| SB 96 | Signed | McDowell | In January of 2015, the Office of Civil Rights & Public Trust was created by the Attorney General to establish a centralized office within the Department of Justice for the investigation of matters concerning civil rights enforcement and the prosecution of matters concerning violations of the public trust. This office must remain an independent entity within the Department of Justice to avoid conflicts with other Department of Justice duties and thus effectively enforce laws protecting the public trust and civil rights.
Thus, this Act creates the Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust within the Department of Justice which will be separate from the other Divisions within the Department of Justice and have a Director who reports directly to the Chief Deputy Attorney General, to avoid conflicts of interest with the work of the other Divisions. This Act also clarifies the current scope of the Department of Justice’s ability to investigate and bring civil rights actions to protect the civil rights of all Delawareans. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. |
| HB 212 w/ HA 1 + SA 1 + HA 5, HA 1 to HA 5 + SA 2, SA 3 | Signed | Cooke | This bill defines “industrial landfill” in conformity with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Regulations Governing Solid Waste. This bill also establishes a height restriction, or vertical limit, for an industrial landfill at 130 feet above the mean sea level of the area. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL. |
| SB 177 | Signed | McBride | This amendment brings into conformity the provisions of Title 21 with those of Title 14 relating to the revocation of a student’s driving privileges when he or she is expelled from a public school. Prior amendments to Title 14, Section 4130 and Title 21, Section 2707 removed the requirement that the Secretary of the Department of Motor Vehicles revoke a student’s driving privileges upon notice from the superintendent of a public school that the student had been expelled. This amendment accomplishes the intent of those prior amendments by removing surplus language in the parallel section of Title 21. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 RELATING TO SUSPENSION OF DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR SCHOOL EXPULSION. |
| SB 195 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Wilson | This Act revises the Charter of Greenwood as follows:
Section 1. Revises the procedures used by the Town to annex property.
Section 2. Authorizes the Town to cancel Town Council meetings and authorizes the use of electronic communication methods to notify council members of special meetings.
Section 3. Clarifies that a majority vote is needed for the Town Council to take action. Quorum is calculated based on a majority of all the sitting council members, exclusive of any vacant council seats.
Section 4. Clarifies that the Town documents its proceedings via meeting minutes.
Section 5. Sets $50,000 as the maximum contract amount that the Town can enter into without public bidding and clarifies the Town’s procedures for evaluating bids and awarding contracts.
Section 6. Specifies that the Mayor may vote on all matters, not just when there is a tie vote, revises the Mayor’s duties, and establishes procedures for appointing individuals to committees.
Section 7. Updates the duties of the Town Council Secretary.
Section 8. Revises the terms of employment for the Town Manager and other employees. This section clarifies that town employees, except for the town manager and police department employees, are at will employees that are hired for an indefinite employment term. This section also eliminates duties of the Town Manager that are obsolete and clarifies that the Town Manager does not have to serve as the Town Treasurer.
Section 9. Eliminates the need of the town solicitor to have an office in Sussex County.
Section 10. Revises the terms of employment for the Chief of Police, including the possibility of the Chief of Police having an employment contact.
Section 11. Updates the Town’s debt collection procedures to clarify the outstanding charges that can be added to tax bills and collected. This section also limits the maximum interest rate on delinquent amounts to 1.5% per month.
Section 12. Eliminates duplicate language and requires the Town Council to adopt a resolution approving the final assessment list, including all additions to tax bills. This section also clarifies that the annual tax list includes additions to tax bills incorporated into the annual assessment list.
Section 13. Authorizes the amount of outstanding debts to remain a lien against a property beyond the 10 year time limit if the property is still owned by the same owner against whom the charges were originally assessed. The section enlarges the time for paying taxes to 60 days and reduces the penalty for unpaid taxes to 1.5% per month. This section also clarifies the collection costs that can be recovered by the Town and eliminates obsolete collection procedures.
Section 14. Eliminates the Town’s ability to regulate activities on the Sabbath Day and clarifies the Town’s ability to establish fines and penalties for outstanding water and sewer accounts.
Section 15. Repeals existing procedures for opening and closing streets and enacts simpler procedures for the Town to follow.
Section 16. Clarifies the Town’s ability to install new sidewalks.
Section 17. Adds additional purposes for which the Town may borrow money and requires public hearing details to be included in a resolution proposing to borrow the money. This section also provides more detail on the procedures to follow when holding a special election to vote on the town borrowing money and creates procedures and authority for the Town to borrow up to $100,000 without going through the public hearing process. It also authorizes the Town to publish a notice of the borrowing that gives members of the public 60 days to challenge the borrowing.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
| AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF GREENWOOD. |
| SB 196 | Signed | Wilson | This Act authorizes the Town of Slaughter Beach to acquire real and personal property located inside and outside the boundaries of the Town of Slaughter Beach. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF SLAUGHTER BEACH. |
| SB 200 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Townsend | This Act supports the ongoing work of the Primary Care Reform Collaborative to achieve better health for Delawareans at a lower cost by facilitating the sharing of de-identified health expenditure information and fostering transparency that is critical to the effective delivery of primary care in Delaware.
Specifically, this Act requires the Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) to provide access to the Delaware Health Care Claims Database to 2 additional state agencies, the Department of Insurance and Delaware Health Care Commission. In adding these state agencies to the existing list, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE HEALTH INFORMATION NETWORK. |
| HB 269 | Signed | Gray | Under the current language of Section 2.301, it is unclear what constitutes a "term" when computing term limits and determining a potential candidate's eligibility when they have previously filled a vacancy on the Council. By adding the proposed language, there will be a clear standard for determining whether a potential candidate has exceeded the two-term limit imposed by the Charter. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF OCEAN VIEW RELATING TO COUNCIL TERMS OF OFFICE. |
| HB 263 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Bentz | This Act requires that individual, group, and State employee insurance plans cap the amount an individual must pay for insulin prescriptions at $100 a month and must include at least 1 formulation of insulin on the lowest tier of the drug formulary developed and maintained by the carrier. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO COST SHARING IN PRESCRIPTION INSULIN DRUGS. |
| HB 285 | Committee | Longhurst | This bill requires all public and charter schools which have students in grades 6-12 to provide free feminine hygiene products in 50% of the bathrooms used by students who can have a menstrual cycle. This bill also requires schools to publish on its website and post in its common areas the locations of the bathrooms where the hygiene products are provided. Finally, this bill provides that each school must consult with its school nurse regarding the products to be provided. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE PROVISION OF FREE FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS. |
| SCR 67 | Passed | Hansen | The Division of Developmental Disabilities Services Task Force was established under Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 62 of the 150th General Assembly. The Task Force has met regularly since August 2019, but needs additional time to complete its work. This Concurrent Resolution extends the due date of the Task Force's final report to July 31, 2020. | EXTENDING THE DIVISION OF DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES SERVICES TASK FORCE. |
| HA 1 to HB 263 | Passed | Bentz | This Amendment revises House Bill No. 263 by doing all of the following:
1. Requires at least 1 formulation of each type of prescription insulin be on the lowest tier of the drug formulary.
2. Defines the "lowest tier of the drug formulary" as the lowest tier for generic drugs, if the insulin is a generic and the lowest tier for brand-name drugs, if the insulin is brand-name.
3. Clarifies that the $100 per month cost-sharing cap includes deductible payments and cost-sharing amounts charged once a deductible is met.
4. Corrects the date for the applicability of this Act so it includes insurance plans that begin on January 1, 2021.
5. Clarifies that the cap on the copay applies to covered individuals who are in compliance with the coordination of benefits policies under the State employee insurance plans.
6. Corrects a typographical error. | |
