2024 Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual
The Division of Legislative Services is pleased to announce the 2024 edition of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. The manual is the primary resource for those who prepare or review legislation or are otherwise interested in the creation of an accurate, clear, and uniform legislative product. This edition of the manual includes several improvements:
- Frequently used boilerplate language, relating to many different drafting scenarios.
- Clearer instruction on drafting a constitutional amendment.
- How to draft bills creating a special license plate or health insurance bill
- How to cite the Delaware Constitution, Delaware regulations, or federal law. (Hint: don’t follow Bluebook!)
- Hyperlinks included throughout to allow users to quickly jump from one section to another, to more easily access related rules and concepts.
- An index to assist users in finding specific concepts.
We are providing the manual in Word and PDF versions. Both the Word and PDF versions are linked and bookmarked so you can use these features to better navigate the document. And, the Word version is made available so you can more easily copy the frequently used boilerplate language and use it in your drafting. Additionally, we are sharing our Legislative Drafting Quick Guide covering some of the most frequently references portions of the manual.