| HB 344 | Committee | Ramone | This bill seeks to correct a current bias in Delaware’s election law impacting the outcome of countless races throughout the state.
Numerous academic analyses have concluded that there is a considerable benefit to a candidate’s name appearing first on the ballot.
In one noteworthy legal proceeding on ballot position bias, the California Supreme Court held that “a significant advantage accrues to a candidate by virtue of a top ballot position.” The High Court further concluded that without incumbents running, approximately 5% of a candidate’s vote share could be attributed to their position on the ballot.
California took action in 1975 to eliminate this flaw by randomizing the listing of candidates on its ballots. The Golden State uses a system where a randomized drawing of letters of the alphabet is conducted, with the resulting order of letters constituting a "randomized alphabet" that is used for determining the order of candidates' names on the ballot.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 states have enacted reforms to deal with ballot position bias.
Delaware law currently mandates that one political party always appear in the first column on the machine ballots or on the first line of absentee ballots. This bill proposes eradicating ballot position inequity by adopting a randomized system modeled after the one successfully employed in California for nearly five decades.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS. |
| HS 2 for HB 252 | Out of Committee | K. Williams | This Substitute bill differs from House Bill No. 252 by placing the Delaware Institute of Higher Education year-long teacher residency program under Section 1312 of Title 14 rather than Section 1305.This Substitute bill grants graduates of the Delaware Institute of Higher Education teacher-residency program 1 year of experience credit in addition to any other experience granted under Section 1312. The goal of this Act is to incentivize a new graduate who has completed the year-long Delaware residency program to stay and teach in Delaware by elevating their starting pay grade level by giving them 1 year of experience credit. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SALARY STEP FOR COMPLETION OF TEACHER RESIDENCY PROGRAM. |
| HS 2 for HB 273 | Committee | Dorsey Walker | This Substitute bill adds 5 additional speech-language diagnosis to the 2 diagnoses listed in H.B. 273 and references that all 7 speech-language diagnoses are classified in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) for billing purposes. This Substitute bill broadens the definition of “child” from 1 year to first grade to include all children from birth to age 18. This Substitute bill deletes the definition of carrier since the term is not referred to in these new sections and clarifies that Section 2 refers to group and blanket health insurance policies not individual health policies. This Substitute bill also clarifies that the Act applies to all health insurance contracts delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed after December 31, 2024. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH COVERAGE FOR SPEECH THERAPY. |
| HS 1 for HB 286 w/ HA 1 | Committee | Spiegelman | Like House Bill No. 286, House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 286 prohibits discrimination in life insurance based on genetic characteristics, genetic information, or the result of any genetic test.
House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 286 differs from House Bill No. 286 as follows:
1. Provides a definition of “direct-to-consumer genetic testing”.
2. Allows the use of any genetic information that is in an individual's medical record or application for life insurance.
3. Allows a person engaged in the business of life insurance to request that an individual share genetic information from a direct-to-consumer genetic testing or to request that an individual provide written consent for entity to provide that information.
4. Allows an entity that provides direct-to-consumer genetic testing to share information with a person engaged in the business of life insurance but only with the written consent of the individual.
5. Clarifies that a person engaged in the business of life insurance may not do any of the following:
a. Require that an individual take a genetic test.
b. Require that an individual provide genetic information received from an entity providing direct-to-consumer genetic testing or provide written consent for the entity to provide that information.
c. Take into consideration the refusal by an individual to take a genetic test, provide genetic information received from direct-to-consumer genetic testing, or provide written consent to share information from direct-to-consumer genetic testing.
Like HB 286, HS 1 for HB 286 also does all of the following:
1. Makes corresponding corrections to § 2317 of Title 18 by revising the heading for clarity and the definition of "insurance" to conform with the terms and definitions used in Title 18.
2. Is known as "The Ericka Byler Act”. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO GENETICS BASED DISCRIMINATION. |
| SA 1 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Pettyjohn | This amendment makes clear a person's due process rights as it relates to their ability to retain their permit. Similar requirements exist for virtually all regulatory notices issued by the executive branch to regulated individuals and entities and with the standard form notices issued during litigation in Delaware Courts. | |
| SA 2 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Pettyjohn | This amendment gives the aggrieved party sufficient time to identify, meet with, and retain competent legal counsel. | |
| SA 3 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Lawson | This Amendment requires prompt issuance of a permit if certain criteria are met by a handgun qualified purchaser. The present language, without this Amendment, could permit significant delay in the process. | |
| SA 4 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Hocker | This Amendment clarifies the original language of Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 2 by confirming that SBI is to grant the purchase permit if no grounds exist for a denial subsequent to an investigation. | |
| SA 5 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Richardson | This Amendment shortens the timeframe in which a hearing in the Justice of the Peace Court must proceed if an aggrieved person requests a hearing after revocation or denial of a purchase permit. | |
| SA 6 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Hocker | This Amendment creates a remedy for an aggrieved person that is not provided a permit, that is properly due to be issued, within the mandatory 30-day timeframe described in this Act. This Amendment permits an aggrieved person in these circumstances to recover from SBI all of the following: $1,000.00 in liquidated damages per day for each day beyond the 30-day requirement, attorneys fees incurred for pursuing relief in Superior Court, court costs, and interest at the legal rate. | |
| SA 7 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Pettyjohn | This amendment strikes line 28 in its entirety and removes language as noted as lines 131 and 133. | |
| SA 8 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Pettyjohn | This amendment strikes lines 32 and 33 in their entirety. This amendment also removes categories of demographic information. | |
| SA 9 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Lawson | This Amendment strikes House Amendment 11 to Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 2 in its entirety. | |
| SA 10 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Buckson | This amendment strikes lines 3 through 5 of House Amendment No 10 to Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 2. This Amendment removes language that would create a registry of Delawareans who own firearms. | |
| SA 11 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Lawson | This Amendment creates a burden of proof for a dispute in which the sufficiency of an employer's firearm training is challenged. This Amendment also directs that an applicant with training from multiple employers shall be able to rely upon all training received for determining whether the applicant has received sufficient training. | |
| SA 12 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Buckson | This Amendment eliminates language in the Act that would permit law enforcement agencies to create a firearm owner registry. | |
| SA 13 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Stricken | Hocker | This Amendment changes the effective date of the legislation such that it shall not be implemented until the Firearms Transaction Approval Process ("FTAP") is fully implemented by the State Bureau of Identification and all requisite state of Delaware governmental entities. | |
| SA 14 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Defeated | Pettyjohn | This Amendment clarifies that the Act will not become effective until the Registrar of Regulations publishes final regulations related to the Act. | |
| SA 15 to SS 1 for SB 2 | Stricken | Wilson | This Amendment clarifies that SBI shall not retain certain information, thus preventing the creation of a firearm owner registry. | |
