| HB 133 w/ HA 4 | Signed | Snyder-Hall | Currently, even when a defendant or individual obviously does not have the means to pay a financial penalty or fee, Delaware Courts are unable to waive certain mandatory minimum fines or fees at sentencing. This can create a constitutional crossroads, as our justice system has long recognized that the Fourteen Amendment prohibits “punishing a person for his poverty.” Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 671 (1983). This Act gives courts the discretion to waive fines and fees, in whole or in part, in appropriate circumstances. It also creates a presumption that fines and fees will not be imposed when a defendant shows evidence of certain conditions, including receiving a public assistance benefit (like Medicaid, SNAP, or veterans’ benefits) or being represented by the Office of Defense Services. It also creates a hearing process for anyone already sentenced to pay a fine or fee. The changes in this Act are based on recommendations of the Criminal Legal System Imposed Debt Study Group created by House Bill 244, as amended by House Amendment No 2, of the 151st General Assembly, in its December 7, 2023, report.
This Act takes effect 180 days after its enactment. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FINES, FEES, RESTITUTION, AND OTHER COURT-RELATED MONETARY OBLIGATIONS. |
| HB 295 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Berry | This Act provides that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget must designate 1 or more reserved parking spaces for a veteran at certain designated state buildings and facilities. It also prohibits stopping, standing, or parking in the veteran’s space.
Violations of this Act are exempted from the civil penalty for parking violations that exists in Title 21.
This Act takes effect 6 months after its enactment into law.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 21 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO A DESIGNATED PARKING SPACE FOR VETERANS AT STATE BUILDINGS. |
| HB 300 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Ross Levin | This Act establishes the position of a Title IX Coordinator in the Department of Education, whose purpose is statewide support, guidance, and oversight related to and providing for the enforcement of compliance with Title IX as it pertains to athletics in Delaware’s public schools serving grades 6 through 12. The Title IX Coordinator must do the following:
1) Offer annual Title IX training for school district and charter school Title IX coordinators, administrators, athletic directors, and coaches.
2) Provide non-legal technical Title IX assistance to school districts, schools, and charter schools, including model policies and best practices.
3) Collect and analyze data from school districts and charter schools to evaluate compliance with Title IX.
4) Identify, create, and maintain model Title IX policies and procedures.
5) Act as a liaison between public schools and federal agencies on updated rules and guidance.
6) Prepare a written report by December 1 of each year summarizing activities, findings, and recommendations for improving Title IX compliance and submit it to the Governor, General Assembly, and post publicly on the Department of Education website.
This Act requires school districts and charter schools to annually post and report to the Department of Education the following information: 1) participation rates by sex in interscholastic and intramural athletics; 2) budget and expenditure information for boys’ and girls’ sports programs; and 3) other information determined necessary by the Coordinator to evaluate compliance.
The Coordinator may issue systemic or school-specific non-legal guidance or request a school district, school, or charter school to engage in a strategic plan for improvement to address Title IX compliance.
The Department of Education, in collaboration with the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, will establish rules and regulations to implement and enforce the Act.
The Act provides that the Department of Education must request sufficient funding to support the Coordinator position and necessary upgrades to the Department’s data system to enable collection and analysis of athletics budget and expenditure data disaggregated by sex. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TITLE IX COORDINATOR WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. |
| SB 271 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Sokola | This Act strengthens procedural protections for pharmacies, pharmacists, and consumers related to regulation of a pharmacy benefits manager by doing all of the following:
Adds definitions for the terms “chronic or long-term condition”, “net amount”, “purchaser”, “recoupment”, “similarly situated contracted pharmacy”, and “wholesale invoice audit.”
Applies audit notice requirements uniformly and ensures access to an appropriate point of contact. Requires a pharmacy benefits manager to provide a list of records that the auditing entity seeks to audit at least 5 business days before an audit. Limits activities to once every 12 months and sets standards for wholesale invoice audits. Ensures audit costs are borne solely by the pharmacy benefits manager.
Clarifies that a pharmacy can appeal the amount of any reimbursement and that a contracted pharmacy’s representative can take actions and receive notices related to appeals on behalf of a pharmacy. Extends pharmacies’ ability to appeal from 10 days to 40 days to account for entities that complete retroactive billing. When an appeal is denied, requires the parties to provide a detailed reason for the denial and specific information about how the pharmacy can appeal the denial to the Department of Insurance.
Prohibits retaliation by a pharmacy benefits manager when a pharmacist or pharmacy discloses information to a government agency or during a proceeding if the person who disclosed the information had reasonable cause to believe that the disclosed information is evidence of a violation of a state or federal law.
Requires that a pharmacy benefits manager must provide at least 60 days’ notice before amending a contract with a pharmacy or pharmacist.
Clarifies that the prohibition against spread pricing applies to all purchasers contracting with pharmacy benefits managers.
Changes the reporting requirements for rebates so that pharmacy benefits managers must file the required reports annually instead of quarterly. This change will reduce the amount of incorrect or unclear reporting because rebates are aggregated and reported at the end of the period of time under each contract.
Amends national drug acquisition cost compliance to refer to the date of service. Prohibits pharmacy benefit managers from unit-of-use requirements inconsistent with smallest package size availability and manufacturer recommendations. Requires that pharmacy benefit managers may not require pharmacies to dispense therapeutically equivalent or alternative drugs that cost the enrollee more out of pocket than the prescribed drug except for medical reasons. Ensures that enrollee-identifiable or prescriber-identifiable information is not transferred to or shared with affiliated pharmacies for any commercial purpose other than those defined.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PHARMACY BENEFITS MANAGERS. |
| SB 274 | Signed | Pinkney | Enacted in 2015, Chapter 25A of Title 16, the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment Act created a voluntary process and a document that can used by patients with serious illness or frailty to provide direction to emergency care personnel regarding the patient's preferences in regard to scope of care and treatment.
This Act changes the name "Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (DMOST)" under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to "Delaware Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)" to align with the national effort to create a uniform form. This Act contains a savings provision so that the name change under this Act does not affect the validity or effect of DMOST forms.
This Act also revises Chapter 25A of Title 16 as follows:
• Repeals requirements that conflict with the national model law regarding a patient’s ability to limit the future authority of the patient’s authorized representative to modify the orders in the patient’s POLST form.
• Allows any health-care practitioner authorized under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to complete a POLST form to find that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. Under existing law, all practitioners who are licensed and authorized to write medical orders under Title 24 may complete POLST forms but only physicians can determine that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. This change is consistent with the capacity provisions under Chapter 25 of Title 16, the recently enacted Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act.
• Requires that a health-care practitioner document their finding that a patient lacks decision-making capacity in the patient’s medical record.
• Clarifies the existing requirement that a patient’s authorized representative may not execute a POLST form for a patient unless the patient’s lack of decision-making capacity is documented in the patient’s medical record.
Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including corresponding name changes to other Code sections that reference the DMOST form. In § 2718(c)(5) of Title 21, the name for an advance health-care directive under Chapter 25 of Title 16 is also corrected. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 AND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DELAWARE MEDICAL ORDERS FOR SCOPE OF TREATMENT. |
| SS 1 for SB 120 | Signed | Mantzavinos | This Act requires that individual, group, State employee, and public assistance insurance plans provide coverage for biomarker testing, when the test is supported by medical and scientific evidence. The Act applies to all such policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027.
This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 120 in that this Act clarifies that it does not prevent a provision restricting coverage to services by a licensed, certified, or carrier-approved provider or facility, restrict the use of utilization management, or require coverage of biomarker testing for screening purposes or coverage of investigatory and experimental biomarker tests. In addition, the Act differs from Senate Bill No. 120 in that it applies to policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027, rather than December 31, 2026. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 18, 29, AND 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE. |
| HS 1 for HB 145 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Wilson-Anton | Reverse-keyword court orders enable the government to obtain technology search data without identifying any specific person as to which there is probable cause to believe they have committed or will imminently commit a crime. The profusion of electronic devices and apps in recent years has allowed recordation of numerous details of citizen’s everyday lives, that the government should not be permitted to collect and review at will. Such general searches allow the government to sweep in personal information about hundreds or thousands of people who are not suspected of having committed any crime. These searches are an invasion of privacy, have a potentially chilling effect on civil liberties, and sidestep requirements for individualized suspicion that are otherwise required for a lawful search.
This House Substitute for House Bill No. 145 would prohibit law enforcement and courts from requesting, issuing, or enforcing reverse-keyword court orders and reverse-keyword requests, with the exception that reverse-keyword court orders and requests may be utilized to investigate suspected Class A Felonies so long as the search query returns 5 or fewer search hits. It also requires the suppression of evidence derived from an unlawful reverse-keyword search. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REVERSE LOCATION AND REVERSE KEYWORD SEARCHES AND COURT ORDERS. |
| HB 363 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Berry | This Act changes the statutory speed limit for residential districts to 20 miles per hour. This Act provides a 5-year window for signage to be updated. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO RESIDENTIAL SPEED LIMITS. |
| SB 22 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Townsend | Approximately one in five adults report experiencing a mental health condition. At the same time, many individuals continue to face delays or barriers when trying to access care, even when they have insurance coverage. Delays, denials, or truncation of treatment leave families and their doctors battling for coverage instead of focusing on treatment and recovery. Families must pay out of pocket for care, on top of premiums for coverage they are not receiving. Further, Delawareans are five times more likely to go out-of-network for mental health care than for primary care, resulting in higher costs.
This Act, known as the Fair Standards in Mental Health Care Act, builds on previous work to advance mental health parity and aims to ensure patients with private insurance can access timely, evidence-based mental health and substance use disorder care in Delaware. This Act supports improved access to mental health disorder and substance use disorder treatment by:
1. Adding and refining key terms, including definitions of mental health disorders and substance use disorders, level of care criteria, medically necessary treatment, utilization review and utilization review criteria to ensure consistency with widely accepted clinical standards of treatment and service intensity determination. This bill forges gold-standard clinical guidelines through requiring insurers to use transparent, evidence-based standards from independent experts, including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
2. Requiring coverage for all medically necessary treatment, including emergency services and all clinically appropriate levels of care. This bill ends prior authorization delays for mental health and guarantees emergency mental health coverage, just as Delaware already does for addiction treatment.
3. Requiring at least one formulation of certain FDA-approved medications to treat substance use disorders to be placed on the lowest-cost tier of drug formularies.
4. Prohibiting discrimination against individuals with current or predicted mental health disorders or substance use disorders.
5. Requiring carriers to arrange coverage of medically necessary out-of-network services without additional cost to the enrollee if in-network options are unavailable within applicable network access standards, thus ensuring real network access.
6. Removing language currently in the code barring a private right of action for violations of 18 Del. Code § 3343. In addition, the Act clarifies that carriers must provide nonquantitative treatment limitation parity analysis (NQTL parity analysis) that they are required to have completed under federal law to health care providers and current and prospective covered persons, free of charge, upon request.
This Act applies to individual health insurance policies under Chapter 33 of Title 18 and group and blanket health insurance policies under Chapter 35 of Title 18. This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE. |
| SB 292 | Signed | Hansen | This Act requires that when all or part of the tenant’s rent is paid from a state fund for reentry services, a landlord must assist the tenant in completing a discharge plan to attempt to provide a warm handoff before terminating the tenant’s lease. This Act also closes a loophole in existing law that allows unlicensed or uncertified operators of residential housing to claim exemption from the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, including the procedural requirements for an eviction.
Existing laws prohibit someone from losing their housing without notice because
• A landlord must comply with the notice and judicial procedure under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Part III, Title 25.
• Licensed health care providers must provide discharge planning before an individual is required to leave a residential treatment program under § 1127, § 5161, and § 3004J of Title 16.
• Certified recovery homes must make a reasonable effort to connect a resident with appropriate services when terminating the resident’s admission agreement under § 2206A of Title 16.
Section 1 of this Act closes a loophole in current law that allows some landlords to claim their tenants are excluded under § 5102(1) of Title 25 from the protections required before eviction under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code without being required to provide discharge planning or connecting the resident with appropriate services. This Act revises 3 of the exclusions by using the modern terms and where possible, the applicable licensing law for this State, to prevent housing providers from claiming exclusion from the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code even if the provider is not licensed or certified to provide services. This Act does not apply to or revise the exclusions to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code under paragraphs (4) through (6) of § 5102 of Title 25, including the existing exclusion for certified recovery houses.
Section 2 of this Act creates new requirements under § 5512A of Title 25 if all or part of a tenant’s rent is paid using money from a State reentry fund. Before or with the first payment, the person responsible for payments from the fund must provide the landlord with an explanation of these requirements, contact information, and the model discharge plan. The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), in consultation with the Department of Justice (DOJ), must create a model discharge plan. Then, before terminating the tenant’s lease, the landlord must assist the individual in creating a discharge plan that includes shelter or housing and provide notice that the tenant’s lease is being terminated as follows:
• To the person making rent payments from the fund.
• If the landlord knows that the tenant is under the supervision of the Department of Correction, to the Department of Correction and the local law enforcement agency.
If a landlord fails to comply with the discharge planning and notice requirements, the landlord is debarred from receiving payments from any State reentry fund for 1 year. If the landlord is receiving payments from a State reentry fund for any other tenants, those tenants are not responsible for the share of the rent that was paid by the fund and have the option to do any of the following:
• Continue the tenancy without payments from the fund. If the tenant chooses to continue their tenancy, the amount of their rent becomes the tenant’s share of the rent, calculated by subtracting the amount paid by the fund from the total rent under the rental agreement.
• Terminate the lease immediately.
• Terminate the lease with 30 to 60 days notice.
These requirements are enforceable by the Department of Justice and also by the Justice of the Peace Court, because the contents of an eviction complaint must include a brief statement of compliance with the requirements under § 5512A(c) and copies of all required notices.
Section 3 of this Act is a technical clarification to clarify that “this Code” and “Landlord-Tenant Code” both refer to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code under Part III of this title. Both “this Code” and “Landlord-Tenant Code” are used throughout Chapter 51 through Chapter 59 of Title 25 as abbreviations of the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code and under § 101 of Title 1, “this Code” could also refer to the entire Delaware Code.
Section 4 of this Act makes the new requirements for reentry funds under § 5512A of Title 25 applicable to the rental of single rooms in owner-occupied buildings under § 5512 of Title 25. Section 4 also reorganizes the existing language in § 5512 because as 1 sentence, the current language is difficult to understand.
This Act takes effect 6 months after enactment to provide time for DHSS and DOJ to develop the model discharge plan and for agencies, including the Department of Correction and local law enforcement agencies, to develop policies and procedures necessary to implement and respond to notification under these requirements. The new requirements under § 5512A of Title 25 apply to rental agreements entered into on or after the effective date of this Act.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act is known as “The Grace Peterson Act”. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE LANDLORD-TENANT CODE. |
| HB 384 | Signed | Berry | This Act amends the Delaware Code to allow open-end contracts for highway construction or reconstruction for up to five (5) years. This Act is intended to conform Delaware’s procurement statutes to the time limits permitted for contracts by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and still ensure that adequate security is maintained to cover all bids and ongoing work. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO OPEN-END CONTRACTING FOR HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION. |
| HB 388 | Signed | Morrison | This Act seeks to address the undue burden placed on individuals who are required to surrender their driver's license due to a medical condition. Under current law, individuals must physically surrender their license, often during already traumatic circumstances, and are then, in some cases, required to purchase a separate identification card to maintain a valid form of ID during the suspension period. This Act allows a medically disqualified individual to retain the individual's physical driver’s license for identification purposes by signing an affidavit acknowledging the individual is prohibited from operating a motor vehicle. This approach balances public safety with compassion, streamlines administrative processes, and eliminates unnecessary costs for affected individuals.
This Act also makes technical corrections to existing law to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE LOSS OF DRIVERS' LICENSES DUE TO MEDICAL ISSUES. |
| HB 413 | Signed | Carson | This Act expands the use of green lights to include vehicles and equipment used for road construction and maintenance activities. Other states have already expanded their laws to allow green lights on these types of vehicles and equipment in addition to snow plows. This Act removes potential confusion over whether those lights may be operated in Delaware. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO USE OF REVOLVING OR FLASHING GREEN LIGHT. |
| SB 257 | Signed | Poore | This Act requires animal shelters that operate in this State to be licensed by the Department of Health and Social Services (Department). Licenses must be renewed annually, and the Department may charge a reasonable license and license renewal fee not to exceed the costs of administering Subchapter I of Chapter 30F of Title 16 (this subchapter). An animal shelter applying for licensure for the first time is subject to an inspection to ensure ability to comply with this subchapter.
The Department may refuse to issue or renew, or may suspend or revoke a license, if the person does any of the following:
(1) In any jurisdiction that requires licensure, operates an animal shelter without a license or under a revoked or suspended license.
(2) Fails to meet the requirements of this subchapter or any applicable regulation.
(3) Knowingly, or with reason to know, makes a false statement of a material fact in, or falsifies, any of the following:
a. An application for a license or a license renewal.
b. Any data or document submitted to the Department.
c. Records required to be kept under this subchapter or under applicable regulation.
(4) Refuses to allow representatives or agents of the Department to inspect any of the following:
a. All or any portion of the animal shelter.
b. Any documents, records, or files required to be maintained by the animal shelter.
(5) Does not correct a previously identified violation.
(6) Has unpaid fees or fines.
(7) Has a history of noncompliance with animal welfare laws or applicable regulations.
The Department has discretion to issue provisional licensure for an applicant seeking license renewal.
An animal shelter that fails to comply with the licensure requirement is subject to a warning or a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 per violation. Each day that the animal shelter continues to operate without a license is another violation.
This Act moves the existing definitions section from § 3001F to § 3000F to fit the licensure requirement within the animal shelter operation subchapter. This Act also amends internal citations and word use to account for the movement of the definitions section and the addition of new definitions. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act requires a greater-than-majority vote for passage because Article VIII, § 11 of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of 3/5 of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly when a new tax or license fee is imposed.
This Act takes effect January 1, 2027. The initial inspection requirement is not applicable to an animal shelter that has been operating in this State before January 1, 2027, so long as that animal shelter has had a satisfactory inspection under § 3008F(b) of Title 16 within the year preceding January 1, 2027. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ANIMAL SHELTER OPERATION. |
| HB 426 | Signed | Ortega | This Act removes the requirement that certain reports to the State Aid to Municipalities for Streets Program be notarized and printed and permits reports to be submitted by electronic submission with a unique identifier. This Act also requires that the annual report that is submitted to the State Treasurer also be submitted to the Department of Transporation. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO STATE AID TO MUNICIPALITIES FOR STREETS. |
| HB 447 | Signed | Minor-Brown | This Act directs the Interagency Resource Management Committee to coordinate planning, program development, and funding related to child care affordability initiatives, including voluntary cost-sharing partnerships between the State, employers, community sponsors, and families. The purpose of such programs is to expand access to affordable, licensed child care and support workforce initiatives. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CHILD CARE. |
| HB 459 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Neal | This Act prohibits the sale of energy drinks on public middle and high school campuses during school hours or school events. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENERGY DRINKS. |
| SS 1 for SB 334 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Pinkney | The Health Care Professional Access Act requires carriers to participate in uniform processes with specific timetables to create speed-to-market for health care professionals. Currently, health care professionals may be employed for 6 months or more with no ability to collect insurer reimbursement due to lengthy carrier credentialing process. Ensuring uniformity across carriers, as well as relevant procedural standards, will help attract and retain health care professionals in our state, enable movement between practices and the creation of new ones, and ensure nondiscrimination in credentialing decisions.
Under this Act, credentialing processes are limited to 45 days. This Act additionally provides for provisional credentialing, whereby reimbursement ability is provided even more quickly for certain health care professionals, including FQHCs, and in designated shortage areas which currently include mental health professionals statewide and primary and dental care in Kent and Sussex Counties, or is offered if timelines are not met. Oversight of compliance with this Act falls to the applicable regulatory agency. The Act also ensures specific processes and health care professional rights during a carrier’s intent to terminate a credential.
More than 30 states have credentialing standards in law, with additional jurisdictions considering relevant legislation. Components of this legislation are derived from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Health Care Professional Credentialing Verification Model Act.
This substitute differs from the original in that it does the following:
- Clarifies that it applies to those carriers that require credentialing and does not require carriers to create a credentialing process if they do not already do so;
- Clarifies the process for credentialing of health care professionals whose primary or home state is not Delaware and prefer to use the credentialing process in their primary or home state;
- Allows a carrier to require earlier recredentialing to address activity that could disqualify a health care professional from credentialing;
- Allows for certain electronic delivery of recredentialing notices;
- Simplifies the language for the basis to deny, suspend, nonrenew, or terminate a health care professional’s to align with NCQA standards;
- Clarifies that the penalties and remedies in this Act are in addition to those already otherwise available; and
- Makes technical changes to information about CAQH.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 18 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH CARE. |
| SS 1 for SB 319 | Signed | Poore | This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 319 and makes all of the following changes:
1. Changes the definition of “hormone replacement therapy” to clarify that hormone replacement therapy must be approved by the United States Food and Drug and Administration.
2. Removes pellet medication from the definition of “hormone replacement therapy” because it is not currently approved by the United States Food and Drug and Administration for treating menopause or perimenopause.
3. Makes technical corrections.
Like Senate Bill No. 319, this substitute requires individual health insurance plans, group and blanket health insurance plans, the state employee health plan, and state Medicaid insurance to cover medically necessary diagnostic services and treatment for menopause, perimenopause, and symptoms of menopause or perimenopause, including all of the following:
1. Consultation and diagnostic testing.
2. Hormonal therapies, including hormone replacement therapy and bioidentical hormone treatments, that are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
3. Non-hormonal treatments, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, neurokinin B antagonists, and other medications to manage menopause symptoms.
4. All drugs, devices, and combination products approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of menopause and perimenopause symptoms.
5. Therapy to treat menopause induced by a hysterectomy.
6. Behavioral health care services.
7. Pelvic floor physical therapy.
8. Bone health treatments due to hormonal changes related to menopause and perimenopause, including screenings and medications.
9. Preventative services for early detection and treatment of health conditions related to menopause and perimenopause, including osteoporosis and cancer.
10. Counseling and education regarding menopause management.
Additionally, an insurer or carrier must provide clear and accessible information about covered diagnostic services and treatment for menopause, perimenopause, and menopause and perimenopause symptoms to each covered individual or Medicaid recipient. Menopause and perimenopause diagnostic and treatment benefits or assistance must be provided to the same extent as benefits or assistance for other medical conditions, but coverage for medically necessary hormone replacement therapy provided under this Act may not be any of the following, except as otherwise provided by federal Medicaid law:
1. Denied or limited, if the use of the hormone replacement therapy is supported by national clinical guidelines, national standards of care, or peer-reviewed medical literature for the treatment of menopause, perimenopause, or menopause and perimenopause symptoms.
2. Subject to prior authorization or step therapy requirements.
The Act provides a religious exemption for group and blanket health policies. If the coverage requirement conflicts with a religious employer’s bona fide religious beliefs or practices, the religious employer may request a coverage exclusion for the coverage required under Section 2 of this Act and an insurer shall grant the exclusion. A religious employer who is granted an exclusion must give its employees reasonable and timely notice of the exclusion.
This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates that are issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO COVERAGE FOR DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES AND TREATMENT FOR MENOPAUSE, PERIMENOPAUSE, AND MENOPAUSE AND PERIMENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS. |
| HS 1 for HB 332 | Signed | Ross Levin | House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 332 prohibits the selling, providing, or marketing of kratom or a kratom product to an individual under the age of 21. A person who violates the prohibition is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
It also requires The Division of Alcohol & Tobacco Enforcement and the Department of Health and Social Services to provide a report on kratom testing capabilities and potential licensing requirements for retailers selling kratom products to the Governor and General Assembly by January 1, 2027.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to give jurisdiction to inferior courts or justices of the peace of “such … misdemeanors as the General Assembly may from time to time … prescribe.” | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO KRATOM. |
| HS 1 for HB 390 | Signed | Morrison | This House Substitute for House Bill No. 390 clarifies that the agencies may, in their discretion, determine the methodology to be used for bid submission, including limiting bidding to solely electronic submissions. This Act allows for electronic bidding to be conducted through a platform of the agency’s choice. Where electronic bidding is identified as the sole manner of bidding, the agency is not required to provide an anchor location for public attendance at the bid opening. The agency is then required to provide the results of the bidding in real time via an electronic remote hosting platform of the agency’s choosing. The agency must post the results of the solicitation to their website within 2 business days. Additionally, this Act clarifies that a newspaper advertisement is not required if advertisement is submitted to the electronic procurement advertising system defined in § 6902(12) of this title. Finally, this Act clarifies that the agency and awarded bidder may mutually consent to extend the time limit for a contract award.
This House Substitute differs from the original bill by adding that the agency must accept paper submissions when the solicitation or request for proposal is under $500,000 but more than the amount specified by the Office of Management and Budget in their annual guidance. It includes that the centralized computer system administered by the Section of Government Support Services will serve as the State's system of record. This substitute also makes technical corrections to conform with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF BIDS AND BID OPENINGS FOR ELECTRONIC BIDDING. |
