| HB 29 w/ HA 1 + SA 1, SA 2 | Signed | Shupe | Each year, the Department of Education (Department) publishes data regarding all Delaware public schools, currently known as School Performance Data Reports (reports). These reports are available on the Department’s website as the Delaware Report Card.
This Act revises current law to correspond with and codify current Department practices regarding these reports as follows:
• Changes the term “Education Profile” to “education-related data” to reflect the broad range of data that the Department publishes, in addition to the annual reports required under existing State and federal law.
• Requires that there is a link to these reports on the school choice website.
• Requires that these reports continue to include proficiency rates.
In addition, this Act requires that the Department do all of the following:
• Provide a link to these reports on the home page of the Department’s website.
• Include a list of a career pathways offered at a high school in these reports.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual which includes revisions to clarify repetitive, confusing, or contradictory language. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DELAWARE PUBLIC EDUCATION PROFILES. |
| SB 33 | Signed | Brown | This Act builds on the success of the Downtown Development Districts Act, Chapter 19 of Title 22 of the Delaware Code, by permitting a municipality with a population of 30,000 or more in the 2020 federal census, which includes Wilmington, Dover, and Newark, to designate an area in the municipality as a "Downtown Development Corridor".
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 22, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT CORRIDORS AND DISTRICTS. |
| SB 40 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Walsh | Section 1 of this Act makes a pattern or practice of violations by a landlord of a Manufactured Home Community of subchapters I through V of Chapter 70 of Title 25 of the Delaware Code, or a provision of a rental agreement, an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud Act, subchapter II, Chapter 70, of Title 25, under specified circumstances.
Section 2 of this Act authorizes the Attorney General to file a petition to establish a receivership of a Manufactured Home Community in a Justice of the Peace Court on specified grounds after notice to the landlord.
Section 3 of this Act requires the Justice of the Peace Court to send written notice to the Director of Consumer Protection at the Department of Justice within 10 days of its receipt of a petition for tenants’ receivership under Title 25 of the Delaware Code, Sections 5901 or 7061, except in those cases where the Attorney General files the petition. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 10 AND 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MANUFACTURED HOUSING AND TENANTS’ RECEIVERSHIP PETITIONS. |
| SB 48 w/ SA 1 + HA 2 | Signed | Sturgeon | This Act adds intentional interference with the operation of a school bus to the offense of disorderly conduct. Intentional interference with a school bus may include boarding a school bus and refusing to exit after being lawfully ordered to do so by the school bus driver; wrongfully restricting the movement of a school bus; or threatening the school bus driver, a student, or any passenger entering, leaving, or waiting for a school bus. A student or passenger otherwise authorized to be on the school bus in the ordinary course of business may not be guilty of disorderly conduct for intentional interference with the operation of a school bus.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of 2/3 of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to expand the scope of an existing crime within the jurisdiction of an inferior court. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DISORDERLY CONDUCT. |
| SB 63 w/ SA 1 | Vetoed | Walsh | Chapter 35 of Title 19 prohibits an employer from improperly classifying an individual who is an employee as an independent contractor. Not only is this improper classification unfair to employees because it violates state and federal laws related to income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, wage laws, and workers’ compensation, it is also unfair to contractors who comply with Chapter 35 and these other employment laws.
When employers who violate Chapter 35 are subcontractors who have not registered as contractors as required under Chapter 36 of Title 19, the Department of Labor (Department) has no recourse for enforcing compliance with Chapter 35. This Act makes a general contractor responsible for a subcontractor’s compliance with Chapter 35 by making the general contractor jointly and severally liable for restitution and penalties assessed against the subcontractor. This Act also allows the Department to deny, suspend, or revoke the certificate of registration of a contractor who contracts with a subcontractor who has not registered on any project.
In addition, Section 3 of this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LABOR. |
| HB 64 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Romer | This Act requires that school board meetings have a means for the public to view and provide comment remotely. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS. |
| SB 71 | Signed | Seigfried | This Act creates a special open enrollment period for persons who are already enrolled in a Medicare supplement policy or certificate to cancel their existing policy or certificate and purchase another Medicare supplement policy or certificate that provides the same or lesser benefits. Only persons who are already enrolled in a Medicare supplement policy or certificate are eligible for the special open enrollment period. The special enrollment period begins 30 days before an eligible person's birthday and remains open for at least 30 days following the eligible person's birthday. During this special open enrollment period, individuals switching from one Medicare supplement policy to another cannot be denied coverage and coverage and rates cannot be dependent upon the person’s medical history. The Act also obligates issuers to notify eligible persons who are enrolled in their Medicare supplement policies or certificates of the dates of the open enrollment period, at least 30 days before it begins, and of any modification to the benefits provided by the policy under which the person is currently insured.
This Act also allows persons enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan to cancel their existing policy, enroll in Medicare during the annual Medicare open enrollment period and apply for a Medicare supplement policy. For individuals switching from Medicare Advantage to a Medicare supplement policy, the Act prohibits issuers of Medicare supplement policies from denying applications for such policies but does allow issuers to individually rate and apply a pre-existing condition limitation.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT POLICIES. |
| HS 1 for HB 49 | Signed | K. Williams | This Act makes changes to the Delaware Child Care Act to clarify that early education programs run by state or local education agencies are subject to a parallel regulatory and monitoring structure administered by the Office of Child Care Licensing to ensure health, safety, and child development standards are met. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE CHILD CARE ACT. |
| HB 77 | Signed | Morrison | This Act requires that members of school boards, including charter school boards, receive training on all of the following:
1. Requirements for school board meetings under this title and the Freedom of Information Act, Chapter 100 of Title 29.
2. Best practices regarding the conduct of meetings, including the use of rules of order.
3. The State Employees’, Officers’ and Officials’ Code of Conduct, subchapter I. of Chapter 58 of Title 29.
Most school boards already provide training that satisfies the requirements under this Act and the training and notices required under this Act may be combined with the training and notices already required under § 1803 of Title 14 for required financial responsibility training. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TRAINING FOR SCHOOL BOARDS. |
| HB 85 | Signed | K. Williams | Under current law, both school board members who are elected and those who are appointed to fill vacancies until the next election are required to complete a background check. However, the statute is currently unclear as to how a background check gets done and who is responsible for reviewing the background check for an appointment. This Act makes clear that a person may not be appointed unless a background check has been completed and the Commissioner of Elections has determined the person is qualified for the seat, in the same manner the Commissioner completes that duty for candidates for school board elections. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. |
| SB 75 w/ SA 1, SA 2 | Vetoed | Paradee | This Act limits the restrictions a county may impose on the operation of marijuana establishments as follows:
• Requires that a medical marijuana compassion center that was granted a conversion license for a retail marijuana store under § 1335B of Title 4 must be allowed to operate the retail marijuana store as a nonconforming use.
• Prohibits the denial of a building permit to a licensee under § 1335B of Title 4 if the improvements comply with the physical requirements for property zoned for that use. The nonconforming use laws for each county, § 2610, § 4920, and § 6920 of Title 9 all prohibit structural alterations if a building is a nonconforming use but § 1335B(a)(1) requires that a conversion licensee continue to operate the location as a medical dispensing location. Thus, it is extremely likely that a compassion center with a conversion license for a retail marijuana store will need to make structural alterations to operate both as a medical dispensing location and as a retail marijuana store.
• Requires that a county must allow the minimum hours of operation for a retail marijuana store to be 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays and noon until 8 p.m. on Sundays.
• In areas zoned for agricultural or industrial use, indoor, fully enclosed cultivation facilities may not be prohibited.
• In areas zoned for commercial or industrial use, retail marijuana stores may be prohibited from operating only within a ½ mile of another retail marijuana store and within 500 feet of a place of worship, school, licensed child care, residential treatment facility, park, or library.
The limits on county restrictions under this Act preempt and supersede all existing and future county ordinances or regulations regarding the operation of marijuana establishments.
Section 2 makes corresponding changes to § 1351 of Title 4 so that section applies only to municipalities. This Act also makes technical changes to use consistent language in subsections (a) and (b) of § 1351 and § 1351A. Under § 1302(17) of Title 4, “‘marijuana establishment’” means all 4 types of entities licensed under Chapter 13 of Title 4. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 4 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LOCAL CONTROL OF RETAIL MARIJUANA STORES BY COUNTIES. |
| HB 90 w/ HA 1 | Signed | D. Short | This bill removes the current specific tax rate and enrollment limitations placed on Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.
Future tax rates shall be determined by the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.
The enrollment capacity limitations shall be established by the Certificate of Need determined by the Delaware Department of Education. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SUSSEX COUNTY VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. |
| SS 1 for SB 62 | Signed | Sturgeon | Like Senate Bill No. 62, Senate Substitute No. 1 for SB 62 clarifies that state agencies, including public schools, may enter into agreements to trade in or sell materiel other than vehicles, including computer technology, by making the following technical changes to § 7002 of Title 29:
• Transferring the current provision allowing agencies to trade in or sell materiel other than vehicles from § 7002(e) to paragraph § 7002(a)(3).
• Transferring definitions of terms from § 7002 to the definitions section for this chapter, § 7001 of Title 29.
• Revising long, confusing sentences by referencing paragraphs in § 7002 instead of repeating the content of those paragraphs.
• Conforming existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Senate Substitute No. 1 for SB 62 differs from SB 62 by making additional technical corrections and clarifications. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DISPOSAL OF STATE-OWNED PROPERTY. |
| HS 1 for HB 47 w/ HA 1 | Signed | K. Williams | This Act incorporates changes made by HS1 for HB204, which was passed by both chambers during the 151st General Assembly, but never enacted into law. It removes the exemption for private schools and youth camps that allows them to use a name-based, rather than a fingerprint-based, background check or choose not to do background checks at all for employees, contractors and volunteers. This Act also authorizes the Superintendent of State Police to promulgate regulations relating to re-use of a criminal background check. The State Bureau of Identification is also required to provide subsequent criminal history information to the agency receiving background check information. Authority is given to the Department of Education to pay the costs of background checks for its employees.
The Act also creates a new § 309A in Title 31, in response to a request from the federal government that the statutory authorization/requirement for private school background checks be separated from the statutory authorization for state and local government authorities.
The Act also makes some technical and clarifying changes to existing statutory language.
The Act takes effect on July 1, 2026 and child-serving entities and private schools must comply with the requirements by September 1, 2026.
This Substitute differs from the original HB47 in that the effective date is in 2026 rather than 2025. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BACKGROUND CHECKS. |
| HB 97 w/ HA 1 | Signed | K. Williams | This Act ensures that a public school employee may not work directly with students unsupervised without a valid permit or license issued by the DOE’s Professional Standards Boards or an approved license issued under Title 24. To that end, this Act creates a new permit requirement for any paraprofessional or student support and classroom position, including specialist interns, year-long residents, full time substitute teachers, substitute teachers seeking certification, student teachers, and classroom aides. The following employees are exempt from the permitting and licensing requirements: non-instructional administrators; nutrition staff; custodial staff; transportation staff; clerical staff; charter school heads exempt under § 507(c) of Title 14; and substitute teachers seriving for less than 12 consecutive weeks in a school.
The same laws, procedures, penalties, and safeguards that apply to the issuance, suspension, and revocation of a license under Chapter 12 of Title 14, will apply to a permit.
The DOE may require reimbursement of any funds disbursed to district or charter schools for an employee without a license or permit, who holds a position requiring a license or permit. The DOE may also require reimbursement for an employee that is working under an expired license or permit.
Finally, this Act increases the maximum supplement amount an employee may earn for accepting additional responsibility assignments that impact student achievement. The supplement may be no more than $5,000, rather than $1,500. It also directs the Department to update the Department of Education PHRST code manual so that the position codes align to titles of positions that are currently used by educators, and outdated codes are deleted. The new system codes must be in effect by the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 14 AND 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS, AND SALARY SUPPLEMENTS. |
| SB 81 w/ SA 1, SA 2 | Signed | Lockman | This Act removes the time restriction that only allowed for certain teachers or specialists who were hired after August 9, 2023, to obtain additional experience credit for purposes of salary computation. This Act would allow for teachers or specialists hired before August 9, 2023, to qualify for the same experience credit for purposes of salary computation. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TEACHER SALARIES. |
| SB 83 | Signed | Huxtable | This Act amends the long-term care resident’s bill of rights to provide that residents may not be subject to discrimination based on their membership in a protected class. Specifically, this Act does the following:
1. Adds “or domestic partner” to the provision of the resident’s bill of rights that gives spouses the right to visit and, if feasible and not medically contraindicated, to share a room if both are residents of the facility. This addition is being made to ensure that domestic partnerships entered into in other states are recognized.
2. Adds a non-discrimination provision to § 1121 of Title 16, which enumerates the rights of residents of long-term care facilities.
3. Requires the Department of Health and Social Services (“Department”) to provide a revised notice of resident rights under § 1121 of Title 16 to each resident or the resident’s authorized representative within 30 days of any changes to those rights.
4. Requires each facility to provide appropriate staff training whenever there is a revision to the resident’s bill of rights within 60 days of that revision.
The purpose of this Act is to protect long-term care facility residents from discrimination and to ensure that residents, their representatives, and facility staff are aware of residents’ rights. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE RIGHTS OF RESIDENTS OF LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES. |
| HS 1 for HB 15 | Signed | S. Moore | Like House Bill No. 15, this Act permits early childhood educators in the public schools to use and encourage play-based learning in their classrooms and in their curriculum. This Act permits local education agencies to provide early childhood professional development in play-based learning, which may include professional development programs developed by the Department of Education. This Act also permits the Department to promulgate regulations for purposes of implementing this Act.
This House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 15 incorporates the changes from House Amendment 1 to House Bill No. 15 with respect to the definitions of early childhood education and early childhood educators encompassing education from prekindergarten through second grade, adding topics that may be included in materials developed to provide ongoing early childhood professional development in play-based learning, and making technical corrections for clarity.
This House Substitute also updates the definition of “play” and “play-based learning” contained in House Bill No. 15 and adds a definition for “guided play”. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PLAY-BASED LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. |
| HS 1 for HB 83 | Signed | Wilson-Anton | This House Substitute No. 1 provides that if a school board allows school board members to attend meetings remotely through electronic means, then permission to attend remotely must be granted in the case of any of the following: illness of the school board member; illness of an individual in the school board member’s family where that individual requires caretaking; a public health emergency; pregnancy or immediate postpartum care responsibilities of the school board member or the school board member’s spouse or partner; or military deployment of the school board member.
This substitute for House Bill No. 83 differs from the original in that it does not require school boards to allow remote attendance. But if the school board does allow remote attendance, it provides the permissible reasons remote attendance may be allowed, allows a school board to limit the number of times permission to attend remotely may be granted, and indicates that a school board may not add to the statutory reasons for remote attendance. It also expands the permissible reasons from the original bill to include pregnancy or postpartum complications of a board member’s spouse or partner. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS. |
| SB 91 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Sturgeon | This Act requires schools that receive federal funding ensure students, staff, and faculty are protected from sex-based discrimination and sex-based harassment. The Act further requires schools to communicate to students, through their website, the existence of Title IX administrators as required by federal law. The Act requires the school’s website provide information explaining the roles and duties of Title IX administrators, how to contact the appropriate Title IX administrator, and the school’s Title IX policy. The Act ensures that students have access to the appropriate forms to start a complaint and access to the FAQ link provided by U.S. Office of Civil Rights. The Act instructs the school to provide an explanation and examples of possible supportive measures for students who experience sex-based discrimination or sex-based harassment.
The Act instructs the Title IX coordinator of every Title IX school to provide a written reminder to school staff and faculty at the beginning of the academic year, outlining the school’s Title IX policy regarding the reporting of sex-based discrimination, including sex-based harassment. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TITLE IX. |
| SB 107 | Signed | Sturgeon | This Act enacts the Interstate Compact for School Psychologists (“Compact”), which is designed to facilitate the interstate practice of school psychology in educational settings. School-based mental health services are in high demand in Delaware, but workforce shortages can make it difficult to meet that demand. By creating an additional licensing pathway for school psychologists to obtain equivalent licenses to practice school psychology in any state that is a member of the Compact, the Act aims to increase the availability of school psychological services for students in this State.
The Interstate Compact for School Psychologists must be enacted in 7 states to become effective. The Compact has been enacted in 2 states and legislation is pending in several others. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE INTERSTATE COMPACT FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS. |
| SB 122 | Signed | Huxtable | This Act supports critical health care workforce research and planning efforts by giving the Division of Public Health and the Delaware Health Care Commission the ability to obtain comprehensive workforce-related data from the Division of Professional Regulation. It requires the Division of Public Health’s Office of Healthcare Provider Resources to collaborate with the Delaware Health Care Commission and the Division of Professional Regulation to determine what data should be collected from health care providers during the licensing and renewal process to assist the Division of Public Health with workforce research and planning. This Act also directs the Division of Professional Regulation to collect health care workforce-related data during the licensing or renewal processes. The data collected will be for purpose of health care workforce research and planning and will not include personal information such as personal financial information.
The health care provider licensing process provides a rich opportunity for this State to obtain information it needs to ensure that its health care workforce is equipped to meet the needs of Delaware residents. Collecting data with the goal of informing health care workforce research and planning is a common practice nationwide, with at least 28 states collecting health care workforce data as part of the licensing process. Such data will fill crucial gaps in the Division of Public Health’s ability to understand health care workforce needs and develop policies and programs aimed at meeting them.
As is currently the case, health care workforce data collected by the Division of Professional Regulation may only be used for official state business. This Act provides that official state business includes the following purposes specific to health care workforce research and planning:
1. Identifying and tracking data related to Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), Maternity Care Target Areas (MCTAs), and Medically Underserved Areas and Populations (MUA/Ps), and other initiatives identified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
2. Health care workforce research and planning.
3. Understanding issues related to supply, demand, distribution, and use of health care workers.
4. Informing health care workforce policy.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law with the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE PLANNING. |
| SB 24 | Signed | Townsend | The language of this Act is identical to Senate Bill No. 25 of the 153rd General Assembly. The only difference between this Act and Senate Bill No. 25 is the title, which has been changed to clarify that the language includes the Public Employment Relations Act of Title 19.
This Act allows an employee organization to file a petition with the Board to become the exclusive representative of an appropriate bargaining unit for the purpose of collective bargaining. In the event an employee organization provides over 50% of the employees’ approval, through their authorized signatures, then the Board may not order an election but must certify the employee organization.
This Act also makes technical corrections to confirm existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 14 AND 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ACT AND THE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ACT. |
| SB 132 | Signed | Cruce | This Act updates the Right to Representation statute by moving certain duties to the office of the State Courts Administrator and clarifies terminology used within the statute. | AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 56, TITLE 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD-TENANT CODE. |
| HB 149 | Signed | Kamela Smith | This Act gives DPH the authority to approve supervised clinical training rotations for mental health providers at school-based health centers. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS. |
| SB 144 | Signed | Walsh | This Act repeals the cap on the amount of money in the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Trust Fund (Trust Fund), resolving contradictory provisions in current law regarding the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority (DEMHRA) Board’s authority to adjust the amount in the Trust Fund.
Under § 7042(e) of Title 25, the DEMHRA Board can adjust, eliminate, or reinstate the cap on the Trust Fund with the approval of at least 3 of the 5 members of the DEMHRA Board. However, § 7042(e) also provides a dollar amount cap on the amount in the Trust Fund, which under the Delaware Constitution, DEMHRA cannot change.
DEMHRA needs to be able to adjust the cap on the Trust Fund because under § 7041(b)(1) and § 7042(b) of Title 25, the money in the Trust Fund is the only money available to DEMHRA to pay administrative costs and to carry out DEMHRA’s responsibilities under Chapters 70 and 71 of Title 25. Recent legislation has given DEMHRA additional responsibilities under subchapter VI of Chapter 70 when a community owner seeks to increase the rent, but DEMHRA does not receive any appropriations to support this work. Instead, except for money appropriated for board meeting stipends, DEMHRA is “responsible for all direct and indirect costs for its operations under § 7042 of this title, including receipts and disbursements, personnel, rental of facilities, and reimbursement to other state agencies for services provided and, therefore, must be fiscally revenue-neutral.”
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual by revising § 7041(c)(3) of Title 25 so that the number of Board members who must vote in favor of adjusting the Trust Fund is clearly stated with the Board’s other responsibilities. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE MANUFACTURED HOME RELOCATION TRUST FUND. |
| SB 150 | Signed | Huxtable | This Act creates the Affordable Rental Housing Program (ARHP) within the Housing Development Fund. The ARHP is modeled on the federal Section 515 program and provides loans to increase the supply of affordable housing for families with very low-, low-, and moderate-incomes, individuals who are elderly, and individuals with disabilities. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO AN AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING PROGRAM WITHIN THE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND. |
| HB 193 w/ HA 1, HA 2 | Signed | Hilovsky | In Chapter 70, Subchapter V of Title 25, the Manufactured Home Relocation Trust Fund was established. It is administered by a Board of Directors. The Board was directed to set a monthly assessment for deposit in the Trust Fund for each rented lot in a manufactured home community. This Act removes the cap of the Trust Fund, currently set at $15 million. This Act also raises the amount of the tenant portion of the monthly assessment to be redirected to the Delaware Manufactured Home Owner Attorney Fund from 50 cents of the tenant portion to $1.50. This Act takes effect on the date of enactment. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE MANUFACTURED HOME RELOCATION TRUST FUND. |
| SB 176 | Signed | Huxtable | This Act allows Sussex County to apply an impact fee to building permits within the respective school district for the purpose of collecting funding for the local share of school capital construction programs. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BUILDING PERMIT FEES. |
| SS 2 for SB 56 | Signed | Hoffner | This Act updates the procedures governing the transfer of a manufactured home located in a manufactured home community in order to provide a clearer process and reduce ambiguities that allowed some community owners to prevent the transfer of a lease or a home as well as prevent family members from inheriting the investment made by a deceased family member in a home.
This Substitute differs from the original bill to make changes to reflect discussions among the stakeholders, including:
- Moves the procedure for inspecting a home prior to transfer from the transfer section to the section that governs the rules for standards for retaining a transferred home in a community.
- Creates a 2-step process for the sale or transfer of a home where the homeowner notifies the community owner prior to listing the home, at which time the community owner may conduct an inspection, and a second notification for the sale of the home which triggers the right of first refusal in which the community owner can then purchase the home.
- Significantly reducing the time a buyer has to complete repairs.
- Clarifies that the notice of non-renewal of a lease by a tenant 60 days prior to the end of a lease term is only for moving the home off of the lot, and selling of the home is governed by § 7013.
- Clarifies requirements on lease transfers to heirs and adds limitations for how long the transfers take place depending on whether a previous occupant continues to live in the home after the death of the prior owner.
- Clarifies the portions of the tenancy application that must be completed in different situations when a home is inherited.
- Clarifies how long an estate has until appropriate action has to be taken.
- Removed the requirement that a community owner purchase the home if the buyer’s tenancy application is denied.
- Changes the minimum amount that a community owner must offer to a homeowner to prevent the ability of a lease to be transferred in the future to the greater of $1,500 or 36 months of the difference between the current monthly rent and market monthly rent.
- Adds a requirement that a seller must disclose to a buyer information about the lease transfer and that a community owner must disclose the rental amount to a prospective buyer.
- Makes it clear that a homeowner has to comply with § 7013(c) for the lease to transfer.
- Removes a provision in § 7016 that would no longer apply under the changes to § 7013.
- Extends the time that a community owner may purchase the ability to transfer the lease up to the time the homeowner provides notice of intent to sell.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MANUFACTURED HOME TITLE TRANSFERS. |
| SS 1 for SB 165 | Signed | Sturgeon | Like Senate Bill No. 165, this Act requires the Department of Education to pilot a revised student improvement component under the Delaware Performance Appraisal System and Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System beginning in the 2025-2026 school year before implementing it statewide. The revised student improvement component must consider factors such as student absences, mobility, and noncompliance that may adversely affect a student’s performance. During the 2026-2027 academic year, the pilot program will expand, allowing for further refinement of implementation and support structures. Participants in the pilot program will be held harmless, so that the revised student improvement component will not factor into overall ratings. The program will be implemented statewide in 2027-2028 for all licensed and certified educators.
Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 165 differs from SB 165 by holding also holding educators harmless during the pilot program and by making the following technical changes:
• Using the word “school” to refer to school districts and charter schools because “local education agencies” is not a defined term in the Code.
• Clarifying when the pilot program ends.
• Reorganizing the provisions to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO STUDENT IMPROVEMENT COMPONENT. |
| HS 1 for HB 212 | Signed | Bush | This Substitute for House Bill No. 212 corrects a technical drafting error to underline new language contained in Section 2 of the Act, and is otherwise identical to House Bill No. 212, which does the following:
Section 1 of this Act amends the time period during which health insurers may initiate overpayment recovery efforts from 24 months to 12 months of a claim being paid. This Act also amends one of the exemptions to the overpayment recovery deadline to require an indication of fraud, abuse, or other intentional misconduct based on a physical review or review of claims data or statements as opposed to merely having a reasonable belief of such fraud, abuse or other intentional misconduct. It aligns requirements for provider-oriented clawbacks with those for pharmacies.
Section 2 of this Act requires written notice from pharmacy benefit managers or entities conducting pharmacy audits. Because Department examinations have indicated that PBMs misuse this provision in the law to conduct audits outside the parameters of the Pharmacy Audit Integrity Program, Section 3 of this Act amends the exclusions to the applicability of the pharmacy audit rules to require that pharmacy benefits managers have more definitive proof, based on physical review of claims data or other investigative methods, to believe misconduct has occurred before the rules related to the Pharmacy Audit Integrity Program become inapplicable to an investigative audit. This Act also makes technical corrections to existing law to conform to the requirements of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO OVERPAYMENT RECOVERY AND AUDIT PRACTICES. |
