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 or attending advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) and a consulting physician or consulting APRN 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 is the same as House Bill No. 140 (152nd) with 1 technical revision to include a definition of "physician" for consistency and to clarify that a physician must be licensed in Delaware. This Act 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. A mental illness or mental health condition is not a qualifying condition under this Act and a mental illness or mental health condition may be the reason that an individual does not have decision-making capacity and is thus, ineligible for medication to end their life in a humane and dignified manner. 3. Both the individual's attending physician or attending APRN and a consulting physician or consulting APRN 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 or attending APRN 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, palliative 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 or APRNs 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 or attending APRN 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 or attending APRN may prescribe the medication to end life. 9. The attending physician or attending APRN must provide the qualified patient with instructions about the proper safe-keeping and disposal of unused medication to end life in a humane and dignified manner under applicable state or federal guidelines. The United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines include using a medication collection site or a medication disposal pouch, that deactivates and renders drugs ineffective. 10. An insurer or health-care provider may not deny or alter health-care 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. 11. A health-care institution may prohibit a physician or APRN from prescribing medication under this Act on the health-care institution's premises and a physician or APRN may to refuse to prescribe medication under this Act. 12. A request or prescription for or the dispensing of medication under this Act does not constitute elder abuse, suicide, assisted-suicide, homicide, or euthanasia. 13. 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. 14. The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) must develop rules and regulations to collect information regarding compliance with this Act and require health-care providers to file a report when medication to end life in a humane and dignified manner is prescribed or dispensed. DHSS may review samples of records maintained under this Act. The information DHSS collects must include the information necessary to assess a physician's or APRN's compliance with their responsibilities under this Act and DHSS has explicit authority to share information with the Division of Professional Regulation if DHSS suspects that a health-care provider failed to comply with the requirements under this Act. 15. DHSS must complete an annual statistical report of information collected under this Act, similar to public reports available in other states such as New Jersey where this end of life option is available. This report has the following purposes: • To assist the DHSS in its oversight responsibilities for this Act. • To assist the public in learning how well this new law is operating. 16. The Department of State may also promulgate regulations or develop forms and protocols necessary under this Act. 17. Allows the Office of Controlled Substances to provide reports of data in the prescription monitoring program to DHSS to assess compliance with this Act. This Act takes effect when final regulations required under this Act have been promulgated or January 1, 2026, whichever occurs earlier. 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.
There is a conflict in Delaware law related to determining whether the name of the husband who dies during the period between the creation of the embryo and placement of the embryo should or can be entered on the birth certificate as the father of the child conceived. Because of this conflict, this Act directs the State Registrar of Vital Statistics to immediately amend the birth certificate of the impacted individual, Levi Ryan Murray, to include the name of his father, Ryan Murray, on his birth certificate. This Act is necessary so that this child’s birth certificate can be completed while the General Assembly considers how to resolve this conflict in the law generally. The only difference between Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 119 and SB 119 is that SS 1 for SB 119 corrects a misspelling of “Murray”.
This Act adds a high school student to the AI Commission as a nonvoting member. The Chair of the Commission will appoint a student who is, or will be in the next school year, a tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade student in a public or private school in Delaware.
Senate Bill 68 establishes the specific fees, known as pilotage rates, that will be charged by the Pilots' Association for the Bay and River Delaware. This bill sets these rates for the years 2026, 2027, and 2028.
This Act makes the following changes to human trafficking law: (1) It adds “patronizing a victim of sexual servitude” and “ trafficking of persons for use of body parts” to the offenses that may serve as a predicate for forfeiture of property under the trafficking statute. (2) It removes an obsolete reference to charging a minor with delinquency for engaging in prostitution. The Criminal Code was revised in 2019 to define prostitution as a crime that may be committed only by a person who is 18 years of age or older. (3) It adds conduct constituting a human trafficking offense to the list of conduct that constitutes “abuse” for purposes of obtaining a protective order in Family Court.
Section 1 of this Act allows the Department of Insurance to retain a portion of the licensing fees for insurance professionals in the Regulatory Revolving Fund. Section 1 of this bill also increases the maximum unencumbered balance that the Commissioner shall maintain in the Insurance Commissioner Regulatory Revolving Fund to $5,000,000. The previous balance was set by the General Assembly in 2005. Finally, Section 1 of this Act requires that any unencumbered balance in the Regulatory Revolving Fund in excess of $5,000,000 at the end of each fiscal year be transferred to the General Fund. Section 2 of this Act increases the licensing fees for insurance professionals by $25 and makes certain technical corrections. Sections 3 and 4 of this Act centralize licensing fees within one statutory provision (§ 701). These changes are necessary to reflect the growth of the Department operating budget and to cover further operating expenses realized as a result of additional statutory duties executed by the Insurance Department. The retention of these funds will ensure that the Department continues providing high-level services to the consumers of Delaware, maintains necessary staffing to satisfy NAIC accreditation standards, and avoids federal preemption.
This bill amends the charter of the Town of Millsboro to authorize redistricting of the Town's 3 municipal election districts using the 2020 federal decennial census by January 1, 2026 and to thereafter redistrict within 2 years of the latest federal decennial census. This bill also changes the process to fill a vacancy on the Town Council so that: (1) the Town Council shall appoint a person to fill a vacancy when there is less than 1 year remaining in the vacant term; (2) a special election is required to fill a vacancy when there is more than 1 year remaining in the vacant term; and (3) the Town Council shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy if no one files to run in the special election. This bill also clarifies that the Secretary shall be one of the members of the Town Council and describes the duties of the Secretary.T
This Act makes changes to the operating requirements for the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council. It reduces the members required for quorum from 13 to 10. Since the quorum requirement has been reduced to less than a majority of the Council, the bill also specifies that the Council may generally take action upon the vote of a majority of members present at a meeting, but that a majority vote of the Council members is required to approve the appointment of an Executive Director. Consistent with current practice, the Executive Director has the authority to hire staff and contract for services within the limits of available funds. The Act also revises the reporting on funds spent to be part of the annual report and include state, federal, or other funding received by the Council other than State-funded positions. At the present time, the Council does not receive state funding other than allocated personnel positions. Finally, the Act allows the Council to have a virtual meeting with a physical location open to the public (anchor location) so long as a staff member of the Council is present at the anchor location. Without this authorization, a member of the Council would be required to attend at the anchor location in order to comply with the State’s open meeting rules.
This Act identifies the specific categories of persons required to obtain a fingerprint-based national criminal background check in connection with working at a licensed marijuana establishment, holding a marijuana establishment license, or owning or serving on the board of directors of a business entity that has or applies for a marijuana establishment license. This clarification is necessary to comply with the requirements of Public Law (Pub. L.) 92-544 for access to FBI criminal history record information. This Act also makes conforming changes to § 1354 of Title 4 and clarifies other grounds for approval or denial of a license based on criminal background check information.
This Joint Resolution establishes the Small Restaurant Regulatory Reform Task Force, established for the goal of reducing unnecessary burdens created by the regulations promulgated by the Department of Health and Social Services. By June 1, 2026, the commission is to identify the unnecessary burdens created by the regulations, concrete steps that can be taken to ease the burdens, and what state funding, if any, would be necessary to ease those burdens.
This Act provides that commissioned constables have the authority to direct traffic, if they are doing so while in the performance of the lawful duties of employment. In addition to explicitly granting constables this power under § 5609 of Title 24, the Act adds constables to the list in § 4103 of Title 21 of persons invested by law with the authority to direct, control, or regulate vehicle and pedestrian traffic. These changes will enable constables to provide additional public safety support to employers such as schools, which may benefit from assistance with directing traffic during busy times of day such as pickup and drop off. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act allows criminal charges of using, consuming, or possessing other than a personal use quantity of a marijuana or other substance containing tetrahydrocannabinols and charges of public consumption of the same, where the offense is committed in the City of Newark by a person over 18 years of age, to be heard initially at either the Alderman’s Court or in the Court of Common Pleas. This Act likewise allows a civil violation for a person under the age of 21 using, consuming, or possessing a personal use quantity of a marijuana or other substance containing tetrahydrocannabinols to be heard initially at the Alderman’s Court where the violation is committed in the City of Newark by a person over 18 years of age.
