Delaware General Assembly

PWB 5/19/26

Amendment is attached to the legislation and awaits consideration

SB 214 -SA 1

5/19/26

Hoffner

This Amendment to Senate Bill No. 214 revises the definition of “biological evidence” to any item that “contains” some kind of biological material, instead of any item that “may contain” some kind of biological material; requires the State to preserve evidence that is likely to contain biological evidence; requires the state to retain evidence in a manner, consistent with best practices at the time of collection, that prevents contamination, degradation, or reduction of any biological material contained on the evidence; provides that the State may not destroy evidence that is likely to include any biological evidence before the expiration of a certain time period or unless certain conditions are satisfied; and provides examples of remedies that the court may order if the court determines that a failure to produce evidence was the result of intentional and willful destruction or of negligence or non-willful destruction. In addition, this Amendment provides that the Act takes effect 2 years after its enactment into law, rather than 30 days after its enactment into law.

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