Rep. Eric Morrison

This Act allows one excused absence per school year for students grades 6 through 12 to attend civic engagements such as visits to the United States Capitol, Legislative Hall, and sites of political and cultural significance, or participation in a rally, march, protest, or walkout. For a student to attend a civic engagement event, the student’s parent or guardian must provide written permission no later than 3 school days prior to the student’s planned absence. The school shall determine what is acceptable as written permission. If the principal or another school or school district official does not confirm receipt of written permission with the parent or guardian prior to the student’s planned absence, permission for the student to attend the civic engagement event as an excused absence is presumed.

This Act codifies the Opportunity Fund, an additional source of educational funding for Delaware public schools intended to support the increased needs of low income and English learner students, and establishes the parameters for how the funding is to be distributed to school districts and charter schools.

This resolution designates June 2021, as "National Immigrant Heritage Month" in Delaware.

This Act revises Chapter 70 of Title 25, which governs manufactured homes on rented lots in manufactured home communities, by adding disclosure requirements to the right of first offer process when the community owner decides to sell, transfer, or convey all or part of the community.

This Concurrent Resolution establishes the Subdivision Street Funding Task Force to study and make findings and recommendations regarding funding and implementing the needed maintenance and reconstruction of subdivision streets identified by the Department of Transportation in the “Subdivision Street Report and Analysis” provided in response to House Concurrent Resolution No. 4 (151st General Assembly).

This Act, known as the Telehealth Access Preservation and Modernization Act of 2021, continues and enhances Delawareans’ access to telehealth and telemedicine services and, through the adoption of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, ensures that telehealth services can be provided through qualified medical practitioners in a streamlined and efficient pathway to licensure that meets the health care delivery system needs of the 21st century. With respect to telemedicine and telehealth, this Act consolidates the existing law relating to telehealth within a single new chapter applicable to all health-care providers authorized to practice telemedicine and participate in telehealth and makes permanent the telehealth flexibilities put in place for the Covid-19 pandemic. The Act carries through many of the changes embodied in the Covid-19 telehealth legislation passed by the 150th General Assembly in 2020 (HS 1 for HB 348 with HA1, signed 7/17/20), which will otherwise expire on July 1, 2021. The changes made in HB 348 that are made permanent by this Act include: 1. Removing all existing Title 24 statutory requirements that patients present in-person before telemedicine services may be provided. This Act continues the suspension of those requirements, but specifies that the requirement that a patient present in-person prior to the delivery of telemedicine services and telehealth is excused only under circumstances rendering an in-person examination impractical or when there is already an existing relationship established. 2. Modernizing the modality of permissible telemedicine and telehealth services; instead of limiting telehealth to interactions that must involve both audio and visual technology; this Act preserves flexibility for situations where patients do not have access to broadband connections or smartphones and need to consult with a physician by landline or audio-only cell phone, subject to existing professional standard of care requirements. Audio and visual visits will continue to be the preferable method for delivery of telehealth and telemedicine services. This Act also consolidates telehealth and telemedicine scope of practice, which currently appear in each separate chapters of Title 24 pertaining to regulated practitioners in order to provide consistent telehealth practice across license categories. This is increasingly important for facilitating integrated health-care services delivery, but it does not limit any of the existing authority of the State’s professional licensing boards in Title 24 to regulate their respective licensed professions and occupations. This Act adopts the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) in Delaware, joining the 29 States that are already members of the IMLC, including many of our neighboring states (Maryland is a member; Pennsylvania is in process of implementing the Compact; New Jersey has introduced IMLC legislation). https://www.imlcc.org/participating-states/ The long-term benefits of telehealth are best realized when accompanied by cross-state medical licensure capabilities available through adoption of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. The Compact creates a voluntary, expedited pathway to state licensure for physicians who want to practice medicine in multiple states. An eligible physician can qualify to practice medicine in multiple states by completing one application within the Compact, and receipt of separate licenses from each state in which the physician intends to practice. The Compact does not change the scope of Delaware’s authority to regulate physician practice under the existing Medical Practice Act. It simply creates another pathway for licensure.

This Substitute amends Senate Bill No. 3 by doing the following: (1) Prohibiting the Department of Safety and Homeland Security (“Department”) from retaining a record, data, information, or a report related to the transfer of a handgun for longer than 2 years, except in furtherance of an open criminal investigation or during the course of a criminal prosecution. (2) Redrafting § 1448D(e) of Title 11 to cite to the grounds on which a person is a person prohibited under § 1448 of Title 11, rather than repeating them in § 1448D(e) of Title 11 and potentially create unintentional differences. (3) Making clear that a decision by the Justice of the Peace Court on the denial or revocation of a handgun qualified purchaser card by the Department may be appealed to the Superior Court for a hearing de novo. (4) Delaying the implementation of the requirement to obtain a handgun qualified purchaser card until the Department is ready to implement § 1448D of Title 11 or 18 months from the date of enactment, whichever comes first. Like Senate Bill No. 3, this Substitute does all of the following: (1) Creates an application process to obtain a handgun qualified purchaser card to authorize the purchase of a handgun. While an applicant will incur costs related to fingerprinting and required training, a fee will not be charged to obtain the permit. (2) Requires licensed importers, manufacturers, or dealers, as well as unlicensed persons, to require an individual to present the individual's handgun qualified purchaser card before selling or transferring a firearm to an individual. (3) Requires that an applicant complete a firearms training course within 5 years before the date of application, similar to what is required by Delaware’s concealed carry permit law. An individual licensed to carry a concealed deadly weapon is exempt from this requirement as they must already complete a firearms training course to be licensed. (4) Sends to law-enforcement information that is already collected at the time of sale and required under federal law to be made available to law-enforcement. This change assists law-enforcement in the criminal investigations they already conduct. (5) Makes clear that § 904A of Title 24 is not intended to prohibit law-enforcement officials from keeping records of sales and transfers of firearms for their use during criminal investigations or prosecutions. (6) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This resolution recognizes July 2021 as Uterine Fibroids Awareness Month in Delaware

This bill seeks to address overpopulation of cats and dogs in our state by creating an additional revenue stream for the State Spay/Neuter Program, to relieve some of the funding burden on animal welfare organizations in the state that are involved in reducing the free-roaming cat population, and provide more funding to meet the needs of low-income residents to spay/neuter their pets. First, it increases the fee only on manufactured cat and dog food over 3 years to $100 per each product per brand, which is in line with many other states. The existing $23 fee currently goes into the General Fund; this legislation will add $2 to the amount going to the General Fund. From the balance of the registration fee, funds are allotted to the Department of Agriculture to cover the cost of creating a program that adapts the registrations to distinguish between the types of feed and to cover the cost of maintaining that system. The remaining funds are distributed to the State Spay/Neuter Fund which provides for a statewide spay/neuter program for free-roaming animals and income-eligible pet owners and allows for qualified non-profit organizations to participate in the Program.

This Act creates a requirement that a landlord in a manufactured home community must provide important materials in both English and Spanish to all tenants and prospective tenants at no cost to the tenant unless a tenant waives the right to receive the materials in Spanish.