| HB 6 | Signed | Osienski | This Act allows the Auditor of Accounts to issue subpoenas directly, removing a requirement that the Auditor first file a praecipe with the Superior Court prothonotary. It also allows the Auditor to effect service of such a subpoena, and to apply for a court order if a recipient fails to respond to a subpoena. Failure to comply with such a court order may be punished as contempt of court.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE AUDITOR OF ACCOUNTS. |
| HB 36 | Passed | Morrison | This Act aligns Delaware’s non-discrimination laws. Delaware has several broad laws that prohibit discrimination in public accommodations, housing, employment, and insurance but also has many narrow non-discrimination laws that apply to a specific entity, or type of entity, even though a broad law also prohibits discrimination by that entity. This Act aligns the narrower non-discrimination laws with the applicable broad non-discrimination law by also prohibiting discrimination on any other basis protected under the applicable broad law. Adding the reference to the chapter for the applicable broad law includes all protected classes, definitions, and actions that are currently protected under the broad law or that are added to the broad law in the future.
This Act does not make any substantive changes to current non-discrimination laws but is necessary because most of the narrow laws do not contain all of the same protected classes as the broad law that also applies or do not include the definitions of classes that are also in the broad law. These inconsistencies could lead to a misunderstanding by someone reading only an incomplete narrow law, and eventually litigation, about what constitutes illegal discrimination by an entity covered by both the narrow and broad laws. For example:
• The non-discrimination provision for the Board of Podiatry under § 506(c) of Title 24 does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of the following classes, for which discrimination is prohibited under Chapter 45 of Title 6: age, marital status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
• Only 4 of the 42 chapters in Title 24 establishing professional licensing boards contain a non-discrimination provision, but this does not mean that the other 38 licensing boards are free to discriminate. Aligning these 4 non-discrimination provisions with Chapter 45 of Title 6 clarifies that Chapter 45 of Title 6 also applies to the 38 professional boards that do not have specific non-discrimination provisions.
• For merit system state employees, § 5953 of Title 29 only prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and housing status but in addition to these classes, § 711 of Title 19 prohibits any employer in this State, including the State, from discriminating in employment based on age, marital status, color, national origin, or disability.
• Most of the narrower non-discrimination laws do not include all of the definitions in the applicable broad law. Adding the reference to the applicable broad law incorporates those definitions into the narrower law. For example:
1. All of Delaware’s non-discrimination laws prohibit discrimination based on race and all of the broad non-discrimination laws define “race” as including traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyle. However, very few of the narrower non-discrimination laws include this definition of “race”.
2. Several narrow non-discrimination laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity but do not include or specifically reference the definitions of “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in the applicable broad non-discrimination law.
Specifically, this Act revises the following narrow non-discrimination laws to align with the applicable broad non-discrimination law, as follows:
To align with the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law, Chapter 45 of Title 6, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, age, marital status, creed, religion, color, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin by establishments that offer goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to the general public, including government agencies:
• Transportation networks, § 1917 of Title 2.
• Parkland owned by civic associations, § 8110 of Title 9.
• Jury service, § 4502 of Title 10.
• Private business and trade schools, § 8516 of Title 14.
• Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, § 1204 of Title 20.
• Board of Podiatry, § 506 of Title 24.
• Board of Chiropractic, § 706 of Title 24.
• The Board of Medical Licensure & Discipline, § 1713 of Title 24.
• Board of Funeral Services, § 3102 of Title 24.
To align with the Delaware Fair Housing Act, Chapter 46 of Title 6, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, marital status, familial status, source of income, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or housing status in housing offered for sale, rent, or exchange:
• Section 4601 of Title 6, because gender identity is missing from the list of classes protected in the purpose section of Chapter 46 even though gender identity is protected under all of the substantive provisions under that chapter.
• Recording of deeds, § 9605 of Title 9.
• Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, § 5116 of Title 25. To align with Chapter 46 of Title 6, Subsections (a), (b), and (d) are revised to use the term "familial status" because "familial status" is defined in the Delaware Fair Housing Act to mean a household with children.
• The definition of “comparable housing” in § 7102 of Title 25 for the conversion of manufactured home communities.
To align with the unlawful employment practices in employment under Chapter 7 of Title 19, which prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, marital status, genetic information, color, age, religion, sex including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, housing status, disability, status as a victim of domestic violence, a sexual offense, or stalking, or a reproductive health decision:
• New Castle County government, § 1183 of Title 9.
• Training and apprenticeship programs, § 204 of Title 19.
• Merit System of Personnel Administration, § 5953 of Title 29.
• Large public works contracts, § 6962 of Title 29.
This Act also clarifies that the definition of “place of public accommodation” in § 4502(19) of Title 6 includes entities and services licensed or regulated under Title 5, Banking.
This Act does not make any changes to Title 18 for insurance.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 2, TITLE 6, TITLE 9, TITLE 10, TITLE 14, TITLE 19, TITLE 20, TITLE 24, TITLE 25, AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DISCRIMINATION. |
| HB 64 w/ HA 1 | Passed | Romer | This Act requires that school board meetings have a means for the public to view and provide comment remotely. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS. |
| HB 81 | Passed | Gray | This bill removes outdated references to permits. It further empowers the Council to designate those jurisdictions outside of the United States that will be recognized for certain types of applications based upon comity. The bill alters the section regarding discipline for examination violations because the examination is now administered in a computerized format. The bill modifies the process for the reporting of case decision recommendations to the Council by its subordinate committees and clarifies that the Council may seek injunctive relief to enforce its cease-and-desist orders. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS. |
| HB 85 | Passed | K. Williams | Under current law, both school board members who are elected and those who are appointed to fill vacancies until the next election are required to complete a background check. However, the statute is currently unclear as to how a background check gets done and who is responsible for reviewing the background check for an appointment. This Act makes clear that a person may not be appointed unless a background check has been completed and the Commissioner of Elections has determined the person is qualified for the seat, in the same manner the Commissioner completes that duty for candidates for school board elections. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. |
| HS 1 for HB 47 w/ HA 1 | Passed | K. Williams | This Act incorporates changes made by HS1 for HB204, which was passed by both chambers during the 151st General Assembly, but never enacted into law. It removes the exemption for private schools and youth camps that allows them to use a name-based, rather than a fingerprint-based, background check or choose not to do background checks at all for employees, contractors and volunteers. This Act also authorizes the Superintendent of State Police to promulgate regulations relating to re-use of a criminal background check. The State Bureau of Identification is also required to provide subsequent criminal history information to the agency receiving background check information. Authority is given to the Department of Education to pay the costs of background checks for its employees.
The Act also creates a new § 309A in Title 31, in response to a request from the federal government that the statutory authorization/requirement for private school background checks be separated from the statutory authorization for state and local government authorities.
The Act also makes some technical and clarifying changes to existing statutory language.
The Act takes effect on July 1, 2026 and child-serving entities and private schools must comply with the requirements by September 1, 2026.
This Substitute differs from the original HB47 in that the effective date is in 2026 rather than 2025. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BACKGROUND CHECKS. |
| HS 1 for HB 83 | Passed | Wilson-Anton | This House Substitute No. 1 provides that if a school board allows school board members to attend meetings remotely through electronic means, then permission to attend remotely must be granted in the case of any of the following: illness of the school board member; illness of an individual in the school board member’s family where that individual requires caretaking; a public health emergency; pregnancy or immediate postpartum care responsibilities of the school board member or the school board member’s spouse or partner; or military deployment of the school board member.
This substitute for House Bill No. 83 differs from the original in that it does not require school boards to allow remote attendance. But if the school board does allow remote attendance, it provides the permissible reasons remote attendance may be allowed, allows a school board to limit the number of times permission to attend remotely may be granted, and indicates that a school board may not add to the statutory reasons for remote attendance. It also expands the permissible reasons from the original bill to include pregnancy or postpartum complications of a board member’s spouse or partner. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS. |
| HS 1 for HB 50 w/ HA 1 + SA 1 + HA 2 | Passed | Heffernan | This House Substitute No. 1 for House Bill No. 50 creates the Delaware Energy Fund to provide assistance to consumers whose household income is less than 350% of the federal poverty level. Under 2025 federal guidelines, 350% of the federal poverty level for a single person is $54,775 and for a family of four is $112,525. The Delaware Energy Fund will be administered by the SEU and recipients of assistance from the fund will also be required to participate in energy savings and efficiency programs. Only one assistance payment may be made per application.
The Act also directs the Department of Natural Resources Environmental Control to transfer 30% of the funds generated by alternative compliance payments and solar alternative compliance payments to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The Substitute also changes existing code language to require, rather than allow, 5% of CO2 allowance proceeds to be directed to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The Act sunsets 3 years after its enactment.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 7 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENERGY ASSISTANCE. |
| HB 129 | Passed | Romer | Currently, if a child’s criminal case is transferred by the Family Court to Superior Court, or if a child files an application in Superior Court to have their criminal case transferred to Family Court and the Superior Court denies the application, there is no recourse for appeal until the child’s criminal case is finally adjudicated in Superior Court. In State v. Roberts, Del.Supr. 282 A.2nd 603 (1971) the Delaware Supreme Court stated its jurisdiction over such appeals by an accused, may only be by operation of law. This Act permits the child to enter a plea of guilty or nolo contendere and appeal an amenability denial to the Delaware Supreme Court within 30 days of being sentenced by the Superior Court. This Act also prohibits any plea being conditioned on waiving this right of appeal. This Act also clarifies that the Superior Court will not retain jurisdiction over the child if the Supreme Court reverses the Superior Court’s Order.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform with H.B. 115 of the 151st General Assembly, which was enacted into law on November 8, 2021 and prohibited transfers to Superior Court for children under the age of 16 in all but the most serious offenses. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO APPEALS OF COURT DECISIONS ON MOTIONS TO TRANSFER. |
| SB 123 w/ SA 1 | Passed | Mantzavinos | This Act clarifies the intestacy rights of child and parent by cross-referencing related provisions of Title 12 and Title 13 and adds a time limit for a child born of a deceased parent to be considered a child of that parent. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12 AND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE INHERITANCE RIGHTS OF ISSUE AND POSTHUMOUS CHILDREN |
| SB 171 | Signed | Wilson | This Act amends the Town of Houston (“Town”) Charter to do all of the following:
1. Gender neutralize the Charter.
2. Clarify the voting rights for multiple owners of a single piece of real estate located in the Town.
3. Change the times for polling and elections.
4. Change the qualifications of Town Councilmembers, the Town Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Alderman, Assistant Alderman, Treasurer, Town Tax Collector, and Town Solicitor.
5. Change the dates on which nominations for Town Councilmembers can be made.
6. Clarify when Town Council meetings may be held and the date when Town Councilmembers can be sworn into office.
7. Change the type of contracts that the Town Council may enter into.
8. Change and clarify how Town taxes may be levied and collected.
9. Change how the Town budget must be posted.
10. Remove the regulation and control of observance of the Sabbath Day.
11. Change the Town’s right to regulate animals, beasts, birds, or fowl.
12. Increase the Town’s ability to levy fines.
13. Remove limits on the amount of revenue the Town may raise.
14. Clarify the utilities the Town may tax.
15. Increase the borrowing limits of the Town.
16. Give the Town greater flexibility to locate a bank to serve the Town.
17. Change the voting rights in special elections.
18. Corrects citations to the Delaware Code.
This Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act also incorporates previously enacted changes [64 Del. Laws c. 211] that were inadvertently not included in the online copy of the Town of Houston’s Charter.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF HOUSTON. |
| SA 1 to HS 1 for HB 50 | Passed | Hansen | This amendment allows qualifying Delaware residents to receive support for energy bills from the Delaware Energy Fund provided that they first exhaust funding options from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). | |
| SB 183 | Signed | Lawson | On February 18, 2025, the City of Harrington passed Resolution 25-R-02 to seek support from the General Assembly to amend the City Charter. This Act amends the City of Harrington Charter, as requested by the City Council, by doing all of the following:
1. Removing limitations on the number of terms that an individual may serve as Mayor or a member of the City Council.
2. Removing the requirement that City funds be placed in a bank located in the City and allow the funds to be placed in bank approved by the City Council.
3. Changing the annual budget deadline from May 1 to June 1.
4. Changing the deadline for the auditor of accounts to submit an audit report from within 120 days from the end of the fiscal year to within 150 days from the end of the fiscal year.
5. Removing the Clerk of Council from the succession of authority for Mayor.
6. Allowing an approved member of the City Council to sign checks in the Mayor’s absence.
This Act also makes additional requested changes, not included in Resolution 25-R-02, by doing all of the following:
1. Moving the deadline to determine the City’s revenue needs from May 1 to June 1 to match the updated budget deadline.
2. Removing the City Treasurer’s authority to approve and countersign checks or warrants for paying bills or other claims against the City, so that the checks or warrants must be approved and signed by the City Manager and the Mayor, or a Council member designated by the Mayor.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including adding language to clarify that the Vice Mayor is elected from among the City Council members instead of appointed.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a municipal charter. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF HARRINGTON RELATING TO TERM LIMITS, BANKING, BUDGET AND AUDIT DEADLINES, SUCCESSION OF AUTHORITY, AND SIGNING CHECKS. |
| SB 187 | Signed | Sturgeon | The Department of Education (“Department”) currently administers the High Needs Educator Student Loan Repayment Program, the Speech-Language Pathologist Student Loan Repayment Program, and the Mental Health Services Student Loan Repayment Program.
Annually, these programs help roughly 600 public school employees, including educators, speech-language pathologists, school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers, through a single application process, by making loan payments directly to student loan lenders. But paying the lenders directly has caused 2 persistent issues:
1. Because the payments are considered taxable income, award recipients have the tax withheld from their paychecks, even though the payments go directly to the lenders. This lowers the award recipients’ take-home pay and can create confusion and hardship.
2. The process involves sending out 600 or more individual checks each year. And many checks are returned or delayed due to changes in lender information or system mismatches.
To avoid these issues, the Department recommends combining the 3 different student loan repayment programs into a single program and changing the award process from a system that repays lenders directly to a system that pays stipends to public school employees through the State central payroll operation. These changes would streamline a system that already uses a single application and would do all of the following:
1. Avoid surprise tax impacts and imputed income issues.
2. Reduce administrative burden and failed payments.
3. Provide more timely and transparent support to award recipients.
The suggested changes are easy to implement, budget-neutral, and could allow public school employees who previously declined awards due to the tax consequences to benefit from the financial support.
This Act makes the changes recommended by the Department by doing all of the following:
1. Eliminates the separate Speech-Language Pathologist Student Loan Repayment Program, Mental Health Services Student Loan Repayment Program, and High Needs Educator Student Loan Repayment Program, and combines them into a single program under § 4163 of Title 14.
2. Shifts payment of awards from paying the lenders directly to paying the award recipients a stipend through the State central payroll operation.
3. Streamlines the process for determining financial need by allowing the Department to focus on collecting the income and loan information that is necessary to fairly allocate program funds.
4. Changes the title of § 4163 of Title 14 from the High Needs Educator Student Loan Repayment Program to the “Public School Employee Support Program for High Need Areas” because the 3 programs are now combined into a single program and the program is no longer a direct student loan repayment program.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EDUCATOR AND SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH PRACTITIONERS SUPPORT PROGRAMS. |
| HCR 73 | Passed | Ross Levin | This resolution recognizes the 53rd anniversary of Title IX and its positive impact on students. | RECOGNIZING TITLE IX'S 53RD ANNIVERSARY AND ITS POSITIVE IMPACT ON STUDENTS. |
| SA 1 to SB 123 | Passed | Mantzavinos | This Amendment removes Section 3 of Senate Bill No. 123. | |
| SB 190 | Passed | Hoffner | This Act is a Senate Bill version of House Bill No. 117, as amended by House Amendment No. 1 (“House Bill No. 117”), which was reported out of the House Agriculture Committee on May 14, passed by the House on May 22, and reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on June 11.
This Act replaces House Bill No. 117 to do all of the following:
(1) Correct the bill title to ensure adequate notice that this Act is intended to apply to land owned by a political subdivision of this State, not just land owned by this State.
(2) Make technical corrections consistent with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
(3) Clarify that under § 2002(b) of Title 3 the land referenced is intended to be land owned by this State or a subdivision of this State.
Otherwise, this Act is substantively identical to House Bill No. 117 and so, like House Bill No. 117, this Act requires this State and any political subdivision of this State to notify the Farm Bureau when land owned by this State or any political subdivision of this State is listed for bidding for agricultural use. This requirement applies to land that is at least 10 acres in size and is used or intended to be used for agricultural use. The requirement to notify the Farm Bureau is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other notice required by law. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 3 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LEASES OF AGRICULTURAL LAND OWNED BY THIS STATE OR A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE. |
| HCR 79 | Passed | Carson | This Resolution recognizes and commends the crew and family members of the USS Delaware (SSN-791) for their continued dedication to the United States Armed Forces.
It also recognizes the Delaware Submarine Association for its role in supporting the morale, wellbeing, and recreation of the crew and families of the USS Delaware, as well to encourage, advocate, and generate statewide support for the crew of the submarine.
| RECOGNIZING THE CREW AND FAMILIES OF THE USS DELAWARE (SSN-791) FOR THEIR CONTINUTED DEDICATION AND SERVICE TO THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES. |
