Rep. Earl G. Jaques Jr.

The bill makes any "police officer" employed by the State and its political subdivisions not currently under the jurisdiction of the Police Officers' and Firefighters' Employment Relations Act subject to it. The purpose of this bill is to render all police and firefighters employed by the State not currently subject to the Police Officers' and Firefighters' Employment Relations Act subject to it. Nothing set forth in this bill is intended nor shall be construed to effect the rights of police officers and firefighters currently subject to the Police Officers' and Firefighters Employment Relations Act. In addition, employees classified in bargaining units pursuant to §1311A(b)(10) and (11) are not covered by this Act.

This Act increases the non-refundable income tax credit from $400 to $500 for active members of Delaware volunteer fire, ambulance, or rescue service company or its auxiliary. This Act also makes technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act removes the requirement that applicants for a marriage license state their race as part of the application process. Delaware is one of a small number of states that currently requires this information. In October 2019, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that requiring marriage license applicants to provide their race violates the United States Constitution. In Delaware, the Clerks of the Peace, who are the points of data collection, have expressed support for this Act, as has the Office of Vital Statistics in the Department of Health and Social Services. The National Center for Health Statistics ("NCHS") has not requested detailed information from states regarding marriage and divorce since 1996. NCHS only requires states to provide the total number of marriages that occur each month.

This Act creates the crime of Aggravated Strangulation. A person is guilty of Aggravated Strangulation if the person is a law-enforcement officer, and while acting within the person’s official capacity as a law-enforcement officer, knowingly or intentionally uses a chokehold on another person. Under this Act, a chokehold is only justifiable when the person reasonably believes deadly force is warranted in order to protect the life of a civilian or law-enforcement officer. Aggravated Strangulation is a Class D felony unless the law-enforcement officer using a chokehold causes serious physical injury or death to another person thereby elevating the crime to a Class C felony. This Act also makes clear that if a person is charged under this section, such a charge shall not preclude or limit the State or any other prosecuting agency from bringing other criminal charges against the person.

This Act requires the Department of Education to establish and implement a curriculum on the Holocaust and genocide for students in grades 6 through 12. Teaching the lessons learned from the Holocaust and other genocides helps cultivate the spirit of human resilience, courage, heroism, and tolerance. Education about the Holocaust and genocide provide a context to learn about the danger that befalls us when hatred goes unchallenged and there is indifference in the face of oppression of others. The Halina Wind Preston Holocaust Education Committee can provide guidance, academic content assistance, resources, and assistance with curricula development to deliver quality Holocaust and genocide education.

This Act supports veterinarians in their effort to protect people from rabies and to ensure the welfare of animals. This Act enables licensed veterinarians to exempt an animal from the mandated rabies vaccination, if the veterinarian determines, based on their professional judgement, that the vaccine would endanger the animal's health and a titer test may be administered to assist in determining the necessity of the vaccine.

This Act brings Delaware into compliance with the federal No Human Trafficking on Our Roads Act by creating a lifetime disqualification for a commercial diver license if the individual engages in human trafficking while using a motor vehicle. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act continues in effect a provision contained in the Sixth Modification of the Declaration of a State of emergency for the State of Delaware Due to a Public Health Threat issued on March 24, 2020 which allows the Director of Management and Budget to approve the extension of statutory time periods pertaining to procurement of goods and services by State agencies for up to 15 days, permits bids and proposals to be submitted electronically, allows for electronic execution of documents and dispenses with any requirement that bids or responses to requests for proposals be published and recorded in the presence of interested parties.

This Act requires that individual, group, and State employee insurance plans cap the amount an individual must pay for insulin prescriptions at $100 a month and must include at least 1 formulation of insulin on the lowest tier of the drug formulary developed and maintained by the carrier.

This Act provides for voting by mail for the 2020 primary and general elections and special elections held under the provisions of Chapter 73 of Title 15 due to the emergency caused by COVID-19, a highly contagious virus. Voting by mail is an alternative to, and not a replacement for, in-person voting, which remains an available option to those electors not voting by absentee or mail ballot. This Act establishes procedures for voting by mail which mirror the procedures for absentee voting. The Act makes clear that, like in absentee voting, no ballots can be tabulated until Election Day. The authority to implement voting by mail stems from the Delaware Constitution. Article XVII of the Delaware Constitution mandates that in order to insure continuity of State and local governmental operations in periods of an emergency resulting from disease, the General Assembly shall have the power and immediate duty to adopt measures that may be necessary and proper for insuring the continuity of governmental operations including nonconformity with the requirements of the Constitution when in the judgment of the General Assembly to do so would be impracticable. With this Act, the General Assembly finds that due to the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, and the need to protect Delaware voters and polling workers from the virus, voting by mail is necessary and proper for insuring the continuity of governmental operations, and conformity with the constraints of Article V, § 4A would be impracticable.