| SB 234 | Committee | Pettyjohn | This Act creates a definition of “first responder” in Chapter 31 of Title 20, pertaining to emergency management. Currently, the term is referenced, but it is not actually defined, creating potential uncertainty about who qualifies as a first responder in this context. This Act defines a first responder as a federal, state, or local law enforcement officer, fire, or emergency medical services personnel, hazardous materials response team member, 911 dispatcher, emergency manager, or other individual who is responsible for the protection and preservation of life or property and who is called on to respond to emergencies. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 20 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FIRST RESPONDERS. |
| SB 235 | Committee | Walsh | This Act repeals the sunset date on the rent increase calculations for manufactured home communities that were enacted as a pilot under Senate Bill No. 317 (151st General Assembly), 83 Del. Laws, c. 341. Under this Act, the calculations used for rent increases under § 7052A and § 7052B of Title 25 replace the grounds for rent increases under § 7052 of Title 25. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO RENT INCREASES. |
| SB 236 | Committee | Lawson | This Act adopts a portion of the 2017 updates to the Uniform Parentage Act ("Uniform Act") authored by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.”
Specifically, this Act adopts provisions setting forth requirements and procedures regarding access to non-identifying medical history and identifying information regarding gamete providers by children born through assisted reproduction and their parents.
Based on data from 2015, the CDC reports that “approximately 1.6% of all infants born in the United States every year are conceived using ART.” Data suggest that this percentage continues to increase. Gaia Bernstein, Unintended Consequences: Prohibitions on Gamete Donor Anonymity and the Fragile Practice of Surrogacy, 10 Ind. Health L. Rev. 291, 298 (2013) (noting that “from 2004 to 2008 the number of IVF cycles used for gestational surrogacy grew by 60%, the number of births by gestational surrogates grew by 53% and the number of babies born to gestational surrogates grew by 89%”). Accordingly, it is increasingly important for states to address these issues.
These provisions of the Uniform Act do the following:
(1) Require gamete banks and fertility clinics to collect and retain both identifying information and nonidentifying medical history about gamete donors.
(2) Provide that gamete banks and fertility centers shall provide non-identifying medical history to parents on request at any time and on request by the donor-conceived child who attains 18 years of age.
(3) With regard to identifying information, provide that a gamete bank or fertility center shall provide this information to the donor conceived child who attains 18 years of age on their request. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PARENTAGE. |
| SB 237 | Committee | Cruce | This bill directly responds to New Castle County Council Resolution 26-018 by expressly authorizing New Castle County Council to establish a right of tenure for New Castle County’s Assistant County Attorneys and other professional legal staff by ordinance. Like the similar rights granted to the employees of the State of Delaware Department of Justice and the City of Wilmington’s legal staff, these rights will serve to promote recruitment and retention of high-quality legal professionals, promote continuity of legal services, and further the public’s interest in the provision of independent legal advice. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ASSISTANT COUNTY ATTORNEYS AND OTHER LEGAL PROFESSIONALS EMPLOYED WITH NEW CASTLE COUNTY. |
| SB 238 | Committee | Townsend | In Delaware, all individual health insurance policies, all group and blanket health insurance policies, the State employee health insurance plan, and Medicaid are required to cover chiropractic and physical therapy treatment for chronic back pain without annual or lifetime numerical limits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits. To evaluate the effectiveness of this coverage requirement, the Patient Centered Care Subcommittee of the Addiction Action Committee, under the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, sent a survey to chiropractic therapy and physical therapy providers in Delaware. Although the survey showed that the coverage requirement has improved treatment of chronic pain patients, the survey also showed that the coverage requirement provides supportive chronic pain treatment for only the thoracic region of the spine, which is the middle of the spine from the base of the neck to the bottom of the ribs, and the lumbar region of the spine, which is the lower back. The treatment of chronic pain through chiropractic supportive care, physical therapy, or both, can prevent a patient from requiring opioid pain medications or more expensive treatments, but excluding vital areas of the spine and body from coverage may limit the effectiveness of chiropractic therapy and physical therapy treatment and limits a chronic pain patient’s potential for improvement.
This Act encourages treatment of chronic pain patients without opioids by updating the required health insurance coverage to prohibit annual or lifetime numerical visits on physical therapy or chiropractic care visits that are for the purpose of treating the spine and other neuromusculoskeletal structures, including extremities.
The updated coverage required under this Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2026.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR CHIROPRACTIC THERAPY AND PHYSICAL THERAPY. |
| SB 239 | Committee | Hansen | This Act removes the 8% cap on net energy metering for customer-generation. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND NET METERING. |
