Rep. Stephanie Bolden

This Bill clarifies language allowing for the direct deposit of child support owed and collected by employers from individuals under a support order from the Family Court. In addition, this Bill requires employers who have 50 or more employees to send payments to the Division of Child Support Services by electronic funds transfer and allows employers with less than 50 employees to do the same. Finally, the bill requires payments made via electronic transfer to be made before or at the time the employee is paid.

This Act clarifies that the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families (DSCYF) has exclusive jurisdiction over a juvenile's care, custody, and control for any juvenile until at least their 18th birthday. Further, this Act stipulates that juveniles found guilty and sentenced to a Superior Court offense shall remain in the custody, care, and control of DSCYF until they turn 18. Youth with Superior Court terms of confinement which extend beyond their 18th birthday shall be transferred to the custody of the Department of Correction for the remainder of their sentence after they turn 18. This Act also clarifies that Family Court is permitted to retain jurisdiction in some cases and Family Court may require DSCYF to provide services and supervision for non-incarcerated persons aged 18-21. Finally, the Act allows individuals charged in in Family Court before they turn 18 to be held by DSCYF until they turn 19.

This resolution proclaims June 19, 2019 as Juneteenth Independence Day in Delaware and encourages the people of Delaware to reflect upon the significant roles and many contributions of African Americans and to celebrate this day with appropriate activities and events.

Step therapy protocols are a mechanism by which health insurance companies require patients to try one or more prescriptions drugs before coverage is provided for the actual drug prescribed by the patient’s health care provider. This Act creates a Step Therapy Exception Process whereby patients who are required by their insurance company to go through step therapy protocols can, under certain circumstances, bypass step therapy to obtain the initially-prescribed medication. This Act does not apply to state or federal governmental plans.

This Act prohibits the manufacture, sale, or distribution of children's products, upholstered furniture used in residences, and mattresses that contain harmful flame retardant chemicals. This Act does not apply to the resale of these items. These flame retardants have been found to cause cancer, particularly to firefighters who are extinguishing fires that involve products that contain these chemicals. This Act takes effect on July 1, 2020. Like House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 117, this Act makes technical changes to House Bill No. 117 for internal consistency and for consistency with other provisions of the Code. This Substitute differs from House Substitute 1 for House Bill No. 117 as follows: 1. It allows the electronic components within children’s products and upholstered furniture to contain the prohibited chemicals. 2. Revises the definition of “flame retardant chemical” to include only the harmful chemicals prohibited under this Act. 3. Makes additional technical corrections.

Since 1996, students across Delaware have participated in school choice. Currently, reorganized school districts, vocational technical school districts, and charter schools do not follow the same processes thus causing confusion and barriers for families seeking to access choice for their children. This Act aims to streamline the school choice process, making it easier and clearer for parents, guardians, and school administrators to navigate. This Act requires reorganized school districts, vocational-technical school districts, and charter schools to use a standard online application receipt and processing tool approved by the Department that is offered at no charge. It also clarifies that the application deadlines apply to all students, regardless of age or school. Additionally, it will prohibit schools from asking for additional information that does not directly pertain to an enrollment or program criterion. The bill will make the timing uniform for the ranked waitlist process. It aligns the sibling preference across all school types and eliminates the separate charter school April 1st enrollment requirement of 80% and moving to May 1st to allow for parents to make a final, informed decision. Under this bill, in the event of a mid-year termination of a pupil’s enrollment, the sending reorganized school district, vocational-technical school district, or charter school and the receiving reorganized school district, vocational-technical school district, or charter school shall enter into an agreement providing for the pro-ration of student funding based on a formula prescribed by the DDOE.

New daily persistent headache (NDPH) is a rare headache disorder characterized by daily and unremitting headaches that can last up to 3 days. Headache onset is abrupt and the throbbing, pressure-like pain is usually on both sides of the head. In order to be diagnosed with this syndrome, a patient has chronic daily headaches that are present more than 15 days a month for more than 3 months. The age of onset ranges from 6 to greater than 70 years old. It is found to be more common in females in both the adult and pediatric populations. Currently, there is no specific treatment for NDPH. Instead, most are treated similarly to migraines with prescriptions to opiates or narcotics such as gabapentin. In order to avoid the development of medication overuse or addiction, however, physicians do not advise patients to use pain relievers for more than 9 days a month even though the pain persists for many days more than that. Moreover, NDPH is an intractable headache disorder that is unresponsive to standard headache therapies. This bill adds new daily persistent headache and chronic debilitating migraines to the list of chronic or debilitating medical conditions for which a child under 18 may qualify as a patient to receive marijuana oil upon certification by a physician in accordance with the terms of the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act. This bill also adds new daily persistent headache to the list of chronic or debilitating medical conditions that qualifies an adult to be eligible for the use of medical marijuana.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution urges Delaware's U.S. Congressional Delegation to support federal legislation to establish a national database of beneficial ownership of corporations and limited liability companies to assist federal and state law enforcement in combating criminal activity.

This Act revises the crime of "unlawfully permitting a child access to a firearm," an existing class A misdemeanor under Delaware law. The offense is renamed "unsafe storage of a firearm" to place emphasis on firearm safety and proper storage. Under the revised statute, a crime is committed when a person intentionally or recklessly stores or leaves a loaded firearm where a minor or other person prohibited by law, or “unauthorized person,” can access the firearm, and the unauthorized person obtains the firearm. The unauthorized person’s use of the firearm to inflict serious physical injury or death is not an element of the offense, but is an aggravating factor. For the purposes of this offense, “stores and leaves” does not include when firearm is carried by or under the control of the owner or another lawfully-authorized user. Under this Act, the offense is a class B misdemeanor if there are no aggravating circumstances. If, however, the unauthorized person uses the firearm to commit a crime, uses the firearm to inflict serious physical injury or death upon anyone, or transfers the firearm to another unauthorized person, the offense is a class A misdemeanor. It is an affirmative defense that the person stored the firearm in a locked container, disabled it with a tamper-resistant trigger lock, or stored it in a location a reasonable person would have thought was safe from access by unauthorized persons. This Act provides an exception for firearms manufactured in or before 1899, or a replica to such firearms, if the replica is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition. This Act also makes technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act changes the employee classification of the Office of Highway Safety (OHS) director position from merit to exempt. The Department of Safety and Homeland Security (Department) is requesting the change to make the Department’s director position employee classifications consistent. The Department is seeking the change while the OHS Director position is vacant. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.