Rep. Stephen Smyk

This bill creates regulations concerning the use, distribution and education of Benzodiazepine and Non-benzodiazepine Hypnotics. It require Practitioners to obtain consent from a minor’s parent or guardian prior to prescribing these drugs, and require pharmacist to include a cautionary statement explaining the risks associated with the long term use of these drugs.

This bill mandates reporting by certain employees of broker-dealer or investment adviser firms who have a reasonable belief that financial exploitation of an eligible adult has occurred, been attempted, or will be attempted. Reporting will be to both the Investor Protection Director and the Department of Health and Social Services. It also enables broker-dealers and investment advisers to delay disbursement from an account of an eligible adult where financial exploitation is suspected. This also includes definitions of “eligible adult,” “financial exploitation” and “qualified individual” to be inserted into the Securities Act.

This Act creates the Green Alert Program to aid in locating missing members of the armed forces, including veterans, who have a physical or mental health condition that is related to their service. This Act is modeled after Delaware’s existing Gold Alert and Blue Alert Programs.

This bill creates a special license plate for honorably discharged veterans of the United States military.

This Act requires paid tax preparers to sign any tax return or refund they file and be subject to a $50 civil penalty for any violation with a maximum penalty of $25,000 in any calendar year. The Act also permits a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin any paid tax preparer from understating a tax payer’s liability or taking an unreasonable position. The Act also permits a court to enjoin a paid tax preparer from, where required, failing to furnish a copy of a return or claim for refund, failing to sign a return or claim for refund, failing to furnish an identifying number, failing to retain a copy of the return, failing to be diligent or failing to correct information. The Act also permits an injunction if the paid tax preparer negotiates a check without permission, engages in any criminal conduct, guarantees payment of any specific tax refund amount, or engages in any other fraudulent or deceptive conduct.

This Act establishes that a contract between a pharmacy benefits manager and a pharmacy may not prohibit a pharmacy or pharmacist from doing any of the following: (1) Providing an insured with information regarding the retail price of a prescription drug or the amount of the cost share for which the insured is responsible for a prescription drug. (2) Discussing with an insured information regarding the retail price of a prescription drug or the amount of the cost share for which the insured is responsible for a prescription drug. (3) If a more affordable, therapeutically equivalent prescription drug is available, selling the more affordable, therapeutically equivalent prescription drug to the insured. In some cases, contracts between pharmacy benefits managers and pharmacies have provisions that prohibit pharmacies or pharmacist from informing consumers that they have options related to a prescription drug they want to buy and that the prescription drug could be purchased at a lower cost if the consumer paid out of pocket rather than through their health insurance plan. These provisions are often known as “gag clauses.” At least 7 states have enacted laws prohibiting these “gag clauses.”

This bill allows the background plates (animal welfare, farmland preservation, Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute, Delaware Equine Council, and Keep Delaware Beautiful) issued by DMV to be displayed on trailers up to 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). It also increases the size of trucks that can display the plates from ¾ ton (10,000 pounds GVWR) to 26,000 pounds GVWR.

Cybersecurity attacks, including data breaches, corporate theft, and sabotage perpetrated by state and non-state actors throughout the world present unique threats to Delaware residents, governments, businesses, and critical infrastructure. Statewide coordination is required to effectively ensure cybersecurity protection. Cyber-attacks have increased significantly, providing evidence that information security must be strengthened to guard against threats. The State must leverage every partnership and mechanism available to combat the growing number of cyber-attacks and breaches. Trends show attacks growing by 64% annually. 84% of organizations have experienced cyber-attacks in the last 12 months. This bill strengthens Delaware’s defenses by facilitating multi-industry coordination among critical sectors such as communications, emergency services, energy, financial services, healthcare, water, and government. The primary objectives of the Council will be to focus on sharing and analyzing cyber threat intelligence in a collaborative manner.

This Act includes “emergency medical technicians” within the definition of employee under the County/Municipal Police/Firefighter Pension Plan.

The Division of Small Business, Development and Tourism was created by 81 Del. Laws ch. 49 and placed in the Department of State. This enactment transferred certain responsibilities for economic development, formerly in the Delaware Department of Economic Development, to this Division. The purpose of this Act is to address administrative housekeeping matters involving this transfer of responsibilities for economic development. Specifically, this Act changes the name of the Division of Small Business, Development and Tourism to the Division of Small Business. The Division of Small Business will remain in the Department of State and be responsible for economic development activities transferred to the Division of Small Business, Development and Tourism in 81 Del. Laws ch. 49. This Act also does the following: (1) Sets a new date for the submission of the Comprehensive State Plan for Economic Development and unifies the economic development reporting requirements of the Division of Small Business. (2) Limits the terms of members of the Council on Development Finance (“Council”) appointed after July 1, 2018. (3) Eliminates the requirement that all Council members be physically present to constitute a quorum for meetings, to foster greater efficiency in making economic development recommendations to the Division of Small Business. (4) Further deletes reference to programs governed by prior acts of the General Assembly such as the Agriculture/Aquaculture Program, the Liberty Court Apartments project, and the Human Investment and Partnership Program, to the extent that these programs are no longer active. Finally this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.