This Act increases the maximum tax credit available for owner occupied historic property by $10,000.
This Act also makes a technical correction to the existing law. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION TAX CREDIT. |
| HB 425 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Bennett | This Act establishes that a contract between a pharmacy benefits manager and a pharmacy may not prohibit a pharmacy or pharmacist from doing any of the following:
(1) Providing an insured with information regarding the retail price of a prescription drug or the amount of the cost share for which the insured is responsible for a prescription drug.
(2) Discussing with an insured information regarding the retail price of a prescription drug or the amount of the cost share for which the insured is responsible for a prescription drug.
(3) If a more affordable, therapeutically equivalent prescription drug is available, selling the more affordable, therapeutically equivalent prescription drug to the insured.
In some cases, contracts between pharmacy benefits managers and pharmacies have provisions that prohibit pharmacies or pharmacist from informing consumers that they have options related to a prescription drug they want to buy and that the prescription drug could be purchased at a lower cost if the consumer paid out of pocket rather than through their health insurance plan. These provisions are often known as “gag clauses.” At least 7 states have enacted laws prohibiting these “gag clauses.” | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PERMITTED DISCLOSURES RELATED TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. |
| HB 437 | Signed | Wilson | This bill allows the background plates (animal welfare, farmland preservation, Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute, Delaware Equine Council, and Keep Delaware Beautiful) issued by DMV to be displayed on trailers up to 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). It also increases the size of trucks that can display the plates from ¾ ton (10,000 pounds GVWR) to 26,000 pounds GVWR. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES. |
| SB 227 w/ SA 1 + HA 1, HA 1 to HA 1 | Signed | Townsend | This Act promotes the use of primary care by doing the following:
1. Creating a Primary Care Reform Collaborative under the Delaware Health Care Commission.
2. Requiring all health insurance providers to participate in the Delaware Health Care Claims Database.
3. Requiring individual, group, and State employee insurance plans to reimburse primary care physicians, certified nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other front-line practitioners for chronic care management and primary care at no less than the physician Medicare rate for the next 3 years.
Despite the demonstrated value of primary care, access to primary care for Delawareans has become increasingly difficult because insurance reimbursement rates fail to support an adequate infrastructure. The national average for primary care spending for an insurance plan is between 6% and 8% of the insurer’s total medical expenditures. Studies recommend, and some states are actively implementing, a 12% to 15% spending rate to have an effective system. Delaware’s average insurance spending on chronic care management and primary care is between 3% and 4%. Nationally, insurance reimbursement for primary care averages between 120% and 140% of Medicare rates. In Delaware the commercial market reimburses independent primary care at rates as low as between 65% and 85% of Medicare rates. Reliable data regarding insurance spending is difficult to obtain due to a combination of contractual restrictions and an absence of mandatory health care price transparency requirements applicable to commercial plans in Delaware
This Act simultaneously enacts short-term and long-term solutions to strengthen the primary care system in this State. While the Primary Care Reform Collaborative and the Delaware Health Care Commission study and development long-term recommendations, requiring insurers to reimburse for chronic care management and primary care at the Medicare rates will stabilize existing resources and provide immediate benefits. The Primary Care Reform Collaborative and the Delaware Health Care Commission have reliable data and information from the Delaware Health Care Claims Database to use in this analysis and to make recommendations that will strengthen the primary care system in Delaware. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16, TITLE 18, AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PRIMARY CARE SERVICES. |
| HB 441 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Carson | Due to the delay in the prior authorization process by pharmacy benefit managers, many patients end up waiting days to weeks for medications to be filled that are prescribed on an emergency basis or for medications that have been previously prescribed for chronic and long-term conditions that must go through the prior authorization process again. To reduce the delay and hardship of this waiting process, this bill will put into place specified time tables to fill emergency prescriptions and to make subsequent prior authorizations for chronic and long-term conditions to be filled more readily. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PHARMACY BENEFIT MANAGER PRIOR AUTHORIZATION OF EMERGENCY PRESCRIPTIONS AND PRESCRIPTIONS FOR CHRONIC OR LONG-TERM CONDITIONS. |
| HB 438 | Signed | Potter | This Act eliminates the ability of a court to suspend a student’s driving privileges or hunting license for truancy. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TRUANCY. |
| SB 230 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Townsend | This bill amends Title 18 of the Delaware Code, § 3343, by setting annual reporting requirements for insurance carriers with regard to coverage for serious mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies.
This bill also amends Chapter 35, Title 18 of the Delaware Code by adding a new § 3571T to set annual reporting requirements for insurance carriers providing mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies benefits, and the carriers' compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
This bill also amends Title 31 of the Delaware Code, § 525, by setting annual reporting requirements for insurance carriers regarding coverage for serious mental illness and drug and alcohol dependencies for recipients of public assistance.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE
COVERAGE FOR SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS AND DRUG AND ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY. |
| HB 456 w/ HA 1, HA 2 | Signed | Jaques | This Act amends Titles 14, 16, 17, 26, and 29 of the Delaware Code to prohibit the use of lead paints on outdoor structures such as bridges, water towers, playground equipment, highways, parking lots, and utility towers and poles, in order to protect public health from the dangers of such paints.
More specifically, Section 1 of this Act substantively amends Title 16 to add a new Chapter 30M setting forth the general prohibition of use of lead paints on outdoor structures after specified effective dates. Section 2 of this Act amends Titles 17, 26, and 29 to reference back to the new Title 16 Chapter 30M prohibitions. Section 3 requires the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to develop regulations governing the removal of lead paint from outdoor structures consistent with this Act.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 14, 16, 17, 26, AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE USE OF LEAD PAINTS ON OUTDOOR STRUCTURES. |
| HS 1 for HB 360 w/ HA 2 | Signed | Keeley | As poll from 2017 revealed that 31% of people in the United States have been sexually harassed in the workplace. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a comprehensive study of workplace harassment in the United States which concluded that between 25% and 85% of women reported having experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. However, the Commission estimated that 75% of all workplace harassment incidents go unreported. The purpose of this bill is to combat sexual harassment in the workplace and to ensure the safety and dignity of all employees in Delaware. This bill defines sexual harassment and makes employers responsible for the sexual harassment of an employee by a supervisor or by another employee when the employer knew or should have known about it and failed to take appropriate corrective action. Moreover, this bill prevents an employer from retaliating against an employee for filing a discrimination charge. This bill includes a requirement that the Department of Labor create an information sheet pertaining to sexual harassment that employers must distribute to employees. Employers having more than 50 or more employees in Delaware will be required to provide sexual harassment training to all employees and supervisory employees which must be conducted every 2 years. This bill also empowers the Department of Labor to investigate violations of this Act and gives the Department jurisdiction over all sexual harassment cases which includes an administrative process. This bill requires the Department of Labor to post the requirements in this bill on its website and perform outreach necessary to educate employers of the requirements. This bill takes effect on January 1, 2019. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES. |
| HS 1 for HB 426 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Paradee | This Act requires paid tax preparers to sign any tax return or refund they file and be subject to a $50 civil penalty for any violation with a maximum penalty of $25,000 in any calendar year. The Act also permits a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin any paid tax preparer from understating a tax payer’s liability or taking an unreasonable position. The Act also permits a court to enjoin a paid tax preparer from, where required, failing to furnish a copy of a return or claim for refund, failing to sign a return or claim for refund, failing to furnish an identifying number, failing to retain a copy of the return, failing to be diligent or failing to correct information. The Act also permits an injunction if the paid tax preparer negotiates a check without permission, engages in any criminal conduct, guarantees payment of any specific tax refund amount, or engages in any other fraudulent or deceptive conduct. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TAXES. |
| HB 476 | Signed | Paradee | This Act empowers each county to create regulations for the maintenance of for-profit cemeteries and to impose penalties upon those who do not abide by the maintenance regulations. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MAINTENANCE OF FOR-PROFIT CEMETERIES. |
| SB 266 | Signed | Delcollo | Under federal law, the cultivation of industrial hemp is only permitted for agricultural or academic research. There is federal legislation pending that may lift the restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp. Delaware law does not prohibit the cultivation of industrial hemp and Chapter 28 of Title 3 permits the cultivation of industrial hemp for agricultural or academic research to the maximum extent permitted by federal law.
Industrial hemp is used in a wide range of products, including fibers, textiles, paper, construction and insulation materials, cosmetic products, animal feed, food, and beverages. Hemp comes from the same plant as marijuana, the Cannabis Sativa L but has a much lower amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that causes the intoxication, than marijuana.
The Department of Agriculture does not regulate industrial agriculture by specific crops, but instead, Title 3 has chapters on topics that impact agriculture broadly, regarding the regulation of areas such as pesticides, seeds, and grain inspection.
This Act permits the Department of Agriculture to adopt any policies and regulations necessary to permit the cultivation of industrial hemp when federal law permits the cultivation of industrial hemp beyond agricultural or academic research and adds hemp to the definition of “grain” in Chapter 16 of Title 3. It requires a three-fifths vote because regulating industrial hemp may require the revision of regulations that would expand existing fees to hemp cultivation. This Act thus positions Delaware to immediately permit the industrial cultivation of hemp if and when the federal restrictions are repealed.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 3 RELATING TO THE CULTIVATION OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP. |
