This concurrent resolution establishes the Veterans Higher Education Task Force to study and make findings and recommendations regarding veterans’ access to higher education in Delaware.
This Senate Resolution designates March as “Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Month” in Delaware and encourages the Department of Health and Social Services to research methods to prevent and raise awareness of eating disorders.
This Act clarifies that the representative appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services to the Human Trafficking Interagency Coordinating Council shall serve as the Council’s temporary chair for the purposes of organizing the initial meeting of the members. A permanent Chair and Vice Chair are to be elected at the first organizational meeting and shall be elected annually thereafter from among the members of the Council.
Providing sufficient surplus state revenue exists, this House Concurrent Resolution requests the Joint Finance Committee to restore to the FY 2019 Grants-in-Aid Bill funding that was removed from the appropriation at the start of the current fiscal year.
This resolution recognizes the Easterseals/CAI Volleyball Challenge occurring March 2-4, 2018, at William Penn High School, an event that raises funds for an organization providing services and support to Delawareans with disabilities or special needs and their families.
This Act changes the term of a school board member from 5 years to 4 years. While longer board member terms enable school board members to have more years as experienced board members, this must be weighed against the goal of providing the community with sufficient opportunities to run for school boards, and to replace school board members. In addition, shorter board member terms can increase the number of candidates who run for office, as a longer term can prevent some individuals from choosing to run for this office.
This bill creates the Grant-In-Aid Committee. The Committee is a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. The purpose of the Committee is to review requests for grant-in-aid and to develop the grant-in-aid appropriations bill.
This Act decreases by 1% the rate of realty transfer tax to be received by the State, thereby returning to the rate that was applicable prior to August 1, 2017.
This Act restores the Delaware Prescription Drug Payment Assistance Program which was eliminated in the Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Appropriations Act.
This Act is designed to create procedures in Delaware for making sure firearms are not in the hands of dangerous people while protecting due process and not creating a barrier to care for those suffering from mental illness. This Act intends to put Delaware at the forefront of this important issue by not simply looking narrowly for mental illness. Statistically, mental illness has little to do with homicide perpetration but conversely increases the chance of being a victim of violence. This bill looks instead for propensities of violence, a much more reliable and evidence-based metric. This metric will also ensure that we can provide care to those more likely to commit violent acts and help destigmatize mental illness here in Delaware. Specific components of this Act are set forth below. This Act applies when a person who has been committed to a hospital for treatment of a mental condition by a judge shall be deemed a person prohibited. The current law appears to apply to “any person who has ever been committed for a mental disorder,” but in reality this only applies to persons who have been involuntarily committed and subject to adjudication such as a hearing. It also clarifies that perpetrators of violent crimes who have been found Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity, Guilty But Mentally Ill, or Mentally Incompetent to Stand Trial are persons prohibited, including juveniles who fall into those categories. The provisions of § 1448B will not retroactively apply to any persons adjudicated in the past, which would create undue burden. This Act expands the definition of “persons prohibited” to include those persons who are prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to a court order under the procedures set forth in § 1448B of Title 11. Newly created § 1448B sets forth a procedure whereby law enforcement, upon receiving a report of a violent person and who is demonstrating behaviors that the provider believes are dangerous can refer the matter to the Department of Justice to petition the Superior Court for an order requiring such person to relinquish the person’s firearms or ammunition. This Act revises and clarifies an existing statute, 11 Del C. § 5402, which currently solidifies the need for mental health professionals to report those with mental illness who may be a threat to others. Currently, the section contains a limited duty of a treating hospital to warn law enforcement of a specific threat, but this clarifies the original intent of the section and requires that to avoid liability that all treating mental health professionals must report dangerous persons to law enforcement. The appropriate law enforcement agency must then determine whether a civil action should be initiated under newly created § 1448C of this Title, to relinquish the person’s firearms or ammunition and to take appropriate investigative action. Pursuant to § 1448C, the Court may order dangerous persons to relinquish to a law enforcement officer, voluntarily or otherwise, any firearms or ammunition owned, possessed, or controlled by such person. The Court may also, in its discretion, issue an order directing any law enforcement agency to forthwith search for and seize firearms and ammunition of any such person prohibited upon a showing of good cause by the petitioner. The court order to relinquish firearms would issue upon a finding that the person was prohibited, without further showing. The order authorizing police to search for and seize weapons would require a further showing, akin to an affidavit in support of a warrant, of “good cause” that the prohibited weapons would be found in a particular place or in the possession of the person prohibited. Any person subject to an order of the Court pursuant to § 1448C may petition the Court for an order to return firearms or ammunition by establishing to a preponderance of evidence that he or she is not a danger to self or others. In addition, as is the case under the current law, any person who is adjudicated to be a person prohibited pursuant to this Act has the opportunity to demonstrate, pursuant to § 1448A of Title 11, that he or she is no longer prohibited from possessing a firearm and therefore is no longer a person prohibited.
