| HB 290 | Passed | Ortega | This Act designates "Puerto Rico Day" as a ceremonial day to be commemorated annually on June 11 in Delaware. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 1 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUERTO RICO DAY. |
| HB 312 | Signed | K. Williams | This Act amends the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act to update the statutory definition of confirmatory blood lead testing for children under 16 years of age. The Act allows a confirmed elevated blood lead level to be established either through a venous blood lead test or through two capillary blood lead screenings collected within 12 weeks of each other, provided that the applicable lead reference value is met or exceeded. Two positive capillary blood lead screenings yield an effective specificity of approximately 99.75% when properly collected. This change is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance case definition, reduces barriers to case identification and management, and requires conforming regulatory updates.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LEAD TESTING. |
| SB 264 | Committee | Brown | This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment to hold a special election when there is a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor, unless that vacancy occurs between July 1 of the year in which the Lieutenant Governor is chosen and the date the Lieutenant Governor’s term begins.
This Act is modeled after the process of holding a special election for a vacancy for a member of the General Assembly. As with special elections for the General Assembly, the details of the special election process for the Lieutenant Governor will be made part of Title 15 by separate legislation introduced along with the second leg of this constitutional amendment in the 154th General Assembly.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution.
Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE III OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO FILLING A VACANCY IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. |
| HB 333 | Passed | Morrison | This Act changes the probate dollar limit for administering a small estate without requiring Letters of Administration or Letters of Testamentary from $30,000 to $50,000. This Act also makes changes to conform with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DISTRIBUTION OF DECEDENT'S PROPERTY WITHOUT GRANT OF LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION. |
| SB 291 | Committee | Pinkney | In 2013, Congress enacted the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, 34 U.S.C. § 60105, which requires states to report to the U.S. Department of Justice the deaths of individuals who die in the custody of law enforcement. Failure to comply may result in the reduction of certain federal grant funds.
In 2024, the Criminal Justice Council, which is responsible for ensuring Delaware's participation in the data collection required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, arranged for the Statistical Analysis Center to serve as the Criminal Justice Center's agent to coordinate and manage the logistics of this data collection. The Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center issued guidance to law enforcement on the requirements of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 and the process and procedures to be used to comply with these reporting requirements.
This Act codifies the process and procedures established by the Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center related to the reporting required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013. In addition, this Act requires compliance reporting and provides that a law-enforcement agency that fails to comply with this Act is ineligible for certain funding until the agency complies with this Act. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REPORTING AND REVIEW OF DEATHS OF INDIVIDUALS IN CUSTODY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT. |
| SB 297 | Committee | Hansen | This Act adds a clarifying interpretive paragraph to the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act (Subchapter II, Chapter 25, Title 6 of the Code) to address a recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court and to make clear that the Consumer Fraud Act’s use of the phrase “in connection with” in § 2513 should be interpreted to include unfair and deceptive acts and practices that occur “before, during, and after” the sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement of any merchandise. The Delaware Supreme Court recently construed the Consumer Fraud Act to be confined to conduct “between businesses and consumers which happen before a transaction or during the transaction itself.” Blue Beach Bungalows DE, LLC v. State, No. 14, 2025, 2025 WL 3768232, at *11 (Del. Dec. 30, 2025). However, in recognition of the broad purpose of the Consumer Fraud Act set forth by the 123rd General Assembly in Section 2512, subsequent amendments to the Consumer Fraud Act to include the “receipt” of merchandise, and the scope of comparable statutes in other states, this bill ensures that the Consumer Fraud Act is interpreted to apply to unfair or deceptive conduct that occurs after a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement, including, but not limited to, conduct occurring in instances in which a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement creates an ongoing relationship or a continuing obligation, or where performance has not yet been completed. This aligns the Consumer Fraud Act with Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (“UDAP”) laws with similar language in other states, as well as many other UDAP laws, including the FTC Act, that cover post-transaction conduct.
This Act will allow the Delaware Department of Justice to use the Consumer Fraud Act to address the full range of unfair and deceptive acts or practices that consumers report to the Delaware Department of Justice, including, for example, false and threatening landlord communications, unscrupulous debt collection tactics, and failures to honor promises to fix returned merchandise. It will also ensure that businesses throughout the state can compete on a level playing field throughout the duration of their relationships with consumers, without being undercut by unscrupulous competitors who engage in post-transaction misconduct. Additionally, it ensures that the Delaware Department of Justice is not disadvantaged when coordinating with other states to hold entities accountable for unfair or deceptive acts or practices that are nationwide in scope.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 6 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONSUMER PROTECTION. |
| SB 301 | Committee | Pinkney | This Act requires that a hospital create a discharge plan if a pregnant patient who is experiencing signs or symptoms consistent with labor is discharged before delivery. This requirement to create a discharge plan applies to patients discharged from either in-patient treatment or observation status and must contain all of the following:
1. Aftercare instructions and guidelines and that these instructions and guidelines were explained to the patient, patient’s agent, or patient’s lay caregiver.
2. An assessment of travel distance and time between the primary residence of the patient and the hospital.
3. Verification of reliable transportation between the primary residence of the patient and the hospital.
4. Identification of a back-up hospital or facility at which the patient may obtain labor and delivery services.
This Act is modeled on the Women Expansion of Learning and Labor Safety or WELLS Act, H.R. 7830, which was introduced in Congress on March 5, 2026. The WELLS Act is named after Mercedes Wells, a Black woman who was forced to give birth on the side of the road minutes after being discharged from a hospital while in active labor.
Under existing law, Chapter 30J of Title 16 provides discharge planning requirements when a patient is being discharged home after admission to a hospital. The requirements under this Act are in addition to, but can be combined with, these existing discharge planning requirements if the patient being discharged is pregnant and experiencing signs or symptoms consistent with labor.
This Act also renames and reorganizes Chapter 30J of Title 16 by making existing law Subchapter I and creating a new Subchapter II with the requirements under this Act. As such, this Act makes corresponding changes to existing law to change references to Chapter 30J to the new subchapter. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HOSPITAL DISCHARGE PLANS FOR PREGNANT PATIENTS. |
| SB 305 | Committee | Paradee | This bill creates a special license plate for Delaware State University to support student access, academic excellence, and university programs that advance the institution’s mission. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SPECIAL LICENSE PLATES. |
| SB 310 w/ SA 1 | Committee | Huxtable | This Act creates a Disaster Recovery Fund (the "Fund") to provide disaster recovery assistance to Delaware residents and local governments affected by disasters. The Fund is intended to provide means for program creation following an extreme event with regard to short-term recovery needs, the provision of interim housing assistance, support for the repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of occupied damaged or destroyed homes, assistance in addressing gaps in insurance coverage, prioritization of health and safety issues to ensure that housing remains habitable, and support for long-term recovery initiatives.
The Fund will be administered in accordance with guidelines set by the Recovery Advisory Council, or "RAC," which is established by the Act. The Fund will consist of any appropriations, grants, gifts, contributions, or revenues received by the Fund from any source. It will be divided into at least 2 components, including: (1) the DEMA Recovery and Resilience Program, which previously existed as Executive Order #44, or the Delaware Resilience Fund, and which will receive funding to focus on recovery initiatives, and (2) the DSHA Housing Recovery Program, which will receive funding to address housing recovery needs.
The RAC shall establish prescribed impetuses that trigger the use of funds for mitigation and preparedness projects, including establishing a dollar amount threshold for the fund beyond which funds can be spent on mitigation and preparedness, and establishing a minimum time period of at least one year beyond which, if the Fund is not utilized for its primary objectives, funds can be spent on mitigation and preparedness. Eligible uses would include funding for disaster risk reduction, hazard mitigation projects, or community resilience initiatives or use as a "match" for costs associated with federal mitigation or preparedness grant dollars for initiatives in mitigation and preparedness.
The RAC will convene biannually, upon activation request, when post-disaster assistance requests exceed the available balance of the Fund, or in accordance with its bylaws. The RAC consists of the Director of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency or designee; the Director of the Delaware State Housing Authority or designee; the State Hazard Mitigation Officer or designee; the Directors of the Emergency Management Agencies for Sussex County, Kent County, and New Castle County or their designees; the Disaster Coordinator of the Department of Health and Social Services or designee; and the following members, appointed by the Governor: representatives from the Delaware League of Local Government and the Delaware Community Foundation; a member of local government from an affected or impacted community; a member with expertise in disability services, independent living, or access and functional needs, and any additional cabinet secretary or subject matter expert.
The Fund may be activated when a disaster occurs and affects an amount of housing, residents, or property predetermined within DEMA or DSHA programmatic guidelines, if damage occurs that exceeds the capacity of the affected locality and assistance is requested from the corresponding county, if the support required for recovery exceeds the capacity of the corresponding county and the county makes a request to the Fund's program managers, or if the Governor declares a state of emergency or requests fund activation.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 20 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE DISASTER RECOVERY FUND. |
| HCR 134 | Passed | Hilovsky | This resolution recognizes the last Monday of May as Memorial Day. | RECOGNIZING THE LAST MONDAY OF MAY AS MEMORIAL DAY. |
| HCR 133 | Passed | Jones Giltner | This Concurrent Resolution recognizes the month of May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month | RECOGNIZING THE MONTH OF MAY 2026 AS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH. |
| SA 1 to SB 310 | Passed | Huxtable | This Amendment adds the Secretary of DNREC, or the Secretary's designee, to the voting membership of the RAC. It also makes a technical correction. | |
