| HB 42 | Committee | K. Williams | This Act does all of the following regarding suspected human trafficking of children:
1. Ensures the sharing of information between the Child Protection Accountability Commission (CPAC) and the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council.
2. Expressly requires a multidisciplinary response to these cases, similar to child deaths and serious physical injury.
3. Even though human trafficking of children is child abuse, specifically delineates it throughout the child abuse multidisciplinary investigative response.
4. Codifies a review panel and oversight committee within CPAC for these cases, with the same authority, subpoena power, and immunities provided to the system that reviews child abuse deaths and near deaths.
5. Establishes that the Office of the Child Advocate will staff the review panel and oversight committee.
This Act ensures that Delaware law is consistent with federal law requiring states to consider victims of human trafficking as victims of child abuse and neglect, and requiring the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families to investigate these cases. See the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 et. seq.) and Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (Pub. L. 114-22).
Finally, this Act makes minor technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11, TITLE 16, AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN. |
| HJR 2 | Committee | Neal | This House Joint Resolution directs the Department of Health and Social Services (“DHSS”) to explore participating in the federal Restaurant Meals Program (RMP). The RMP is an option that states may incorporate into their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to ensure that SNAP recipients who are senior citizens, disabled, or unhoused, or other eligible family members of those participants, may use their SNAP benefits to buy hot foods or hot prepared meals. These populations may otherwise experience barriers that prevent them having the opportunity to access a nutritious and sustaining meal.
This Joint Resolution also requires DHSS to provide a report to the General Assembly as to its findings. | DIRECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES TO EXPLORE PARTICIPATING IN THE FEDERAL RESTAURANT MEALS PROGRAM. |
| SB 65 | Committee | Hocker | This Act removes Delaware from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“RGGI”) as the state has already exceeded its CO2 reduction goals, cutting emissions by 45%. Despite this progress, Delaware faces high electricity costs and slow economic growth, ranking 46th in GDP growth. RGGI compliance costs are passed on to consumers, making energy more expensive for families and businesses. States outside RGGI have maintained lower energy prices while still reducing emissions. Exiting the program will allow Delaware to pursue policies that support both economic growth and energy affordability. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TERMINATING THE REGIONAL GREENHOUSE GAS INITIATIVE AND CO2 EMISSION TRADING PROGRAM. |
| HB 51 | Committee | K. Williams | Currently, the Delaware Educator Apprenticeship Progam offers teacher apprenticeships to aspiring educators in Delaware. This Act expands the Delaware Educator Apprenticeship Program to include paraprofessional apprenticeships (paraprofessional registered occupation programs) and registered youth apprenticeship programs that begin in high school. Under this Act, the DOE will work with the DOL to create at least 1 paraprofessional registered occupation pilot program for the 2025-2026 school year. To that end, the DOE, in partnership with the DOL, must apply for State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula Grants, both formula and competitive funding, for the 2025-2026 school year, along with any other available state or federal funding. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE EDUCATOR APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM. |
| HB 48 | Committee | Neal | This Act adds provisions to Title 21 to better regulate, define, and enforce accessible parking spaces in Delaware. This Act expands on those design and construction rules required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and its implementing regulations, to provide additional requirements that enhance these standards and better reflect the needs of persons with disabilities in Delaware. When constructing or altering accessible parking spaces, this Act requires that a permit be issued by the local county or municipal authority to ensure that accessible parking spaces are compliant with these new requirements. This Act permits a county or municipal government to assess a civil penalty of up to $500 on an individual or entity that does not comply with the design and construction requirements of this Act. This Act also increases the fine for unlawfully occupying an accessible parking space. Rather than imprisonment, the penalty for unlawfully occupying an accessible parking space may include community service. This Act adds provisions in Titles 9 and 22 to require county and municipal governments to adopt regulations and ordinances incorporating Title 21’s new accessible parking space requirements, including the requirement that property owners obtain a permit and that the permitting agency verify that the new or modified accessible parking spaces is compliant with the law. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 9, 21, AND 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ACCESSIBLE PARKING SPACES. |
| HB 52 | Committee | Shupe | This Act changes the timeline for fiscal projections required under § 1901, § 1902, and § 1905 of Title 29 from 3 years to 5 years. It also changes the timeline for fiscal projections required under § 1903 of Title 29 from 1 year to 5 years.
This Act applies to all bills or joint resolutions filed after the Act’s enactment into law.
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 FISCAL PROJECTIONS. |
| HB 55 | Committee | Chukwuocha | This Act is intended to supplement protections under federal law for members of the military, their families, and veterans by adding “military status” as a protected class for purposes of the State’s public accommodations, housing, insurance, education, and employment laws.
Technical corrections are also made to existing statutory language to conform with the requirements of the Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PROHIBITED DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF MILITARY STATUS. |
| SB 66 | Committee | Sokola | Beginning in 2002, schools, school districts, and licensed child care providers have been required to keep binders of community notifications with information about registered sex offenders. This requirement was enacted based on recommendation from the Community Notification Task Force that schools have a role in community awareness. However, this requirement has created financial, administrative, and emotional burdens for staff who maintain the binders. The binders are rarely reviewed by the public and they do not necessarily provide up-to-date information or information on sex offenders in the immediate geographic area of the school, school district, or licensed child care provider. Additionally, in its March 31, 2002, report, the Community Notification School Task Force found that schools do not have the expertise to answer inevitable questions regarding the nature of particular offenses or the risk posed by particular offenders, and that it is not an appropriate role for educators to answer those questions.
This Act eliminates the requirement that a school, school district, or licensed child care provider keep community notifications in a binder. Instead, schools, school district, or licensed child care providers are required to provide “school and child care notification” that includes all of the following information:
1. Notification that searchable records available to the public can be obtained at a police agency or the Delaware State Bureau of Identification (“SBI”).
2. Notification that the public can register for community notifications on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website.
3. The URL for the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website.
The school, school district, or licensed child care provider must provide the school and child care notification upon request from staff, faculty, or a parent or guardian of an enrolled child. Additionally, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must post the school and child care notification on its website or, if it does not have website, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must send the information to staff, faculty, and a legal parent or guardian of an enrolled child in writing at least annually.
The Act also clarifies that sex offender registry information must be available on the Internet on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website.
Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) guidelines require law enforcement to keep a registry of sex offenders and to provide public notification. Specifically, the guidelines require law enforcement to notify schools, but do not require schools to provide access to sex offender records. Instead, federal law enacted in 2006, 34 U.S.C. § 20920, requires states to provide public access to sex offender registry information on the Internet.
The SBI maintains the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry on its website, which allows the general public to find information about registered sex offenders by searching the offender’s information or by searching in a geographic radius. The website also allows the public to sign up for e-mail notifications regarding sex offenders who appear on the website. The website is updated every Friday. It is easily accessible to most of the public, including on computers at public libraries.
Additionally, the public can request sex offender registry information in-person at a Delaware State Police troop. The public also can call the SBI for information. Certain municipal police agencies, such as the City of Dover Police Department and the Newark Delaware Police Department, also provide access to community notifications for offenders located in the municipality on the agency’s website. Law-enforcement agencies are better equipped than schools or licensed childcare providers to answer questions about the registry.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SEX OFFENDER COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION. |
| HB 57 | Committee | Morrison | This Act protects consumers by regulating home improvement contracts. Among other things, this Act provides the buyer with a right to cancel home improvement contracts within 3 days (5 days for those over the age of 62 or with a disability); limits contract deposits and material deposits; and time periods in which construction must begin. It also prohibits confessions of judgments and hasty debt transfers. If a party to a home improvement contract violates a provision of this new subchapter, a person who is damaged as a result has a cause of action to seek damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees.
This Act also creates a requirement that individuals convicted of 2 or more offenses of home improvement fraud after the effective date of this Act must be subject to debarment. This debarment will preclude these individuals from operating a business which engages in home improvement services or from employing other individuals to engage in home improvement services. Debarred individuals may work for a company which engages in home improvement themselves, so long as they are not in control of the company in question. This bill also enhances penalties for home improvement fraud for those with prior convictions for home improvement fraud; and creates enhanced penalties for individuals who engage in home improvement services while operating companies which are not registered with the Delaware Department of Labor’s Contractor Registry.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 6 AND 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HOME CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS. |
| HA 1 to HJR 1 | Passed | Spiegelman | This amendment makes a technical correction. | |
| HB 59 | Committee | Lynn | This Act extends certain limitations on the publication by law-enforcement of the name and photograph of crime suspects. Currently the Code prohibits the publication of the name and photograph of a juvenile suspect unless the juvenile is charged with a violent felony and the publication is necessary to protect the public’s safety. This Act would prohibit the release or publication of an adult suspect’s name or photograph unless the individual is charged with or suspected of a felony and the release is necessary to protect the public’s safety. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO RELEASE AND PUBLICATION OF THE NAME AND PHOTOGRAPH OF INDIVIDUALS CHARGED WITH CRIMES OR DELINQUENCY. |
| HB 44 | Committee | Lynn | This Act requires the State to have a migrant education program to ensure that migrant children’s educational needs are met. The program must provide the same services that were provided or were required to be provided under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on January 19, 2025. If federal funding is insufficient to meet the needs of migratory education, the Delaware Department of Education must identify, transfer, or request the appropriation of supplemental funding from the State or other sources to ensure no interruption in services. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MIGRANT EDUCATION. |
| HB 61 | Committee | Lynn | This Act creates civil and criminal liability for a corporation or other business organized under the laws of this State that sells, distributes, or dispenses a drug that is used as part of a government-sanctioned execution.
Under this Act, the highest-ranking officer of the organization that sells, distribute, or dispenses a drug that the officer knows or should know will be used in any capacity in a government-sanctioned execution is guilty of a class A felony and is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000. If the organization is a corporation, its corporate charter will also be revoked. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DRUGS USED IN GOVERNMENT-SANCTIONED EXECUTIONS. |
| HB 58 | Committee | Lynn | Under this Act a law-enforcement officer of this State is not allowed to do any of the following:
(1) Stop, question, arrest, search, or detain any individual based on actual or suspected citizenship or immigration status, or actual or suspected violations of federal civil immigration law.
(2) Inquire about an individual’s immigration status, citizenship, place of birth, or eligibility for a social security number.
(3) Make an arrest, detain, or prolong the detention of an individual based on civil immigration warrants or immigration detainers.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DETENTION AND ARRESTS. |
| SB 63 | Committee | Walsh | Chapter 35 of Title 19 prohibits an employer from improperly classifying an individual who is an employee as an independent contractor. Not only is this improper classification unfair to employees because it violates state and federal laws related to income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, wage laws, and workers’ compensation, it is also unfair to contractors who comply with Chapter 35 and these other employment laws.
When employers who violate Chapter 35 are subcontractors who have not registered as contractors as required under Chapter 36 of Title 19, the Department of Labor (Department) has no recourse for enforcing compliance with Chapter 35. This Act makes a general contractor responsible for a subcontractor’s compliance with Chapter 35 by making the general contractor jointly and severally liable for restitution and penalties assessed against the subcontractor. This Act also allows the Department to deny, suspend, or revoke the certificate of registration of a contractor who contracts with a subcontractor who has not registered on any project.
In addition, Section 3 of this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LABOR. |
| HB 60 | Committee | Lynn | This Act limits circumstances in which personal identifiable information about applicants or holders of driving privilege cards may be released to those instances where the Delaware Attorney General gives specific approval or where the request for information is in a valid court order. It also amends existing provisions relating to disclosure of driver and motor vehicle information to limit the disclosure or re-disclosure of citizenship or immigration status information and related sensitive personal information. Such information may be released pursuant to a court order, with the approval of the Delaware Attorney General, for voter registration purposes, and where otherwise explicitly authorized by statute. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DIVISION OF MOTOR VEHICLES DATA PRIVACY. |
| HB 70 | Committee | Harris | This Act requires that all rental units constructed before January 1, 1978, are certified as lead free or lead safe by a specific deadline. Lead inspectors must be approved by the State to conduct inspections and if necessary, lead abatement and remediation. A certificate exemption may be issued for no more than 6 months. If the rental unit is uninhabitable, the landlord must provide alternative housing while the unit undergoes lead abatement or remediation. Recertification for lead safe units must occur prior to commencement of any rental agreement more than 4 years after the date the unit was last certified. Units must be recertified as lead free or lead safe if a lead-based paint hazard is discovered in the rental unit or if individuals residing in the unit develop elevated lead blood levels. Beginning July 1, 2028, every rental until constructed prior to January 1, 1978, shall include a disclosure as to whether the rental unit has been certified as lead safe or lead free.
To help eligible landlords obtain lead certification or remediate their units, this Act creates a Lead-based Paint Hazard Control Grant and Loan Program. Preference for grants shall be given to families with young children, pregnant individuals, or tenants regularly visited by children under 6 years old. This Act also establishes a Lead-Based Paint Remediation Certification Committee to study the available workforce and available public funding to support the inspection and remediation efforts required by this Act along with the feasibility of meeting deadlines established under this Act.
This Act also does the following:
(1) Prohibits landlords from discriminating against individuals because they make a complaint or assist in an investigation or proceeding relating to a lead-based paint hazard in a rental unit or premises.
(2) Prohibits landlords from discriminating against individuals residing in a unit who have elevated blood lead levels or children or pregnant individuals who may be affected by lead-based paint hazards.
(3) Requires that contractors performing lead-based paint abatement or remediation under the Delaware State Lead-Based Paint Program provide for the safety of workers performing lead-based paint remediation work, including free blood testing for workers at least every 3 months.
This Act take effect 6 months after notice is given by the Secretary of DHSS that final regulations have been adopted and sufficient funding is available. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 25 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LEAD-BASED PAINT. |
