Rep. Kim Williams

This Act requires modifications to exemptions from county taxation to reasonably reflect changes in property value and inflation. This Act also requires New Castle County to use the same eligibility criteria and calculation formula for exemption from school taxes that it used for county taxes in the fiscal year that began July 1, 2025.

Maddy summaryHB 474 amends Delaware law to require online platforms that book short-term rentals to collect the local lodging tax on behalf of municipalities. This change directly affects intermediaries, such as vacation rental websites, by making them responsible for gathering the tax from guests rather than the property owners. The bill aims to streamline tax collection by shifting the duty from individual hosts to the companies facilitating the bookings.

This Act raises the monthly deduction on taxable gross receipts allowed by restaurants from $100,000 to $250,000. Accordingly, the quarterly deduction allowed for restaurants with gross receipts of no more than 1.5 million in the previous year is increased from $300,000 to $750,000.

Maddy summaryHB 416 proposes to lower the realty transfer tax in Delaware by reducing the rate by one-quarter of a percent. This change directly affects individuals and entities buying or selling real property within the state, as they would pay less tax on these transactions. The bill achieves this by amending Title 30 of the Delaware Code, which currently governs realty transfer tax regulations. Once enacted, the reduced tax rate would apply to future transfers of real estate covered under the statute.

This Act establishes the Rights and Responsibilities Guide for Landlords and Tenants Committee (“Committee”) within the Delaware Real Estate Commission (“Commission”). The Commission is tasked with drafting, maintaining, and distributing a comprehensive, statewide rights & responsibilities guide (“guide”) for landlords and tenants with support from the Committee. This guide will reference responsibilities that a tenant or landlord must follow, including federal, state, county, and municipal requirements. This Act also requires a landlord or real estate service provider to provide the guide to prospective tenants entering a landlord-tenant relationship governed under Part III of Title 25. The guide must also be provided at each time a rental agreement is renewed if the renewal is for a term of 1 or more years. The guide may be provided in electronic or paper format. The guide is deemed a statutorily required form under 24 Del. C. § 2912. Real estate service providers may be subject to discipline for misrepresenting the availability or content of the required form. Additionally, failure to provide the guide when required is deemed an unlawful practice under § 2513 of Title 6 and a violation of Subchapter II of Chapter 25 of Title 6. Section 4 of this Act requires the Commission to provide a report to the General Assembly with findings about what disclosures or documents are required to be made to tenants independent of the guide and whether the Commission recommends other law be changed to incorporate those disclosures and documents into the guide. This Act is effective upon enactment into law and, except for the penalty provisions, is to be implemented the earlier of the following: (1) One year from the date of the Act’s enactment. (2) Notice by the Director of the Division of Professional Regulation published in the Register of Regulations that both of the following have occurred: a. The report required under Section 4 of this Act has been provided to the General Assembly. b. The guide this Act creates has been published by the Delaware Real Estate Commission. Penalty provisions are to be implemented 180 days after the remainder of the Act is implemented. If this Act is implemented before the report under Section 4 of this Act is provided to the General Assembly, the report must be provided to the General Assembly within 180 days after the Act is implemented.

This Act changes the age at which a person can bartend from 21 years old to 18 years old, and requires that a bartender who is 18, 19, or 20 years old be directly supervised by a person who is 21 years of age or older and who is working behind the bar with the 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old. This Act also increases the frequency of statutorily mandated alcoholic beverage server training from every 4 years to every 2 years. To ensure that 18–20-year-olds are protected from sexually oriented content by virtue of being permitted to bartend, this Act prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from entering into or working in any capacity in a tavern or taproom that offers sexually oriented entertainment. This includes taverns and taprooms that are licensed as adult entertainment establishments under Chapter 16 of Title 24, taverns and taprooms that offer sexually explicit performances as defined in § 787 of Title 11, and tavern and taprooms that are advertised as “strip clubs,” “adult entertainment clubs,” “gentlemen’s clubs,” or that offer performances or services of a sexually oriented nature. Currently, Delaware is in the minority of states when it comes to requiring bartenders to be 21 years old. By reducing the legal bartending age to 18, this Act will help Delaware’s food service industry remain competitive with the many other states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in which 18–20-year-olds can bartend.

This Act amends the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act to update the statutory definition of confirmatory blood lead testing for children under 16 years of age. The Act allows a confirmed elevated blood lead level to be established either through a venous blood lead test or through two capillary blood lead screenings collected within 12 weeks of each other, provided that the applicable lead reference value is met or exceeded. Two positive capillary blood lead screenings yield an effective specificity of approximately 99.75% when properly collected. This change is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance case definition, reduces barriers to case identification and management, and requires conforming regulatory updates.

This Act expands Delaware’s campaign finance disclosure requirements to provide more transparency regarding the source of funding for contributions to and expenditures made from political committees in the State. To that end this Act does the following: 1. Requires out-of-state committees that contribute more than $2,000 to a Delaware election (exempting contributions to candidates and political parties) to register with the State Election Commissioner (Commissioner). 2. Requires political committees to list any affiliated controlling entities on its statement of registration. 3. Increases the disclosure requirements to be placed on third-party advertisements by requiring the advertisement to display, if applicable, the name of a majority owner of the third-party advertiser, the responsible party, affiliated controlling entities, and the 5 persons who made the 5 largest aggregate transfers to the entity in the last 12 months. 4. Requires third-party advertisers to display a link to a website that lists all contributions to the third-party advertisement in excess of $100. Any contribution that is greater than $100 that is not from an individual must also include information on the contribution’s underlying funding source. 4. Prohibits all reports filed with the Commissioner from containing a negative balance so that the source of all funds are disclosed, including any loans. Substitute 1 to HB 216 makes the following changes: 1. Prohibits a foreign national or foreign-controlled entity from making a contribution, expenditure, independent expenditure, or electioneering communication in connection with any state or local election in the State. 2. Requires that all campaign finance reports disclose specific information about advertisements, including the name of the vendor or platform used, the medium used, a description of the advertisement, and the target audience. 3. Replaces the current link to the Election Commissioner’s website on third-party advertisements with a website to be “determined” by the Election Commissioner. 4. Requires that third-party party advertisements display the state of residence, incorporation, or registration of all persons disclosed on the advertisement itself and on the linked website containing additional disclosures. 5. Updates definitions to include modern modes of communication. 6. Changes the implementation date to July 1, 2028. 7. Makes technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act strengthens essential protections for victims of human trafficking by removing practical barriers that prevent victims from getting convictions or juvenile delinquency adjudications obtained as a result of being a victim of human trafficking vacated and the related criminal or juvenile records expunged. This Act amends § 787 of Title 11 in the following ways: (1) Requires a showing that the offense to be vacated was committed “as a result”, instead of “as a direct result”, of the victims having been trafficked, which recognizes that victims of human trafficking may engage in a range of criminal behaviors related to their exploitation. (2) Provides that a motion to vacate and any hearing or proceeding related to the motion to vacate must remain confidential, unless the court determines good cause exists to open the proceeding, so a victim of human trafficking may seek relief without fear of revictimization. (3) Eliminates the requirement of a mandatory hearing on a motion to vacate unless the Attorney General files a timely objection to the motion. This will allow victims to obtain relief on uncontested motions without needing to relive their trauma through questioning at a formal hearing. (4) Clarifies that the standard of proof for determining eligibility for vacating an adjudication or conviction under § 787(j) is by a preponderance of evidence. (5) Allows a victim to vacate a conviction or adjudication of delinquency under § 787(j) and expunge the records of that conviction or adjudication. Additionally, this Act allows the court to order immediate expungement sua sponte or on request and allows expungements to be ordered by the court deciding the motion to vacate. (6) Establishes guidelines for the Attorney General to request an extension of time, if needed, to respond to a motion to vacate. This Act also aligns the standards for a defense to a charge of prostitution or loitering from “as a direct result” to “as a result” of human trafficking. This matches the change made to the vacatur provisions and keeps the standards in § 787 consistent. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Maddy summaryThis bill is a formal resolution that honors Jenna DiEleuterio, the 2026 Delaware State Teacher of the Year, and acknowledges all other District Teachers of the Year in the state. It does not create new laws or change policies but serves to publicly recognize the achievements of these educators through official commendation. The measure was passed by both the House and Senate to express appreciation for the dedication shown by these teachers.