| HA 2 to HB 39 | PWB | Viola | This Amendment clarifies that to register to vote on the day of election, a person must submit all of the following documents: an application, a copy of current valid government issued photo identification, and a current government document displaying the name and address of that person, such as a utility bill, bank statement, government check, or paycheck. This Amendment also changes the effective date from January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2020. | |
| HA 1 to HB 109 | Passed | Kowalko | This Amendment clarifies that a natural person must own real property in the City of Newark to vote in a referendum regarding the issuance of bonds. | |
| HB 135 | Committee | Yearick | This is the first leg of a constitutional amendment creating a "Crossover Day" deadline for each House of the General Assembly to send legislation over to the other House. The annual budget appropriation act, grants-in-aid act, bond and capital improvements act, and resolutions are excluded from this deadline. Currently 26 states, including Maryland, have crossover day deadlines for passing legislation between their two legislative chambers. | AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE II OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. |
| HB 137 | Committee | Morris | This Bill requires all statewide and other candidates that may appear on the general election ballot to disclose whether or not all their State and Federal personal income tax returns are filed and any tax due has been paid and whether or not all their real property taxes have been paid.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTIONS AND CANDIDATE DISCLOSURES. |
| HB 136 | Committee | Dukes | This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that would ensure that legislative business is conducted at a reasonable time during a special session to enable the public to monitor and participate in the legislative process.
Specifically, this Act:
(1) Prohibits the regular session of the General Assembly from extending beyond 7:00 p.m. on the last day of June, unless the session is recalled by the Governor or the presiding officers of both Houses. This changes the time beyond which a regular session of the General Assembly may not extend from midnight on June 30 to 7:00 p.m., which changes the time at which the presiding officers of both Houses must act to recall the General Assembly into special session. This change negates the Supreme Court’s ruling in Opinion of the Justices, 405 A.2d 694 (Del. 1979), that “the General Assembly, by operation of law, is required to stop its session at midnight of June 30th annually and it cannot continue by Legislative initiative unless ‘the session is recalled by . . . the mutual call of the presiding officers of both Houses.’”
(2) Requires that a session of a special session adjourn or recess to the call of the chair not later than 11:59 p.m. on June 30, unless otherwise provided by a resolution passed by a 2/3 vote of all members elected to both Houses.
(3) Prohibits a session of a special session from being called to order before 9:00 a.m. on any other calendar day or being adjourned or recessed to the call of the chair later than 9:00 p.m. on any other calendar day, unless otherwise provided by a resolution passed by a 2/3 vote of all members elected to both Houses.
This Act does not change the date of or process for “final adjournment,” as defined in Opinion of the Justices, 175 A.2d 543, 545 (Del. 1961) (“‘[F]inal adjournment’ . . . means the adjournment sine die of the second regular session, or, in the absence of such adjournment, the extinguishment of the particular General Assembly by reason of expiration of the terms of office of the members.”). In addition, this Act contemplates that the General Assembly will continue its traditional practice of recessing to the call of the chair to enter a temporary recess of a special session, from which a presiding officer may then recall the officer’s House at that officer’s pleasure. | AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE II OF THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO LIMITATIONS ON THE TIME AND FREQUENCY OF SESSIONS. |
| HB 132 | Committee | Jaques | This Act exempts veterans with 100% service-connected, permanent and total disability from paying State income taxes. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO STATE TAXES. |
| HB 140 | Committee | Baumbach | This Act permits a terminally ill individual who is an adult resident of Delaware to request and self-administer medication to end the individual's life in a humane and dignified manner if both the individual's attending physician and a consulting physician agree on the individual's diagnosis and prognosis and believe the individual has decision-making capacity, is making an informed decision, and is acting voluntarily.
This Act uses terms and definitions that are consistent with other Delaware laws in Title 16, specifically Chapter 25 (regarding advance health-care directives) and Chapter 25A (regarding Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment).
This Act also provides the following procedural safeguards:
1. No one may request medication to end life on behalf of another individual.
2. An individual cannot qualify for medication to end life under this chapter solely because of the individual's age or disability.
3. Both the individual's attending physician and a consulting physician must confirm that the individual has a terminal illness and a prognosis of 6 months or less to live, has decision-making capacity, is making an informed decision, and is acting voluntarily.
4. The individual's attending physician must also provide specific disclosures to the individual to ensure that the individual is making an informed decision, including the presentation of all end of life options which include comfort care, hospice care, and pain control.
5. The individual must be evaluated by a psychiatrist or a psychologist if either the attending or consulting physicians are concerned that the individual lacks decision-making capacity.
6. The individual must complete a witnessed form requesting medication to end life and there are limitations on who can witness the signing of the form.
7. The attending physician must offer the individual the opportunity to rescind the request for medication to end life before writing a prescription for the medication.
8. Two waiting periods must pass before the attending physician may prescribe the medication to end life.
9. An insurer or health-care provider may not deny or alter healthcare benefits otherwise available to an individual based upon the availability of medication to end life or otherwise coerce or require a request for medication to end life as a condition of receiving care.
10. A health-care institution may prohibit a physician from prescribing medication to end life on the health-care institution's premises.
11. The cause of death for an individual who self-administers medication under this Act must be listed as the underlying terminal condition and a request or prescription for or the dispensing of medication under this Act does not constitute a suicide, assisted-suicide, homicide, or euthanasia.
12. People acting in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted health-care standards under this Act have immunity, but those acting with negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct do not have criminal or civil immunity.
13. The Department of Health and Social Services must develop rules and regulations to collect information regarding compliance with this Act, complete an annual statistical report of information collected under this Act, and may review samples of records maintained under this Act.
This Act is known as "The Ron Silverio/Heather Block End of Life Options Law" in memory of Ron Silverio and Heather Block, who were passionate advocates that passed away without this option becoming available to them. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO END OF LIFE OPTIONS. |
| HR 7 | Committee | Spiegelman | This amendment to the House Rules requires a three-fifths vote of the members of the House in order to suspend the House Rules.
The primary purpose of the House Rules is to establish a reasonable and orderly process for the consideration of legislative proposals to be addressed by the House of Representatives.
Suspension of Rules should only be necessary in unusual situations and should not be the norm. This change will require a broad consensus (three-fifths) of all members of the House of Representatives in order to suspend rules.
Since a three-fifths requirement cannot be done via a simple voice vote, and must be performed with a roll call, this change will also increase transparency by ensuring that every legislator will have their vote on the action recorded and available for public review. | RELATING TO THE TEMPORARY RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 150TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE. |
