| SB 12 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Poore | The purpose of this act is to open up The Delaware Student Excellence Equals Degree Act (SEED Act) to adult Delaware residents, who are not recent high school graduates. Currently, about 56% of Delawareans age 25-64 lack a post-secondary degree. This expansion of the SEED grant program will encourage adult learners to return to school to enhance their knowledge and skills and increase their job opportunities. Adult individuals with a high school diploma or less education were significantly impacted by Covid-19-related job loss. This legislation can help to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on those adults. Tennessee has instituted a similar program called the Tennessee Reconnect Act. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EDUCATION AND THE DELAWARE STUDENT EXCELLENCE EQUALS DEGREE ACT. |
| SB 105 | Signed | Pinkney | This Act allows pharmacists to administer or dispense contraceptives under a standing order from the Division of Public Health. At least 11 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands allow pharmacists to dispense contraceptives without a prescription from another health-care practitioner. This practice is supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 AND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PHARMACISTS DISPENSING AND ADMINISTERING CONTRACEPTIVES. |
| SB 107 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Pinkney | This Act requires that individual, group, State employee, and public assistance insurance plans provide coverage for a medically necessary insulin pump at no cost to a covered individual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE OF INSULIN PUMPS. |
| SB 161 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Pinkney | According to the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have enacted infant safe haven laws that allow a parent to surrender a newborn without fear of prosecution.
These laws vary in terms of where an infant can be surrendered. Delaware is among 16 states that only permit a baby to be surrendered to a hospital. Twenty-five states allow surrenders at fire stations and 25 states permit surrenders to personnel at police stations or other law enforcement agencies.
This Act adds police stations to the designated safe havens where an individual may surrender a baby. This Act makes conforming amendments to other laws of this State based on this addition.
Additionally, this Act codifies a portion of the original Safe Arms for Babies law, Chapter 187 of Volume 73 of the Laws of Delaware, that requires the Department of Health and Social Services to take certain actions related to the law.
Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 AND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SAFE ARMS FOR BABIES. |
| SB 166 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Hansen | Delaware has been irreparably harmed by the opioid crisis. In 2018, 400 people died of an overdose in Delaware, and in 2019, 431 people died of an overdose. Settlements from opioid distributors, manufacturers, and pharmacies are expected to provide significant monies over a substantial period of time to Delaware. These funds are intended to address to harm caused by the opioid crisis in our communities.
This Act establishes the Prescription Opioid Settlement Fund (Settlement Fund) and Prescription Opioid Distribution Commission (Commission), to ensure that settlement money is used to remediate and abate the opioid crisis and is not diverted to other purposes. The Commission is part of the Behavioral Health Consortium and is established to ensure that decisions on how to spend funds are reached through consensus driven process that takes into account the views and experience of affected communities. The Behavioral Health Consortium will distribute money received by the Settlement Fund and the Prescription Opioid Impact Fund (Impact Fund), enacted by Senate Bill No. 34 of the 150th General Assembly, according to the recommendations of the Commission. The Commission shall seek input from the public and relevant stakeholders and shall convene a Local Government Committee to ensure that recommendations from counties and municipal governments are carefully considered. The terms of settlement agreements, bankruptcy plans, or other agreements for the payment of monies by defendants in opioid-related litigation will likely include terms that establish how the money must be spent. The Commission is required to adhere to those terms. The Commission must produce an annual report regarding the receipt and disbursement of funds.
This Act preserves the status quo of the existing parties to litigation while limiting the ability for new local government opioid suits to be brought, because new lawsuits could limit the size of Delaware’s recovery in global settlements that are expected to be reached.
This Act repeals the sunset of the Prescription Opioid Impact Fee (Impact Fee) and Impact Fund It also repeals the report requirement for the Impact Fund because the information in that report will be included in the new report that the Commission must produce.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 4 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of three-quarters of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to appropriate funds to a county or municipality. This Act also requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a charter issued to a municipal corporation. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE AND THE LAWS OF DELAWARE RELATING TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS FROM THE PRESCRIPTION OPIOID IMPACT FEE AND COURT SETTLEMENTS. |
| HB 240 | Signed | Longhurst | This Act creates the Korey Thompson Student Emergency Housing Assistance Fund for the benefit of housing insecure undergraduate students at any college or university in Delaware and appropriates $90,000 to the Fund for FY2022. DSHA is charged with administering the Fund and reporting to the Governor and the General Assembly how the funds are spent. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS AND APPROPRIATING GENERAL FUNDS TO THE STUDENT EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE FUND. |
