Delaware Bills

This bill designates the week of September 22-29, 2024, as "Frontotemporal Degeneration Awareness Week" throughout the state of Delaware. The resolution aims to increase public knowledge about frontotemporal degeneration, a rare and incurable brain disease that affects behavior, speech, and movement, often leading to delayed diagnoses. By officially recognizing this specific time period, the state encourages community engagement and support for those living with the condition and their families.

This bill is a formal resolution that congratulates high school students and their schools for winning the 2024 Delaware High School Mock Trial Program. It specifically recognizes the Charter School of Wilmington as the top winner, along with other teams that placed in the top five and a student who won a courtroom art competition. The resolution also honors a novice team for receiving a special award that celebrates ideals like civility and fairness. This measure does not change any laws or policies; instead, it serves as an official statement of appreciation from the state legislature for the participants' achievements in the competition.

This House Resolution requests that the Department of Education does all of the following to expand and support equity and inclusion in financial literacy for all students in the State of Delaware: 1. Contract with the University of Delaware Institute for Public Administration to conduct a curriculum alignment study for all local education agencies (LEAs). 2. Reports the findings of the financial literacy standards curriculum alignment study to the General Assembly no later than May 1, 2025. 3. Provides assistance to LEAs to improve implementation of existing financial literacy standards. 4. Reports its findings and recommendations to the State Board of Education, the General Assembly, and the Governor.

This bill designates July 26, 2024, as "Americans with Disabilities Act Day" in Delaware to honor the anniversary of the federal civil rights law that protects people with disabilities. The resolution does not change any laws or create new regulations but serves as a symbolic gesture to raise awareness about disability rights and inclusion. It encourages the state to inform residents about the importance of equitable treatment for individuals with disabilities and reaffirms a commitment to promoting accessibility.

This Act is a substitute for House Bill No. 147. Like House Bill No. 147, this Act provides a mechanism for the nonprobate transfer of real estate. This is done by permitting an owner of an interest in real estate to execute and record a transfer on death (TOD) deed designating a beneficiary who will automatically receive the real estate on the owner's death without a probate procedure. During the owner's lifetime the beneficiary of a TOD deed has no interest in the real estate and the owner retains full power to transfer or encumber the real estate or to revoke the deed. Like House Bill No. 147, this Act adopts the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act authored by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act has been enacted in 18 states (including Virginia) and the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a substantially similar law has been enacted in 11 states. The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act is pending before 3 state legislatures and has been enacted in New Hampshire and Utah this year. This Act differs from House Bill No. 147 as follows: (1) By making clear that a transfer of death deed takes precedence over any contrary instruction in a will to transfer the same property. (2) By making clear in the optional forms included in this Act, which may be used to create a transfer on death deed or revoke a transfer on death deed, that a transferor is a grantor and a beneficiary is a grantee. This change is made to assist the Recorders of Deeds in integrating the forms in their computerized databases. (3) By authorizing the Registers of Wills to adopt a form to be used by a beneficiary to provide notice of the death of a person whose property has transferred to the beneficiary by transfer on death deed. (4) By authorizing a beneficiary to file with the Register of Wills the death certificate of a person whose property has transferred to the beneficiary by transfer on death deed. (5) By making abundantly clear that which is already permitted under the law of this State, that a person may obtain from the Office of Vital Statistics a death certificate to establish their legal right to property and may disclose that death certificate to the Register of Wills to prove the person’s legal right to property. (6) Under Section 3 of this Act, clarifying that an individual who executed a transfer on death deed does not die seized of the property and, therefore, the property is not required to be included on an inventory and appraisal to the Register of Wills. (7) Making a clarification in § 5402 of Title 30 contained in Section 5 of this Act. (8) Delaying the effect of this Act until 90 days after its enactment into law. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to make technical corrections to the Delaware Constitution. First, this Act makes the language of the Delaware Constitution gender silent. Senate Bill No. 97 (152nd General Assembly), enacted as Chapter 42 of Volume 84 of the Laws of Delaware, directed the Code Revisors to use gender silent techniques to ensure masculine or feminine pronouns are not used in Delaware Code unless the usage requires otherwise. Thus, instead of drafting a law to say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if he or she deems him or her qualified”, following gender silent techniques the law would say, “The Governor may appoint an individual if the Governor deems the individual qualified.” This technique has the added benefit of providing clarity as many times use of multiple masculine or feminine pronouns can result in confusion as to which noun the pronouns refer. This Act would apply this same drafting technique to the Delaware Constitution. This action is consistent with the General Assembly’s amendment of the Constitution in 1999 following the adoption of a law directing the Code Revisors to gender neutralize or otherwise ensure that a solely masculine or feminine designation never occurs unless it could only apply to one gender. Second, this Act makes additional technical corrections identified by the General Assembly's Division of Research. Specifically, these technical corrections include the following: (1) Officially authorizing the headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution as the headings are contained in the “Constitution of the State of Delaware, Adopted 1897, As Amended”, as published by the Delaware Code Revisors in the Delaware Code. The headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution are not original to the Constituiton adopted in 1897. These headings were added during the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code. Since the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, publication of the Constitution has included headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution in the version of the Delaware Constitution published in the Delaware Code. Almost immediately after the 1953 revision to the Delaware Code, the General Assembly began enacting new constitutional amendments with headings and amending existing Sections of the Delaware Constitution using the headings provided or making amendments to the headings provided. However, these headings were not officially authorized by the General Assembly. Consistent with § 306 of Title 1 of the Delaware Code, the intent of authorizing all headings in the Delaware Constitution is for the purpose of convenient reference, not as an interpretive tool for the courts. (2) Based on the adoption of headings for each Section of the Delaware Constitution, removing existing Section numbers and relying instead on the adopted headings. (3) Consistently using the series (Oxford) comma. (4) Implementing a consistent hierarchy scheme and naming, consistent with the Delaware Code. (5) Implementing a consistent scheme for naming, capitalization, and citing of references to provisions of the Delaware Constitution. (6) Implementing a consistent scheme for numbers used for time, dates, and money by using the numerical form of the number only. (7) Capitalizing consistent with standard capitalization rules. (8) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution” with “this Article”. (9) Replacing references to “this amended Article IV of this Constitution becomes effective” with “May 14, 1951”, which is the date the referenced amendments took effect. (10) Removing usages of “but not limited to”. (11) Removing from § 8 of Article IV a definition providing that “Supreme Court”, as used in § 4 of Article V, means the Superior Court and replacing “Supreme Court” in § 4 of Article V with “Superior Court” for clarity. (12) Removing § 11(c) of Article VIII from the Constitution. This provision was not intended to be included in the Constitution as it was drafted as a separate bill section of the bill that proposed and concurred in the constitutional amendment creating § 11(a) and (b). It was intended to apply only to taxes or licenses fees authorized by the General Assembly but not yet effective and so not intended to be included in the Constitution. (13) Inserting the effective date of the constitutional amendment that enacted § 12 of Article VIII for clarity. (14) Correcting misspellings and misused words. (15) Making corrections to Section headings. (16) Making technical changes to § 4A of Article V, including to remove an “either” that is inappropriately used in a list of more than 2 items. (17) Removing the hyphen in “Lieutenant Governor” and “Attorney General”. (18) Changing references to “the State” to “this State”. (19) Removing usages of “said”. Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution.

This bill designates October 12, 2024, as "National Farmer's Day" throughout the State of Delaware to recognize the contributions of local agriculture. The resolution highlights the state's significant farming history and current production, noting that agriculture is Delaware's largest land use and a major source of employment. By officially acknowledging this date, the legislation aims to raise awareness about the role farmers play in providing food and supporting the economy. The measure does not create new regulations or funding but serves as a symbolic recognition of the agricultural community.

This resolution urges the Department of Human Resources / Division of Statewide Benefits and Insurance Coverage, to collaborate with a health system partner to work with a technology partner to deliver focused and targeted care protocols to a measurable cohort of the State Employee Group Health Insurance Plan to proactively address the growing problem Diabetes and metabolic syndrome present, thereby improving health and decreasing expenses for the enrollees of the Plan.

This Act prohibits any autonomous vehicle with a gross weight of 10,001 pounds or more from being operated on a Delaware highway for testing purposes, transporting goods, or transporting passengers without a human safety operator being physically present within the autonomous vehicle. A two-thirds vote requirement is required under Section 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution. This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 258 in the following ways: 1. The substitute requires a human safety operator to hold a commercial driver license that is valid for the vehicle being driven. 2. The substitute clarifies that the person subject to the fines of this Act is presumed to be the vehicle’s registered owner. 3. The substitute directs to the Department of Transportation to submit a report evaluating the performance of autonomous vehicle technology to the General Assembly and the Governor by January 1, 2029.

This bill designates the week of September 15 to 21, 2024, as "Adult Education and Family Literacy Week" throughout Delaware. It is a ceremonial resolution that does not change laws or allocate funding but instead formally recognizes the importance of state programs that help adults improve their literacy and job skills. The measure highlights how these educational efforts support families and community engagement without imposing new requirements or costs.

This resolution designates October 9-16, 2024, as “Dyspraxia Awareness Week" in the State of Delaware, affirming the importance of widespread awareness and support for individuals with dyspraxia, and encouraging expanded efforts to foster a culture of inclusivity and understanding in Delaware.

This bill is a commemorative resolution that formally recognizes the 52nd anniversary of Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools and programs receiving federal funding. It does not create new laws or change existing policies but instead serves to celebrate the historical progress made in educational equity and highlights specific achievements, such as the increase in women's participation in athletics and higher education. The resolution reaffirms the State of Delaware's commitment to upholding Title IX principles and encourages citizens to continue supporting gender equality in education.