This Act allows any municipality with a population of 50,000 or more to establish by ordinance rules for the location of liquor stores that are more restrictive than state law, and requires the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner to refuse a license for any new establishment that does not comply with those rules.
This concurrent resolution declares May 21, 2026, as “Communities in Schools of Delaware Day” and calls upon the people of Delaware to become mentors, leaders and supporters in their local schools.
This Act moves the date of primary elections for statewide office, county office, and municipal office to the fourth Tuesday in April, which is the date of the presidential primary (in presidential election years). The dates for submitting and withdrawing notification of candidacy have been adjusted accordingly, as have the dates for notice of filing fees and background checks. Section 4 changes the “closed” period in which a voter is not allowed to change his or her political affiliation to match the 60-day limit in 15 Del. C. § 3189 for presidential primaries. This Act is applicable to all primary elections after December 31, 2026.
This Act increases the monthly service, disability, and survivor pension for retired State employees. For pensions effective on or before June 30, 2005, the increase is 3%. For pensions effective after June 30, 2005, the increase is 2%.
This Act is the first leg of a constitutional amendment that requires a person holding elected office to resign from office before being eligible as a candidate for a different elected office. Elected office includes the office of the Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor, the General Assembly, and any other state, county, or municipal position that is selected by voters in an election in this State. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, however, are not required to resign from office should they run for a different elected office. 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.
Maddy summaryHCR 15 designates March 8, 2025, as International Women’s Day in Delaware through a symbolic resolution. It encourages all Delawareans to recognize and celebrate women’s contributions to society, as outlined in the resolution’s preamble. The resolution does not create new legal requirements or obligations but serves as a formal acknowledgment by the state legislature. It was passed unanimously by both the House and Senate in March 2025.
This Act removes the requirement that applicants for a marriage license state their race as part of the application process. Delaware is one of a small number of states that currently requires this information. In October 2019, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that requiring marriage license applicants to provide their race violates the United States Constitution. In Delaware, the Clerks of the Peace, who are the points of data collection, have expressed support for this Act, as has the Office of Vital Statistics in the Department of Health and Social Services. The National Center for Health Statistics ("NCHS") has not requested detailed information from states regarding marriage and divorce since 1996. NCHS only requires states to provide the total number of marriages that occur each month.
This Act creates the crime of Aggravated Strangulation. A person is guilty of Aggravated Strangulation if the person is a law-enforcement officer, and while acting within the person’s official capacity as a law-enforcement officer, knowingly or intentionally uses a chokehold on another person. Under this Act, a chokehold is only justifiable when the person reasonably believes deadly force is warranted in order to protect the life of a civilian or law-enforcement officer. Aggravated Strangulation is a Class D felony unless the law-enforcement officer using a chokehold causes serious physical injury or death to another person thereby elevating the crime to a Class C felony. This Act also makes clear that if a person is charged under this section, such a charge shall not preclude or limit the State or any other prosecuting agency from bringing other criminal charges against the person.
Presently, a legal process does not exist for a Delaware hospital to seek the appointment of a guardian for a non-acute patient who has been a patient at the hospital for an extended period, after having been abandoned by family. This bill authorizes a hospital to petition for a court-appointed guardian for such a patient after providing two notices to the patient, the patient's surrogate, or the patient's family if there is no surrogate, of the need to seek a guardian for the patient.
The purpose of the Bill is to allow for the modifications to the Disability Insurance Program for state employees that were included in the Governor’s Twelfth Modification to the COVID-19 State of Emergency to continue until December 30, 2020 in the event that the State of Emergency ends prior to that date.
