This concurrent resolution establishes the Medicaid Cost Efficiency Task Force to study and make findings and recommendations regarding Delaware’s Medicaid program.
This Resolution recognizes June 27, 2017, as “Staff Appreciation Day” in the Delaware State Senate.
This Act requires that a board or commission created after the effective date of this Act submit the initial adopted rules and regulations pertaining to the licensure, maintenance, and standards of the board or commission to the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee, shall review the rules and regulations and make recommendations in accordance with § 10212 of Title 29.
The purpose of this amendment is to better protect the motorists of the State of Delaware by raising the minimum automobile bodily injury and property damage limits to reflect the current economic conditions. The minimum automobile liability limits have not been raised in the State of Delaware since July 19, 1983. Most motor vehicle policies sold in Delaware provide $10,000 for property damage coverage. Bodily injury insurance proceeds are frequently used to cover the cost of not only pain and suffering, but an injured person’s medical expenses and lost wages, which have increased since 1983. For example, $15,000 in 1983 is equivalent to $35,960.54 in 2016, based on the federal Consumer Price Index – Urban statistics for 1983 and 2016. In addition, $30,000 in 1983 is equivalent to $71,921.08 in 2016.
In an effort to reduce overdose deaths relating to the growing epidemic of opioid addiction, this Act requires carriers to provide coverage for medically necessary inpatient treatment of alcohol and drug dependencies and prohibits carriers from imposing precertification, prior authorization, pre-admission screening, or referral requirements for the diagnosis and treatment, including in-patient treatment, of drug and alcohol dependencies. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
The denial by private and public health benefit administrators of adequate coverage for substance abuse treatment has been identified as a major source of failed treatment efforts by persons addicted to controlled substances. These denials have also been identified as a cause of the shortage of adequate treatment facilities in Delaware. This Act seeks to ensure that persons with private and public insurance coverage have the ability to insist that they receive the substance abuse coverage to which they are entitled by law and by their insurance plans. It does so by (1) allowing the Department of Justice to provide legal assistance where appropriate to persons seeking benefits from the state’s Medicaid program, traditional health plans, or from employer-funded health benefit plans (which are exempt from state regulation), (2) requiring the state’s Medicaid program and private insurance carriers to provide notice to persons who are denied substance abuse treatment of the possibility of legal assistance in challenging those claim denials, and (3) permitting the Department of Justice to use funds in its Consumer Protection Fund to offset the cost of providing medical and legal expertise to DOJ and the Department of Insurance for the purpose of assisting persons with controlled substance addictions who are seeking treatment. This Act contains a sunset provision so that the General Assembly can assess the impact of its provisions on private and public health care costs and effective treatment of substance abuse before making its provisions permanent.
This resolution recognizes the month of May as "Poppy Month" in the State of Delaware.
This Act is the second leg of a constitutional amendment that will limit the ability of the State to appropriate Transportation Trust Fund moneys to a purpose other than (1) capital expenditures on the public transportation system, including the road system, grants and allocations for investments in transportation, the transit system, and the support systems for public transportation; (2) payment of the interest and principal on all bonds issued before or after the effective date of this Act and secured by moneys in the Transportation Trust Fund; and (3) other transportation-related purposes, including operating expenses funding the Delaware Department of Transportation, to which moneys in the Transportation Trust Fund are authorized on the effective date of this Act. The first leg, Senate Bill No. 166 of the 148th General Assembly, was adopted by two-thirds of the members elected to the General Assembly and publicized in accordance with Article XVI, § 1 of the Delaware Constitution. This Act essentially creates a lock box on the Transportation Trust Fund that can only be opened by the agreement of three-fourths of all the members of each House through a bill separate from an annual budget act, bond and capital improvement act, or grants-in-aid act. Additionally, if moneys in the Transportation Trust Fund cease to be appropriated for a transportation-related purpose, the moneys may not again be appropriated to such purpose except by the agreement of three-fourths of all the members of each House through a bill separate from an annual budget act, bond and capital improvement act, or grants-in-aid act.
This Senate Resolution creates a Special Committee to study and make recommendations regarding truck traffic movement along SR 41, SR 48, and SR 7.
This bill is a follow-up to House Bill No. 432, a change to the Town of Elsmere’s charter, passed in the 148th General Assembly. HB432 removed a cap on the amount of indebtedness the Town of Elsmere could incur to meet current expenses. This bill clarifies that such borrowing is intended to cover short term cash needs and shall not exceed anticipated revenue for the current fiscal year.
