| HB 165 w/ HA 1, HA 2 | Signed | Harris | This Act authorizes physician assistants, occupational therapists, and nurse practitioners to practice dry needling. This Act sets forth requirements and limitations pertaining to the practice of dry needling. Dry needling may not be performed without a physician referral, and physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and occupational therapists may not hold themselves out as acupuncturists unless they are licensed acupuncturists. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DRY NEEDLING. |
| HB 223 | Signed | K. Johnson | This Act requires the Department of Health and Social Services, in conjunction with the Department of Education, to develop or obtain informational materials concerning menstrual disorders to be provided upon request to school districts for purposes of educating students about menstrual disorders and their symptoms, and to ensure at least every 2 years the effectiveness of the information, that the information is up-to-date, and that any electronic links provided to access information and links contained therein are valid. The materials and information must be made available on a website maintained by the Department. Schools must, at a minimum, put posters containing the URL to the website maintained by the Department where the materials and information can be found, and may also distribute materials and information directly or provide students with flyers containing URLs, QR codes, or other links from which the students may access the information. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS CONCERNING MENSTRUAL DISORDERS. |
| HS 1 for HB 200 w/ HA 1 + SA 1 | Signed | Chukwuocha | This Act is a substitute for HB 200 and differs from HB 200 by requiring health insurance coverage only for pre-exposure prophylaxis (“PrEP”) medication and post-exposure prophylaxis (“PEP”) medication. This Act also makes technical corrections including updating section numbers and updating the applicability date so insurance companies can file rates that include the cost of the coverage required under this Act.
This Act requires individual health insurance plans, group and blanket health insurance plans, the state employee health plan, and state Medicaid insurance to cover medically necessary PrEP medication for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (“HIV”) infection before possible HIV exposure and medically necessary PEP medication for the prevention of HIV infection after possible HIV exposure.
The coverage must include must be provided without any of the following:
1. Cost-sharing requirements, including deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and out-of-pocket expenses.
2. Prior authorization or step therapy requirements.
3. Unreasonable delay in coverage determination.
This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates that are renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18, TITLE 29, AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR TREATMENT TO PREVENT HIV INFECTION. |
| HB 305 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Hilovsky | This Act provides a roadmap via an observational study on a small but representative group of diabetic patients to change standard healthcare from current reactive “sick care” to proactive “well care”. This will be accomplished by using a Delaware health system combined with a technology partner to regularly test, measure and manage, and incentivize diabetic patients and their providers to improve the health outcomes for Delawareans and drive down healthcare costs. The length of the observational study will be 3 years. During that time, data analysis will track results to determine if this Pilot Program shall be renewed and expanded.
This Act requires no fiscal note in that this Pilot Program is to be federally funded through the Federal Rural Health Transformation Program. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE DIABETES WELLNESS PILOT PROGRAM WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES TO STUDY DIABETIC WELL CARE. |
| HB 310 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Heffernan |
This Act excludes large energy use facilities from the definition of a qualified facility for purposes of determining eligibility for a tax credit or license fee reduction for the creation of employment and qualified investment in business facilities. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BUSINESS TAX CREDITS AND DEDUCTIONS. |
| HB 308 w/ HA 1 | Signed | Berry | This Act requires that meetings of the Public Service Commission be livestreamed virtually and requires that members of the public have the opportunity to comment virtually. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION. |
| SB 287 w/ SA 2 | Signed | Hoffner | This Act adds requirements for persons who collect single-stream recycling from single and multi-family residential or source-separated customers and requires commercial businesses to assess all wastes and evaluate costs associated with disposal of recyclable materials. The Act also removes responsibilities associated with recycling grants and low interest loans, which are no longer available. The Act adds a new provision to facilitate stakeholder engagement with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, while removing the establishment and associated responsibilities of the Recycling Public Advisory Council. Section 7 of the Act removes specific civil and administrative penalties, allowing the Department to utilize enforcement authority already established in Chapter 60, Section 6005 and details the responsibilities of the Department and the Authority to provide an annual report to the Governor and General Assembly regarding the status of recycling activities in the state.
This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SOLID WASTE RECYCLING. |
| SS 1 for SB 161 | Signed | Pinkney | This Act revises Delaware law governing behavioral health treatment provider organizations by establishing a comprehensive statutory framework governing licensing, oversight, enforcement, client rights, provider duties, incident reporting, and investigations relating to behavioral health treatment services. The Act consolidates and modernizes statutory provisions governing behavioral health treatment oversight and clarifies the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health's authority to license programs, investigate incidents, and enforce compliance with this chapter.
This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 161 by doing all of the following:
(1) Expands the definition of the protection and advocacy system to reference all applicable federal protection and advocacy statutes.
(2) Revises the client rights provisions by reorganizing and clarifying the rights framework, adding rights related to discharge planning and continuing care, clarifying the standard for permissible limitations on client rights, including a requirement that any limitation be for the shortest duration feasible, and revising the standard governing the use of restrictive intervention to align with existing Delaware law.
(3) Expands standing to enforce client rights to include clients and their authorized representatives in addition to the Attorney General and the protection and advocacy system.
(4) Adds a savings clause clarifying that nothing in this Act abrogates the rights and requirements applicable to long-term care facilities under Chapter 11 of Title 16.
(5) Adds elopement to the definition of incident for purposes of the incident reporting requirements.
(6) Modifies the provisions relating to the protection and advocacy system by expanding the system's access authority to reference all applicable federal and State law, adding a requirement that the Division notify the protection and advocacy system no more than 72 hours after receiving a report of a client death, authorizing staff to make discretionary reports to the protection and advocacy system, and extending anti-retaliation protections to staff who report to or cooperate with the protection and advocacy system.
(7) Adds a framework for the confidentiality of incident reports and investigation records while authorizing the Division to publish aggregate, de-identified information regarding incidents and trends across the behavioral health system.
(8) Adds an injunctive relief pathway allowing the Department to seek a temporary restraining order in the Court of Chancery when a provider organization's activities create an imminent risk of substantial harm to clients.
(9) Updates language throughout to reflect current person-centered terminology consistent with the preferences of the disability community.
(10) Makes technical and conforming changes for clarity and consistency.
This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to create a new crime within the jurisdiction of any inferior court of this State. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH. |
| SB 301 | Signed | 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 307 | Signed | Huxtable | This Act gives Delaware’s Public Service Commission (“Commission”) the authority to designate a telecommunications provider or reseller as an eligible telecommunications carrier (“ETC”) for the purpose of providing Lifeline services. Lifeline is a Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) program that helps make phone and internet services more affordable for low-income consumers. Approximately 8,700 Delawareans participate in Lifeline.
Currently, the determination of which telecommunications services companies can operate as Lifeline ETCs in Delaware is made by the FCC. This Act shifts that authority to the Commission, and in doing so, brings Delaware into line with nearly every other state in the nation. The reason for this nationwide trend is that in the past 15-20 years, the FCC has stopped taking action on approving ETCs for Lifeline on behalf of states. The FCC is not opposed to states stepping into this gap, but Delaware cannot do so absent statutory changes. By giving the Commission the authority to designate Lifeline ETCs, this Act will allow additional Lifeline providers to support this State’s residents. Because the FCC handles the administration and expenses of the program, there is no cost to the State as a result of taking on this authority.
This Act takes effect immediately, but implementation is delayed to give the Commission time to amend its regulations to be consistent with this Act. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS FOR LIFELINE SERVICES. |
| SB 310 w/ SA 1 | Signed | 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. |
| SB 312 | Signed | Poore | This Act prohibits state agencies, counties, and municipalities from entering into nondisclosure agreements that would restrict the public from accessing information about potential or actual large-scale data center development in this State. Large-scale data centers, defined in this Act as data centers that use or are capable of using 100 megawatts of power or more, can pose significant challenges for the communities in which they are located. When nondisclosure agreements are used to shield information about proposed or planned data centers from the public, it deprives those communities of the opportunity to understand and respond to issues that directly affect them. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9, TITLE 22, AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DATA CENTERS. |
| SB 321 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Hansen | Net crediting is the preferred utility consolidated billing methodology for Delmarva Power and Light as it has already been successfully implemented in Atlantic City Electric, Pepco Maryland, and Delmarva Maryland jurisdictions. Net crediting delivers a simpler, more transparent experience for both subscribers and subscription coordinators by netting subscription charges from monthly credits on behalf of the subscribers, who receive the net credit. Then, the utility aggregates those subscription charges on behalf of the subscription coordinators, who receive a payment from Delmarva. Net crediting marries the concept of world class customer experience with market scalability, while also being the lowest risk option for Delmarva's customers. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO UTILITY BILLING. |
| HS 1 for HB 322 | Signed | Gorman | This Act is a substitute for House Bill No. 322 which permits employees of, or security personnel working for, a health-care institution, as defined under Chapter 25C of Title 16, or a medical or dental practice licensed under Title 24, for the purpose of summoning a law-enforcement officer, take any person presenting a security or safety risk at such premises into custody and detain the person in a reasonable manner on the premises for a reasonable time.
This House Substitute to House Bill No. 322 differs from the initial bill as it clarifies the definition of health-care institution, medical practice, and dental practice. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ARREST AND DETENTION. |
| HB 435 | Signed | Minor-Brown | This Act prohibits individual, group, state employee, and Medicaid health plans from differentiating in the reimbursement rate of a health service based on whether the service was provided by a certified registered nurse anesthetist or by a physician. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 18, 29, AND 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS. |
| HB 438 | Signed | Romer | This Act adds the definition of child-serving entity for the purpose of requiring a service letter verification from any child-serving entity where an employee may have worked. “Child-serving entity” is already defined in § 309 of Title 31 and includes DSCYF, residential child-care facilities, public and private schools, youth camps, summer schools, and other entities. If a previous employer fails to respond to a service letter, this Act also requires that the prospective employee report the failure to respond to the DOL.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SERVICE LETTERS, CHILD-CARE FACILITIES, AND HEALTH-CARE FACILITIES. |
| HS 1 for HB 233 w/ HA 1, HA 1 to HA 1, HA 3 + SA 2 | Signed | Burns | This Act requires regulated utilities to establish a separate rate class for large energy use facilities that mitigates the risk of costs associated with expanding infrastructure and maintaining reliability in the face of growing demand from being shifted to residential, small business, and other electric customers. Wherever possible, the costs of large energy use facilities should be directly assigned to those facilities, and where direct assignment is not possible, the costs should be allocated to the class of large energy use facilities and not to other customer classes.
To accomplish this, the Act sets forth minimum requirements for Electric Service Agreements (ESAs) and Transmission Security Agreement (TSAs) to be in place for any large energy use facility. The Commission shall promulgate regulations to implement these agreements. ESAs shall be reviewed and approved by the Commission prior to the interconnection of a large energy use facility and provide a regulatory framework to enable responsible developers of large energy use facilities to enter into agreements to fairly allocate costs among customer classes.
The Public Service Commission will consider several factors in determining whether to approve an ESA, including consistency with the Commission’s regulations; whether the ESA and tariff ensure that all costs attributable to the large energy use facility are assigned to the class of large energy use facilities; whether other customers are adequately protected from the risk of paying stranded asset costs; the impact of the large energy use facility on delivering safe, adequate, and reliability electricity; the impact on the State, including the economy, other ratepayers, and environmental impacts; and the viability of the developer of the facility.
In combination, the ESAs and the large load tariff shall ensure that, wherever possible, distribution infrastructure investment costs, capacity procurement costs, reliability backstop procurement costs, transmission infrastructure costs, and study costs attributable to a large energy use facility are all directly assigned to that large energy use facility. Where direct assignment is not possible, these costs should be allocated to the class of large energy use customers. The Commission shall develop an “incremental cost test” to measure the revenues and costs from a large energy use facility to ensure that there are not cost shifts to other customers.
The Act further establishes interruptability requirements for large energy use facilities to ensure other customers are protected from reliability impacts caused by large energy use facilities. Facilities that construct or cause to be constructed new in state generation may exempt themselves from interruptability.
Finally, the Act requires large energy use facilities to contribute to the low income fund and green energy fund at higher rates than other customers and requires large energy use facilities to contribute to renewable portfolio standard costs and qualified fuel cell provider costs.
The Act takes effect upon enactment and regulated utilities must file an application to establish rates required under this Act within 180 days of the effective date.
| AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LARGE ENERGY USE FACILITIES. |
| HB 445 w/ HA 1 + SA 3 | Signed | Heffernan | This Act requires large energy use facilities to produce renewable energy within the state to power their operations to prevent a drain on the electric grid. It provides for a “ramp-up” period requiring that a large energy use facility provide a plan to the Public Service Commission to ramp up their energy production within the state each year so that by the 10th year of operations, the facility is producing 100% of its energy usage through in-state production.
This Act also allows the Public Service Commission to regulate electric suppliers insofar as necessary to ensure that large energy use facilities do not negatively affect the reliability of the electric grid. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LARGE ENERGY USE FACILITIES. |
| SB 339 | Signed | Seigfried | This Act makes a technical correction to the optional special powers form in the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act in Title 16. Currently, the existing language in the form implies any number of days can be written in to the advance directive when designating a maximum length of time for a mental health care related admission. However, under § 2518(e) of Title 16, an agent or default surrogate may not consent to voluntary admission of an individual to a facility for mental health treatment for longer than 72 hours. This Act removes the open-ended language in the form, so that a voluntary admission to a mental health facility by an agent may not exceed 72 hours. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES. |
| SB 340 w/ SA 1 | Signed | Mantzavinos | This Act requires long-term care facilities to have insurance policies that provide a minimum of $1 million per claim/$3 million aggregate coverage each for general liability and professional liability. This Act takes effect 180 days after enactment. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES |
| SB 341 | Signed | Seigfried | Sections 1 and 2 of this Act identify DHIN as the State’s sanctioned provider of Health Data Utility (HDU) services. The HDU concept arises and builds off of services provided by Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) such as DHIN. Including this language will align with DHIN’s development and assist the State in responding to federal and other grant funding opportunities that require or prefer collaboration with a sanctioned HDU.
Section 2 of this Act is a clarifying provision that states DHIN’s ability to contract with organizations in furtherance of its mission in business arrangements that facilitate DHIN’s underlying mission, notwithstanding that those organizations may provide services (such as direct provision of treatment to patients) that DHIN does not directly provide under this chapter. It also makes a technical change to align the list of stakeholders identified with lists that appear elsewhere in the statute.
Section 3 of this Act aligns DHIN’s use cases more clearly with the requirements of federal law that relate to using health data for analytic and research purposes, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Federal Policy for Protection of Human Subjects (the Common Rule) and makes a technical correction to a description of DHIN processes. This change will also ensure consistency between permitted uses of claims data for research purposes and permitted uses of clinical data.
Sections 4 and 5 clarify DHIN’s ability to incorporate clinically relevant information into a patient’s longitudinal record, excluding pricing information, for access as permitted by the laws and regulations governing DHIN’s HIE services. This clarification ensures patients will have access to the clinical information included in claims data for their own uses.
Section 5 makes a technical correction to recognize that DHIN’s enabling legislation and applicable federal law do not permit DHIN to “report” data to the public that would be suitable for the public health improvement research and activities purposes designed to be encouraged by that section, and clarifies that the identified agencies will have access to the standardized claims data sets curated by DHIN from the Delaware Health Care Claims Database as otherwise permitted under this statute at no cost. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE HEALTH INFORMATION NETWORK. |
| HB 475 | Signed | Minor-Brown | This Act creates a new Delaware Nursing Advancement Fund (Fund) for purposes of funding a nonprofit that will maintain information and conduct studies about the nursing workforce, advance the profession of nursing, monitor trends in the nursing applicant pool, facilitate partnerships, educate the public about opportunities and careers in nursing, and distribute information about the nursing workforce.
Money for the Fund will come from a $10 fee on initial and renewal applications to the Board of Nursing, as well as any disciplinary fines. The Division of Professional Regulation will make a grant award to a nonprofit to accomplish the purposes of the Fund.
This Act requires a three-fourths majority vote for passage because of the requirements of Section 4, Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE NURSING ADVANCEMENT FUND. |
| SJR 20 | Signed | Poore | This resolution requires the Department of Health & Social Services to evaluate the feasibility of using independent assessment tools and assessors for the determination of support needs for individuals eligible for Home and Community-Based Services in the State. The Department shall present a report to the Delaware General Assembly, by March 1, 2027, on its findings. | DIRECTING THE DIVISION OF MEDICAID AND MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO EVALUATE ASSESSMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS RECEIVING HOME AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES. |
| SB 347 | Signed | Mantzavinos | This Act expands the scope of prohibited extraordinary collection actions to include a large health-care facility levying on tangible personal property of a patient. It also clarifies that any party taking action to collect medical debt must disclose in court pleadings whether the party is a large health-care facility, and makes technical corrections. | AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 6 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE MEDICAL DEBT PROTECTION ACT |
