General Assembly OKs fire protection fee

A bill to raise funds for fire companies by allowing counties to enact property fees has cleared both legislative houses and now awaits Gov. John Carney’s signature to become law.

House Bill 127 with two amendments passed the Senate June 11 with 20 votes and one absent after earlier passing the House in April with 39 votes and two absent to allow each county to impose through ordinance a fire protection fee. 

Counties would establish how the money is distributed, but the bill requires any money collected to go into an account separate from the county’s general fund, and money collected would only go to fire companies that provide fire protection.

Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, and Rep. Jeff Hilovsky, R-Millsboro, both sponsored the bill.

Senate Republicans issued a statement in support of the bill’s passage, saying rising costs and a drop-off in volunteers have put a strain on Delaware’s volunteer fire companies.

In many cases, Republicans say, fire companies must pay for emergency medical technicians and firefighters to provide community services. Reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid is slow and does not cover 100% of the costs, they said, and fundraising campaigns no longer cover the growing financial demands.

“This has created a monetary strain on fire companies and EMT service providers. To recoup costs to meet payroll and general budgetary necessities, companies are faced with either raising the price of services or cutting services completely,” the statement reads. “HB 127 seeks to remedy this by giving each county government the option to impose the fee, which would then be used by the local fire and ambulance services to mitigate cost and employ highly skilled personnel.”

Signed into law

• HB 350 was signed June 13 to create a Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board tasked with annually reviewing hospital budgets to keep costs down. The bill passed the House 21-16 with four absent in April and again in May after the Senate approved it 14-7 with an amendment. The board will review information in 2025.

• HB 348, sponsored by Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth, was signed into law May 23 to remove the requirement for a lifeguard at a pool exclusively serving a residential or apartment community not accessible to the general public. This legislation aligns the statutory and regulatory requirements so the lifeguard requirement in a rental community is the same as for a single-family residential community, hotel, motel and campground. The bill unanimously passed the Senate May 15 and passed the House March 26 with 36 votes, four absent and one not voting. 

• SB 276 was signed into law May 7 to name the Newark Regional Transportation Center after U.S. Sen. Tom Carper. The bill passed the House the same day by 35 votes with six absent, and unanimously passed the Senate April 17. 

• HB 288 was signed into law April 30 after unanimously passing the Senate April 16 to change the Division of Research to the Division of Legislative Services. The bill unanimously passed the House March 12.

• HB 315 was signed into law April 30  to remove racist language and provisions from the Delaware Code. The bill unanimously passed the Senate April 16, and unanimously passed the House March 14.

• SB 220 was signed into law April 30 to cover third-party insurance payments for people who also qualify for Medicaid, including barring third parties from refusing payment for an item or service if it is approved under Medicaid. The bill passed the House March 28 with 39 votes and two absent, and unanimously passed the Senate March 13. 

Awaiting governor signature

• SB 187 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to ensure that educators hired after the effective date of this bill who earned graduate degrees prior to becoming educators, receive credit on the salary schedule for those degrees regardless of the specific subject area of those degrees. The bill unanimously passed the Senate in January.

• SB 259 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent and passed the Senate May 8 with 19 votes and two absent to update and modernize the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association board of directors' composition.

• SB 260 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent and passed the Senate May 8 with 19 votes and two absent to give the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association the authority to promulgate regulations by removing the requirements that the secretary of education propose DIAA-related regulations and the state board of education approve the proposed regulations. It also removes the requirement that DIAA and Department of Education  collaborate to develop regulations. 

• SB 280 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent and unanimously passed the Senate May 15 to update the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association’s executive director from an education associate-level position in the Department of Education to a director-level position in the department.

• SB 281 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent and unanimously passed the Senate May 15 to allow the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association executive director to make the final decision on a school transfer waiver, subject to an appeal of a three-member panel composed of board members. Shifting the final decision-making to the executive director removes duplicative steps in regard to allowing a student to play sports. The executive director must issue a decision within 15 days of receiving a waiver, and a student may appeal the decision to the appeals panel within 15 days of receiving it. The appeals panel must issue its decision within 30 days of receiving an appeal, and it may not hold a hearing on an appeal or otherwise ask questions of a student who seeks an appeal; the panel must make its decision based on the documentation the executive director used to make a decision.

• HB 24 with HA 1 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 and the House March 14 to create a new charitable donation option on the Delaware income tax return for a mental health group - SL24: Unlocke the Light Foundation. 

• HA 1 to HB 263 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 and the House March 7 to prohibit local education agencies and charter schools from prohibiting a student from participating in a school-sponsored extracurricular activity on the basis the student has an outstanding debt for unpaid school meals.

Senate passed

• HB 87 with HA 1 and SA 2 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to establish the Delaware Agricultural Production Assistance Program. The program will provide a subsidy of up to 30% of the premium for eligible producers’ multi-peril crop insurance premium, or whole farm revenue protection premium up to a maximum of $10 per acre. The bill unanimously passed the House March 7, but returns with the Senate amendment.

• SB 78 unanimously passed the Senate June 12 to exempt from school property taxes real estate owned by Todmorden Foundation and used for the purposes of affordable housing. 

• SS 1 for SB 266 unanimously passed the Senate June 12 to remove the ability for persons to bring an action under the Delaware False Claims and Reporting Act for failures to comply with reporting requirements of the Delaware Unclaimed Property Law. It leaves untouched the ability of the government (through the attorney general) to bring such an action after a 90-day period during which the state escheator may initiate an examination, against a holder who is not otherwise engaged in a voluntary disclosure agreement or under examination, compliance review or verified report review. The act also defines what payment a whistleblower may receive, in the event the whistleblower provides information concerning the failure of a holder to comply with the UPL’s reporting requirements and the state receives a payment as a result.

• SB 320, sponsored by Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, unanimously passed the Senate June 12 to create a new license category of speech/language pathology assistant that is licensed and regulated by the Board of Speech/Language Pathologists, Audiologists, and Hearing Aid Dispensers. 

• SB 319 unanimously passed the Senate June 12 to change the requirements for continuing education for doctors related to Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias to require that doctors must only complete two hours of this continuing education once. 

Bills in committee

House Administration

• HB 437 modifies the Delaware Commission of Veterans’ Affairs employee requirements to make the executive director an exempt position, and to allow the hiring of non-veteran employees when needed.

• HB 444, sponsored by Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, along with Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, would designate the orange crush as the state cocktail.

• HB 429 is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that would reform the state budgeting process. This amendment would continue the Budget Stabilization Fund, established in 2018 under Executive Order 21, issued by Gov. John Carney. It also seeks to continue the state Benchmark Index and state Benchmark Appropriation, established by the same executive order, which will expire at the end of the Carney administration in January 2025. This amendment would further hold the General Assembly accountable for responsibly managing state spending growth by instituting new protocols. It would create the eight-member Budget Accountability Review Commission and establish a set of procedures to ensure the state operating budget complies with the state Benchmark Index and state Benchmark Appropriation. These benchmarks could be exceeded when extraordinary circumstances presented themselves.

• SB 287 passed the Senate May 23 by an 18-3 vote to clarify duties and powers of the auditor of accounts.

• SB 286 passed the Senate May 23 by an 18-3 vote to create the Delaware Hispanic Commission.

• HB 430 is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to make gender silent language, and other punctuation and wording changes.

House Appropriations

• SB 265 with SA 1 and SA 2 passed the Senate May 23 by a 15-6 vote to authorize the DNREC State Energy Office and the Delaware Public Service Commission to work in consultation with the Delaware Renewable Energy Task Force to solicit proposals from one or multiple developers willing to build a system of offshore wind turbine electric generation facilities, transmission lines and interconnection facilities. The State Energy Office is directed to procure between 800 and 1,200 megawatts of electricity to Delaware’s public utilities. Delaware’s municipal electric companies, rural electric cooperatives and third-party providers will be able to purchase electricity generated from offshore wind if they choose. Delaware also could initiate its own project or partner with another state. The Public Service Commission would approve a final solicitation document.

• SB 267 passed the Senate May 7 by 19 votes with two absent to clarify various aspects of the state’s unclaimed property laws.

• SB 272 with SA 1 unanimously passed the Senate May 16 to require that health insurance providers provide the same reimbursement to pharmacists that is already provided to other providers performing the same services at the same rates as advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants.

House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce

• HS 1 for HB 427 with HA 1  would protect consumers by regulating home improvement contracts. This bill also enhances penalties for home improvement fraud for those with prior convictions for home improvement fraud; creates a new Class D felony for debarred individuals who operate companies or employ other individuals which engage in home improvement; and creates enhanced penalties for individuals who engage in home improvement services while operating companies that are not registered with the Delaware Department of Labor’s Contractor Registry.

• HB 423, sponsored by Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, would permit a farm winery to apply for a license for use of a portion of the farm winery premises as a restaurant.

• HB 439 would add "housing status" as a protected characteristic, and prohibit discrimination on the basis of it.

• SS 1 for SB 293 passed the Senate May 23 by a 14-5 vote with two absent to revise both the Delaware Fair Housing Act and residential landlord-tenant code to repeal the exemption to discrimination based on source of income that allows a landlord to discriminate against tenants who participate in government-sponsored rental assistance programs because this exemption contributes to a lack of affordable housing in this state.

• HB 441 would encourage patients to choose physical therapy, occupational therapy and neuromuscular massage therapy as a safe alternative to opioid use for managing acute and chronic pain by eliminating cost-sharing for physical therapy, occupational therapy and neuromuscular massage therapy services; and expanding the prohibition on annual or lifetime numerical limits on physical therapy, occupational therapy, and neuromuscular massage therapy services to the treatment of any chronic or acute musculoskeletal pain or post-surgical therapy. 

• SB 256 with SA 1 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to clarify the attorney general’s existing authority to enforce the state’s consumer protection laws, specifically the attorney general’s ability to pursue non-penalty civil remedies, such as damages and restitution, without having to show that a person’s violation of a law or regulation enforced by the Department of Justice’s Division of Consumer Protection was willful.

• SB 302 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to allow a licensed brewery-pub located within the premises of a public golf course to apply to the commissioner for a license to sell alcoholic beverages to patrons of the golf course if the brewery-pub and public golf course share common ownership.

• SB 308 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to adopt the Uniform Special Deposits Act authored by the Uniform Law Commission. 

House Health & Human Development

• SS1 for SB 13 unanimously passed the Senate May 23 to create the Hospital Quality Assessment, which places a 3.58% assessment on Delaware hospitals’ net patient revenues. With the exception of 10% that may be used to support existing Medicaid obligations, 53.5% of net funds generated by the Hospital Quality Assessment must be used to increase the inpatient and outpatient payments to hospitals, and 46.5% must be deposited into the Hospital Quality and Health Equity Fund, to be used to develop or enhance funding for Medicaid initiatives, unlocking federal matching dollars.

• HB 411 would hold current members of Delaware volunteer fire departments to the same standards as applicants with relation to criminal activity.

• SB 215 with SA 1 and SA 2 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to require the Department of Health and Social Services to inspect long-term care facilities on an annual basis.

• SS 1 for SB 254 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to create the Delaware Grocery Initiative to direct the Office of State Planning Coordination to study food insecurity in urban and rural food deserts. The act defines a food desert and directs the office to expand access to healthy foods in food deserts by providing financial assistance to grocery stores, independently owned for-profit grocery stores, cooperative grocery stores, nonprofit grocery stores as well as grocery stores owned and operated by local governmental units. The act provides the office with authority to enter into contracts, grants or other agreements to administer grants and other financial support, including technical assistance. It further authorizes the office to adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to implement and administer this initiative.

House Education

• HB 421 would amend state law to provide an education employee paid time off to recover from injury incurred in the performance of duty.

• SB 305 with SA1 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to streamline and modernize the State Early Childhood Education Program.

House Housing

• HB 443 would create Low Barrier Navigation Centers, which the bill refers to as non-congregate, interim housing facilities designed to rapidly transition individuals or families into permanent housing.

House Judiciary

• HB 424 would permit the child to enter a plea of guilty or nolo contendere and appeal an amenability denial to the Delaware Supreme Court within 30 days of being sentenced by the Superior Court. This act also prohibits any plea being conditioned on waiving this right of appeal. This act also clarifies that the Superior Court will not retain jurisdiction over the child if the Supreme Court reverses the Superior Court’s order.

• HB 436 would allow participation in the county and municipal police/firefighter pension plan by persons who are employed full time as either a paid firefighter or a paid emergency medical technician or both.

• SS 3 for SB 169 unanimously passed the Senate May 23 to create a process for compensating individuals who have been wrongfully convicted in the state. To obtain compensation, a petitioner must show they were pardoned, or, after the conviction was overturned, the charges were dismissed or the petitioner was acquitted on retrial; or the petitioner entered an Alford plea after the conviction was overturned and that the petitioner was innocent of the crimes for which the petitioner was convicted. The prosecuting agency can prevent compensation by showing that petitioners were accomplices to the crimes at issue, or that petitioners intentionally took the fall for the true perpetrators. Successful petitioners are awarded damages based on the amount of time they served sentences of incarceration, parole or registration on the sex offender registry solely as a result of the wrongful convictions, as well as reimbursement of fines, fees and costs related to the wrongful conviction. The act also provides an emergency stipend and post-release services for individuals who are released from incarceration and who receive pardons or whose convictions are overturned, vacated or reversed.

• SS 1 for SB 228 unanimously passed the Senate May 23 to change the definition of copycat weapon so that small-caliber rimfire pistols that are primarily or solely used in competitive target shooting are not made unlawful to purchase, own, possess or transfer. 

House Labor

• SS 1 for SB 307 passed the Senate May 23 by a 14-6 vote with one absent to clarify the meaning of custom fabrication. 

• HB 440 would add housing status as a protected characteristic, and prohibit discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics in employment and professional activities.

• SB 306 with SA 1 and SA 2 unanimously passed the Senate June 11 to change criteria for employers who currently qualify for the uniform experience rating plan as approved by the insurance commissioner or who otherwise qualify for the program pursuant to parameters set by the insurance commissioner by regulation.

House Natural Resources & Energy

• HB 434 would require DNREC to be transparent and citizen-friendly in how it conducts public hearings by returning to the pre-COVID in-person public hearing process. The bill requires DNREC to hold public hearings having a physical location, allowing the public to attend and testify in person. These hearings may also allow virtual participation. All hearings must be noticed for at least two hours of testimony and in no event shall testimony be limited to less than one minute per person.

House Public Safety & Homeland Security

• SB 275 with SA 1 unanimously passed the Senate May 23 to combat aggressive driving and dangerous speed differentials on targeted roadways. For a first occurrence, a civil penalty of not less than $25 nor more than $75; for a subsequent occurrence, a civil penalty of not less than $57.50 nor more than $95.

Senate Agriculture Committee

• SB 318, sponsored by Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes,  would enable the Delaware Nutrient Management Commission to regulate the application of nutrients to turf by commercial nutrient handlers. The law excludes athletic fields, golf courses and land used in the production for sale of sod or seed, and only applies to commercial nutrient handlers who are paid to apply such nutrients. This bill decreases the threshold of serviced acreage for which commercial nutrient handlers would need a certification to apply nutrients to turf. 

• HB 392  passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to enable the Delaware Department of Agriculture, subject to the availability of funding, to reimburse eligible dairy operators in the state for the cost of the premium to enroll in the USDA program.

• HB 404 with HA 1 passed the House June 11 with 38 votes and three absent to create the Lyme Disease Intervention Fund.

Senate Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology

• HB 364 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to require that individual, blanket and group health insurance carriers cover drug treatment for the associated conditions of metastatic cancer in the same way treatment for metastatic cancer is covered. Specifically, it requires insurance companies to cover any FDA-approved drug prescribed to treat the side effects of metastatic cancer treatment and prohibits insurance companies from mandating that patients first fail to respond to a different drug or prove a history of failure of such drug.

Senate Education

• SB 328 would direct the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association to separate all public and private school team championship-sanctioned events.

• HS 2 for HB 125 passed the House by 39 votes with two absent June 11 to require all schools to offer all students free breakfast and lunch every school day. The state Department of Agriculture would reimburse all schools for all expenses not reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

• SB 330 would add intentional interference with the operation of a school bus to the offense of disorderly conduct. 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 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.

Senate Elections & Government Affairs

SJR 8 would make Aug. 31 International Overdose Awareness Day with the state flag flown at half staff.

HB 347 passed the House June 11 with 38 votes and three absent to give nonexempt Delaware Department of Transportation employees who work over 37.5 hours to be paid at time and a half.

Senate Environment, Energy & Transportation

HB 9 with HA1 passed the House June 11 by 23-14 with four absent to require that all passenger vehicles and light duty vehicles owned and operated by the state be zero emission vehicles by 2040 by requiring increasing volumes of zero emission vehicles every few years. The Office of Management and Budget shall be authorized to grant exemptions to these requirements. Law enforcement vehicles and vessels of state agency law-enforcement personnel; vehicles owned by the Department of Education, school districts, and charter schools; and designated take home vehicles shall be exempt from these requirements as well.

Senate Executive

SB 329 defines “United States military pension” for the exclusion for taxable income.

Senate Health & Social Services

SB 315 would prohibit gender transition surgery for children due to the potential for an irrevocable procedure occurring when there is a significant probability that children will come to identify with their biological gender. This act prohibits the use of public funds and insurance coverage for gender transition surgery for children. Enforcement of the act includes providing compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or any other appropriate relief; and making a referral for or provision of gender transition procedures to a child unprofessional conduct for which a physician or healthcare professional making the referral for or provision of gender transition procedures to a child is subject to discipline by the appropriate licensing entity or disciplinary review board with jurisdiction over the physician or healthcare professional in this state.

SB 322 would require member schools to develop an athletic emergency action plan and have an automated external defibrillator less than 3 minutes from any venue where practices and competitions are held. All coaches, physical education teachers, referees, health teachers and at least one staff member delivering student behavioral health services or at least one school administrator per school would be required to have training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and trained in the use of an automated external defibrillator, and regular maintenance of the device is required.

HB 16 with HA1 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to require that Medicaid and state employee health plans cover ovarian cancer monitoring tests for women treated for ovarian cancer; and annual screening tests for women at risk for ovarian cancer.

Senate Housing and Land Use

HS1 for HB 191 with SA1 and SA2 provides clarity on the process by which a tenant may file an action in the Justice of the Peace Court to withhold rent payments in escrow. Specifically, the bill provides what the tenant must file in order to bring such action and how such actions proceed in court. This substitute bill also provides the remedy of termination of lease when the conditions of the rental unit threatens the life, health, or safety of the tenant or a member of the tenant’s household. The bill passed the House in June 2023 by 22-1 with two not voting and 16 absent. 

Senate Judiciary

SB 321 would codify rights afforded to persons with disabilities that are under state guardianships and grants persons with disabilities the ability to motion the Court of Chancery for equitable relief for any violations of these rights.

SB 323 would remove prohibitions against automatic, switchblade knives to allow individuals to lawfully use such tools. They would still be subject to prosecution for deadly weapons related offenses if used in the course of an attack or assault aimed at causing death or serious injury.

HB 86 passed the House by 39 votes with two absent June 11 to establish 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.

HB 280 with HA1 passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to repeal the legal presumption that money, negotiable instruments or securities found in close proximity to controlled substances or records or with trace amounts of controlled substances are forfeitable. Such evidence is still admissible and may be considered by the Court in a forfeiture proceeding. It puts the burden of proof on the State to prove all elements of a forfeiture case by a preponderance of the evidence. The bill also prohibits the forfeiture of currency less than $500; prohibits forfeiture unless a criminal charge is brought; requires the person holding seized property to be financially responsible for all fees associated therewith in the event the property is ordered by the court to be returned; and allows a claimant property owner who substantially prevails in a forfeiture proceeding to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

Senate Labor

SB 324 amends Delaware Code relating to the Department of Labor’s enforcement procedures and wage and hour enforcement.

Senate Legislative Oversight and Sunset

SB 317 would require a health-care practitioner to offer a patient ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services before terminating a pregnancy. The patient is free to choose not to view the ultrasound or listen to the auscultation of fetal heart tone. This Act is known as "The Woman's Right to Know Act."

HB 298 with HA1 passed the House with 39 votes and two absent to create the Vulnerable Adult Populations Commission to improve the response to and reduce the incidents of vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation. 

HB 366 passed the House June 11 with 39 tes and two absent to sunset the Technology Investment Council because of redundancies with other state boards and difficulties in gathering a quorum. TIC convened only once in 2023, and its goals are achieved through collaboration with other agencies.

HB 367  passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to sunset the Provider Advisory Board under the Office of Child Care Licensing.

HB 368  passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to add a third center-based early care and education provider to the Delaware Early Childhood Council.

HB 393  passed the House June 11 with 39 votes and two absent to establish timelines for when the Department of Health and Social Services must begin an investigation after receiving a report concerning an allegation of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an adult who is impaired or incapacitated, and establishes the department's responsibility to conduct ongoing training programs for relevant staff.