| HB 86 | Signed | Griffith | This Act establishes a right to counsel for indigent parents in DSCYF custody proceedings. Parent representation will primarily be provided by a legal services entity contracted with the Family Court, but may also be provided by the Office of Defense Services or a private attorney appointed by the Court. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 13 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REPRESENTATION OF INDIGENT PERSONS IN CIVIL PROCEEDINGS. |
| HB 223 w/ HA 2, HA 3 | Signed | Minor-Brown | This Act amends the continuing education requirements for nursing professionals, mandating that all nursing professionals receive at least one hour of continuing education in each reporting period on the recognition of sexual or physical abuse, exploitation, or domestic violence of vulnerable populations, or on the reporting obligations under the rules and regulations of the Board of Nursing. The Act removes the requirement for nursing professionals who work in adult gerontology to complete continuing education on the topic of diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR NURSING PROFESSIONALS. |
| HB 267 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Dorsey Walker | This Act prohibits the Family Court from imposing a sentence of incarceration or ordering the suspension of a person’s license for failure to pay court-ordered child support unless it finds that the failure to pay is wilful and not due to an inability of the person to pay the support.
This Act also makes technical corrections to correct a typographical error in existing code and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO VIOLATIONS OF CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS. |
| HB 268 | Signed | Longhurst | House Bill No. 303, with House Amendment No. 2, from the 151st General Assembly created an annual behavioral health well check and required carriers to provide coverage for this service.
In order to ensure providers of behavioral health well checks are fairly compensated, HB 303 required carriers to reimburse through common procedural technology (CPT) codes at the same billing rate. The cited CPT codes (99381-99387, 99391-99397) are used for services akin to a typical annual well visit for a new or established patient. Billing for the annual behavioral health well check under these CPT codes may impact the accuracy of state claims data from the Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance (DMMA) to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
This Act amends Title 31 of the Delaware Code to allow DMMA to develop and implement new billing codes for a behavioral health well check. These developed codes must be comparable to the rates under the cited CPT codes.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ANNUAL BEHAVIORAL HEALTH WELL CHECKS. |
| HB 287 | Signed | Dukes | This act requires that an owner be reimbursed up to $1,500 annually for veterinary care expenses paid by the owner for the care of a law-enforcement canine retired from a police department of a political subdivision of the State of Delaware.
The Department of Safety and Homeland Security is the implementing agency for this act. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO RETIRED LAW-ENFORCEMENT CANINES. |
| HB 291 w/ HA 2 | Signed | Morrison | This Act requires that a candidate’s political committee’s contribution and expense report, provided to the Department of Elections, include the primary employer and job title of each person contributing to the committee. This Act also requires the Department of Elections to provide a telephone number and online form for reporting alleged campaign financing violations. The informant must provide their name and contact information to the Department. The information provided to the Department is not to be considered a public record under FOIA. This Act also allows reporting parties who unintentionally receive a prohibited contribution or make a prohibited expenditure to return or reimburse the contribution or pay the contribution to the State Treasurer. This Act also eliminates the ability of anyone who makes or accepts a prohibited campaign contribution from donating the money to a designated Title 30 charitable organization. The Act requires anyone who knowingly accepts an unlawful campaign contribution to pay the money to the State Treasurer for deposit to the General Fund. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES. |
| HB 23 | Signed | Griffith | This Act does the following:
(1) Makes amendments to the administration of the Ivyane Davis Memorial Scholarship Fund by removing disbursement requirements to allow more flexibility to scholarship recipients, and clarifying that scholarship funds may be used for direct or indirect educational expenses and may not be used to reduce the amount of a waiver under the Delaware Fostering Independence Through Education Tuition Waiver Program. The Act also removes the 1 year residency requirement preceding application for the scholarship.
(2) Makes amendments to the administration of the Delaware Fostering Independence Through Education Tuition Waiver Program by codifying responsibility for administering the program with the Office of the Child Advocate (“Office”), and clarifying the responsibilities of the Office and those of the institutions of higher education. The Act clarifies that the waiver applies to both full-time and part-time students and summer and winter classes. The Act also lowers the maximum age of eligibility from 26 to 25, to bring this Program into alignment with the requirements of the Chafee Educational and Training Voucher program. Finally, the Act mandates that Ivyane Davis Scholarships and Chafee Education and Training Vouchers may not be applied to reduce the amount of the waiver and that students eligible for waivers may not apply for or take out loans to reduce the amount of the waiver.
(3) Amends the Office of the Child Advocate’s duties outlined in § 9005A of Title 29 of the Delaware Code to include administration of the Fostering Independence Through Education Tuition Waiver Program.
(4) Makes technical corrections for uniformity of language and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADMINISTRATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS FOR STUDENTS WHO EXPERIENCED FOSTER CARE. |
| HB 328 | Signed | D. Short | Senate Bill No. 288 of the 151st General Assembly (Chapter 371 of Volume 83 of the Laws of Delaware) created a pilot program whereby motorcyclists are permitted to use pulsating headlights as a way to alert other drivers of their presence, without allowing the use of flashing lights that would otherwise be used on emergency vehicles. SB 288 contained a sunset clause providing that the pilot program would expire on January 1, 2025, unless the General Assembly took action to extend or remove the sunset clause. This Act extends the sunset clause until June 30, 2030. The main reason for the extension is that many motorcycle owners have and are continuing to replace their lights with LED technology... up until 2024 the technology of a modulating device was not available for the LED lights only standard lighting had that option. To be able to better see if the pulsating lighting is effective the pilot program should be extended to adequately gauge what the new LED systems effectiveness is. | AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 371, VOLUME 83 OF THE LAWS OF DELAWARE RELATING TO MOTORCYCLE SAFETY. |
| HB 340 | Signed | Griffith | This Act authorizes the creation of Family Justice Centers within Delaware to provide victims of crime with a single source to obtain resources and support services. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FAMILY JUSTICE CENTERS. |
| HB 352 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Cooke | This Act gives county code enforcement constables the authority to tow abandoned vehicles on private property. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL OF ABANDONED VEHICLES. |
| HS 1 for HB 293 | Signed | Carson | Federal and Delaware law protect the right to vote and the rights of individuals with disabilities to have equal access to voting places and public facilities. Nonetheless, recent information suggests that a substantial number of polling places in Delaware are either inaccessible to persons with disabilities or lack accessible parking, infringing on the right of all eligible persons to vote in this State.
This substitute, like House Bill No. 293, requires that the Department of Elections ensure that polling places selected for elections are accessible to voters with disabilities and elderly voters. This substitute adds a provision that in addition to being accessible, the accessibility features are available to voters in any election. Like House Bill No. 293, this substitute allows certain exceptions for states of emergency, or for circumstances in which no accessible polling place in a particular polling area is available and the Election Commissioner ensures that those voters impacted are provided with an alternative accessible polling place or alternative means for casting a ballot upon advance request. This substitute limits the states of emergency that would allow an exception to natural disasters or other emergencies that render a polling place unsafe or unusable. This substitute also adds a provision allowing any person with information that the Department has not complied with this section to file an administrative complaint with the Department.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS. |
| HB 378 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Hensley | This Act requires health spas selling subscription services online to provide a prospective buyer of such a subscription the right to cancel the automatic renewal online. The option to cancel is also to be presented on the website in a clear and conspicuous manner to simplify such cancellation for the buyer. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 6 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH SPA REGULATION. |
| HB 390 | Signed | Ramone | This bill names the hill east of Mill Creek situated on New Castle County parcel number 08-025-00-018 as “Lieutenant McMichael’s Hill of Eminence”. This was the site of the action during the Revolutionary War that was the most impactful combat event that occurred on Delaware soil. | AN ACT TO NAME THE HILL ON THE EAST BANK OF MILL CREEK LOCATED ON NEW CASTLE PARCEL NUMBER 08-025-00-018 AS “LIEUTENANT MCMICHAEL’S HILL OF EMINENCE”. |
| HB 404 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Carson | To address the significant spread and impact of Lyme Disease in Delaware, this bill creates a Lyme Disease intervention fund. The fund shall be overseen by the Department of Agriculture and shall have the goal of reducing the prevalence of Lyme disease and potential for contracting Lyme disease on State owned lands. The Department shall investigate the best ways to do that, focusing on ones that are the most effective, environmentally sensitive, and innovative. The Department of Agriculture will coordinate its efforts in the administration of the fund with the Division of Public Health and the Department of Natural Resources. The Joint Finance Committee shall determine the yearly amount of the fund. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 3 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LYME DISEASE. |
| HB 423 | Signed | Schwartzkopf | This Act permits a farm winery to apply for a license for use of a portion of the farm winery premises as a restaurant. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 4 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FARM WINERIES. |
| HS 1 for HB 434 | Signed | Collins | This substitute bill requires the Secretary of DNREC to follow certain procedures when conducting public hearings, while giving discretion to the Secretary in choosing which hearings the procedures apply to.
The bill becomes effective August 1, 2024. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL AND TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLIC HEARINGS. |
