Rep. Rae Moore

This Act creates a “Ban the Box” policy for postsecondary institutions in the state. “Ban the Box” or “Beyond the Box” policies refer to the removal of questions about one’s criminal conviction history on a college or job application. Research shows that questions about criminal conviction history deter individuals from applying to an institution and increase the likelihood of rejection, with a disproportionate effect on people of color. This Act promotes diversity by prohibiting academic institutions from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal conviction history, with limited exceptions for inquiries into certain types of offenses such as stalking and sexual assault. If the institution elects to deny an applicant because of a conviction for such an offense, it must disclose that fact to the applicant. After an applicant has been admitted, an institution may inquire into the applicant’s criminal conviction history for the limited purposes of offering counseling and making decisions concerning the applicant’s participation in campus life. In addition, the Act requires the Department of Education to compile and complete an annual report on admissions from each academic institution, including the race and gender of the applicants and of the accepted students.

Delaware’s Motor Vehicle Statutes contemplate for vehicle obstructing traffic enforcement by law enforcement agencies. It is not always possible for law enforcement officers to enforce the right-of-way regulations in areas effectively due to a number of considerations, including officer availability and safety. This bill would enable the state and municipal authorities to enforce right-of-way regulations in identified areas more effectively. This bill only imposes civil penalties for violations and does not impose points on an individual’s driver’s license.

This Act provides school-base physical therapists who have graduated from an accredited college or university with the highest level masters or doctorate degree, and who have achieved a passing score on the national physical therapy examination issued by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, with base salaries of Master Plus 30 or Doctorate, and provides the ability to move forward on the salary schedule for additional credits earned. Since 2015, a doctorate degree is required in order to sit for the national physical therapy examination for licensure.

This Act addresses the relation between land development and school capacity and facilitates greater coordination between the counties and local school districts with regard to planning. Section 1 of the Act amends Chapter 26 of Title 9 of the Delaware code pertaining to New Castle County by requiring that New Castle County’s comprehensive plan for planning and development include an educational element concerning the construction and allocation of school facilities within school districts. Section 2 of the Act makes these same changes to Chapter 49 of Title 9, concerning Kent County, and Section 3 of the Act makes these same changes to Chapter 69 of Title 9, concerning Sussex County. Section 4 of the Act directs the Department of Education to develop guidance and policies for implementing Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Act. The Department of Education is to develop these guidance and policies by July 1, 2024. Section 5 of the Act provides that, effective as of January 1, 2023, the Counties must include the educational element in their comprehensive plans within the next comprehensive plan update following the Act’s enactment into law.

This Act establishes an evaluation and assessment system created by the Department of Education to determine whether a school facility is in good repair to assure that school facilities are clean, safe, and functional for staff and students. This Act also requires the Division of Public Health to create a routine indoor air quality monitoring program that includes temperature and humidity standards that is published on the Department of Health and Social Services website. It further requires the Division of Public Health to create a contractor certification program for indoor air quality services that will allow schools to contract with properly trained and certified contractors when indoor air quality remediation is necessary. The Act also provides procedures for districts to make procedures clear for receiving and reporting indoor air quality complaints in schools. This Substitute bill differs from the original in that it does not provide for implementation of the routine indoor air quality monitoring program nor its enforcement. Once the program is created and there is a better understanding of what it will require, the General Assembly may then establish how, and to what extent, to implement the program with the knowledge of what is necessary to do so.

Recognizing the negative impact of criminal justice imposed financial obligations on defendants has led to reforms across the country to reduce the financial burdens that disproportionally impact the poor. This type of debt and the collateral consequences of suspending a driver’s license negatively impacts the rehabilitation of those in the criminal justice system and pushes those without an ability to pay further into the system unnecessarily. This Act does all of the following: (1) Prohibits a court from imposing a fine, fee, cost, or assessment on children without the means to pay them. (2) Provides the courts with the discretion to waive, modify, or suspend any fine, fee, cost, or assessment. (3) Prohibits a court or the Department of Transportation from suspending a driver’s license for nonpayment of a fine, fee cost, assessment, or restitution and from charging a penalty, assessment, or fee to a defendant for the cancellation of a warrant issued due to the defendant’s nonpayment of a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution. (4) Prohibits a court from imposing an additional fee on a defendant for payments that are made at designated periodic intervals or late, or when probation is ordered to supervise a defendant’s payment. Nothing in this Act precludes the court from filing contempt charges against defendants who willfully fail to pay their fines. (5) Requires the Judiciary and the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System to report on the sum collected from fines, fees, costs, assessments, and restitution and make a public report of these totals. (6) Eliminates the Public Defender fee and the Probation Supervision fee. The collections from these fees currently go to the General Fund. (7) Creates the Criminal Legal System Imposed Debt Study Group to review the impact that court imposed financial obligations have on defendants and victims and make recommendations to promote access, fairness, and transparency in the imposition and collection of court imposed financial obligations. (8) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act creates a statewide Grow Your Own Educator Program to improve recruitment, retention, and diversity of educators in Delaware public schools. The Program establishes a competitive grant process to be administered by the Department of Education. Any Delaware reorganized school district or charter school can apply for a grant to establish its own unique Grow your Own Educator Program. Subject to funding grants will be awarded on a 2-year basis. Applicants must provide a detailed explanation how their proposed Program will be run, including any partnerships with institutions of higher education and whether the Program anticipates providing last dollar tuition and related educational financial assistance to candidates accepted into their Program who commit to teaching a minimum of 3 years, upon licensure, in the Applicant’s school district or charter school. Any awarded grant money must be used to initiate and run the Program. In evaluating applications that meet the Department’s criteria, if funding is limited, the Department will give additional weight to Applicants that prioritize recruiting candidates from high-need schools, placing teacher candidates in high-need schools, develop programs that support teacher professionals, including bilingual candidates and those without bachelor’s degrees, and leverage apprenticeship and year-long teacher residency models. The Department will annually provide Program data to the Senate and House Education Committees including the number of grant applications, the number of grants awarded, names of districts and charter schools receiving grants, and retention rate for educator candidates hired by the district or charter school. For fiscal year 2022-2023 $4,000,000 is anticipated being appropriated to the Department from the General Fund consistent with the agreed settlement terms in In Re Delaware Public Schools Litigation, C.A. No. 2018-0029-VCL which states, in part, that the Governor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 will include at least $4,000,000 to support enhanced teacher recruitment and retention in high-need schools. A portion of those funds will be allocated to implement the Grow Your Own Educator Program established in this Act.

This act authorizes the application of funds from the Delaware School Safety and Security Fund, which is subject to available appropriations, for the retention of constables to be utilized by the LEAs.

This Act increases the civil penalty for violating the parking regulations in § 4180 from not less than $10 nor more than $25 to not less than $100 nor more than $500. This Act also increases the minimum fine for violating the requirements of Chapter 41 relating to size or weight of a vehicle or a combination of vehicles or restrictions regarding parking in residence districts from not less than $28.75 nor more than $230 for a first offense to not less than $100 and not more than $500 for a first offense. For a subsequent offense the penalty is increased from to not less than $115 nor more than $575 to not less than $400 and not more than $2,000. This Act allows the Secretary to prohibit or restrict the stopping, standing, or parking of any trailer, semi-trailer, or recreational trailer on roadways or sections of roadways. The Act requires the Department to provide a list of roadways or sections of roadways for which it has prohibited or restricted standing or parking to DSHS and law enforcement agencies across the state. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This substitute bill makes a technical correction to the bill.