This Act renames the Division of Long Term Care Residents Protection to the Division of Health Care Quality and strengthens the Division's ability to protect Delawareans receiving long term, acute, or outpatient health care. The new name better describes the Division which now includes not only long term care, but also acute and outpatient care facilities and agencies. The Division monitors the quality of care delivered by health care facilities and agencies throughout the state. Definitions are added to include the acute and outpatient care descriptions. Flexibility is added to the report the Division is required to prepare. This Act adds the ability of the Division to request and receive EMS records when performing an investigation that involves a transfer of a consumer, resident, or patient from one care setting to another. An interagency transfer form format is required to ensure better transitions of care for persons as they move from one health care setting to another. This Act gives the Division Director subpoena power so that appropriate records may be obtained during an investigation and so that witnesses may be compelled to appear for a hearing. Finally, this Act adds the requirement for Prescribed Pediatric Care Centers to complete the background checks on employees. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Sponsored bills
This Act amends the Fiscal Year 2018 Bond and Capital Improvements Act to (1) authorize the Department of Transportation to use Community Transportation Funds for one-time reimbursements for various projects; (2) allow reprogramming of funds to support the Delaware Strategic Fund; (3) allow Delaware Technical Community College to realign their critical capital needs with available funding; (4) authorize the Department of Transportation to subordinate the State’s fee interest in the Project Site; (5) direct the Department of Transportation not to vacate Sheep Pen Road and keep the roadway in the state highways system; and (6) allow Department of Transportation to transfer funds to the Riverfront Development Corporation.
This bill updates Title 26 relating to the requirements for obtaining a certificate to operate in Delaware as a new electric transmission utility. This bill uses language similar to certificate requirements for water, wastewater, and other utility services under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission (“Commission”). Due to recent changes in federal law, certain projects will now be available to entities both in and out of state. In order to perform this type of work in Delaware, a company will need to obtain a certificate from the Commission. Currently, there are no qualifications defined for the Commission to assess the impact a project of this nature will have on Delaware and its citizens. This bill will provide the Commission with the necessary authority to assess that impact and revoke a certificate in the future for good cause.
House Bill No. 195 updates the terms and definitions used in Chapter 11 of Title 16 regarding long term care. This Act updates the terminology used to identify long term care facilities so that it is consistent throughout the Code. Specific updates are as follows: Section 1: Amends § 1822 of Title 2 of the Delaware Code regarding medical transportation by health-care facilities by replacing the words "nursing facilities or similar facilities" with "long term care facilities." Section 2: Amends § 8564 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code by removing the definition of “nursing facility” and “similar facility” and adding a definition of “long term care facility.” Section 3: Amends § 2511 of Title 16 of the Delaware Code by replacing a “sanatorium, rest home, nursing home, boarding home or related institution” with “long term care facility.” Section 4: Amends § 5138 of Title 16 of the Delaware Code by replacing “nursing facility or similar facility” with “long term care facility.” Section 5: Amends § 333 of Title 18 of the Delaware Code by replacing the term “nursing facility” with the term “long term care facility”. Section 6: Amends § 708 of Title 19 of the Delaware Code by replacing the term “nursing homes” with the term “long term care facilities” in the definition of health care facility. Section 7: Amends § 1769B of Title 24 of the Delaware Code by replacing the term “nursing facility” with the term “long term care facility.” Section 8: Amends § 6502 of Title 30 of the Delaware Code by replacing the reference to § 1180 of Title 16 to § 1181 of Title 16 so that the correct statute is referenced. Section 9: Provides that this Act is effective upon the enactment of House Bill No. 195 to ensure that the terms are not changed until the underlying changes have been made to Chapter 11 of Title 16.
This Act makes a number of changes to Chapter 21, Title 11 of the Delaware Code, with the goal of modernizing the pretrial process, reducing reliance on monetary conditions, improving the efficiency and outcomes for the criminal justice system, and ensuring the safety of the community. An analysis of data for pretrial detention and bail shows that Delaware’s bail system is failing in two ways: we unnecessarily detain individuals who lack funds for their release, and on the other end of the spectrum, we release defendants who fail to appear or remain law abiding during their period of pretrial release. The Courts, the Department of Correction, the Office of Defense Services, the Attorney General’s Offices, members of law enforcement and the private defense bar, and the Delaware Center for Justice have worked collaboratively to propose the changes embodied in this bill, and will continue to work on further revisions. Specifically, this Act makes the following changes to the bail/pretrial process: - Use risk to determine conditions: Require courts to consider risk by using empirically-based tools to determine whether a defendant is likely to stay out of trouble and come to court, and use that information to make individualized “assignments” of conditions of release. - Defines purpose of release conditions: Limit conditions of release to things that will reasonably assure the defendant will show up in court, and protect victims, witnesses, and community members. - Create more opportunities for conditions to be added or removed: Make release conditions “living documents” that will automatically be reviewed if a defendant does not initially meet them, if a defendant does meet them and then violates those terms, or if the defendant or their custodian makes a motion to modify those conditions. - Empower pretrial officers: Gives Department of Corrections more tools to investigate and address violations of release conditions so the courts can address violations promptly and impose sanctions if necessary. This bill further requires the court to conduct a review of conditions of pretrial release for a defendant who remains detained after 72 hours from the defendant’s initial presentment because of inability to meet any condition of release (including a financial condition). Such a review must happen within ten days of detention.
In 2011, as part of a general overhaul of Delaware’s drug laws, this provision was inserted into Title 16 to allow juvenile adjudications to count as prior qualifying offenses for purposes of increasing the sentence of certain drug offenders. Pursuant to this provision, some defendants convicted of certain drug crimes who have one prior adult drug conviction and one prior juvenile adjudication within the past 10 years face a drastic increase in sentence as follows: A defendant convicted of “drug dealing – aggravated possession”, a class D felony, will be sentenced as if he had committed a class B felony. The sentence for a class D felony is up to 8 years imprisonment. For a class B felony the sentence can be up to 25 years, and 2 years is the minimum mandatory. A defendant convicted of aggravated possession – class E will be sentenced as if she had committed a class B felony. The penalty is elevated from a maximum of 5 years incarceration to, again, a maximum of 25 with a 2 year minimum mandatory. A defendant convicted of aggravated possession – class F will be sentenced as though he committed a class C felony. Class C felonies are punishable by up to 15 years, rather than the maximum of 3 years for a class F. There is no other part of the criminal code that uses a juvenile adjudication as a statutory sentence enhancement in an adult conviction. While repeat drug offenses are a legitimate concern for communities and the criminal justice system, the elevation of the punishment for a crime based on a juvenile adjudication, which was not tried before a jury, and which may be relatively remote in time is of questionable legal merit. Furthermore, in two of the above scenarios, the crime is elevated to one which requires a minimum mandatory sentence, thus reducing the discretion entrusted to judges. This bill removes that portion of Section 4751B that allows a juvenile adjudication to be used as a second “prior qualifying Title 16 conviction.” Prosecutors may still apply the sentencing enhancement for the single qualifying adult conviction that meets the criteria set out in that section, and may use the enhancement for two prior convictions where both convictions occurred when the defendant was an adult. Judges will continue to be able to consider the defendant’s juvenile record as a factor in determining the appropriate sentence. Finally, where a juvenile was tried and sentenced as an adult, that conviction may still be used for the sentencing enhancement.
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.
In addition to legislation codifying the recommendations of the Clean Water & Flood Abatement Task Force, other important steps around clean water and clean-water infrastructure should be taken. This bill is intended to promote long-term freshwater security by facilitating private-sector investments in watershed enhancement projects designed to protect high-quality drinking water for Delaware. The bill provides that the Public Service Commission may allow a public utility to recover, in its rates, its reasonable incurred capital and ongoing operating costs for watershed enhancement projects that meet are: 1) confirmed as useful in protecting source water by the University of Delaware Water Resource Center; 2) placed into service; and 3) used and useful in the provision of public utility services within a 3-year period before a general rate case filing. The bill also provides that the Commission may authorize an allowance of funds used during the construction of such project. This bill is timely as private-sector entities are actively considering investments like these in areas that will improve Delaware’s water supply and freshwater resources, and in that Delaware advocates are receiving national recognition and funding for the development of these models.
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 clarifies that the felony of Possession of a Deadly Weapon by a Person Prohibited shall not apply to persons who are prohibited from possessing a deadly weapon solely by their possession of a personal use quantity of marijuana, when such possession qualifies as a civil penalty under Title 16. This bill addresses the legal issue in State v. Murray (Del. Super. 2017).