Rep. Josue Ortega

This Act repeals the requirement that a person must apply for a certificate of public review prior to the acquisition of major medical equipment. A certificate of public review may still be required if the acquisition meets the capital expenditure threshold under § 9304(a)(2) of Title 16. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and restores a missing word to § 9304(a)(2) of Title 16.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates May 2026 as "Small Business Month" in Delaware to recognize small businesses within the state. It does not create new laws, regulations, or funding but serves as a symbolic resolution to acknowledge the importance of small enterprises. The measure directly affects small business owners and the public by encouraging awareness and celebration during the specified month.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates May 2026 as "Community Action Month" throughout the State of Delaware. It serves as a symbolic proclamation to encourage civic engagement and community involvement during that specific month. The measure does not alter laws, allocate funds, or create new regulations, but rather establishes an official theme for public awareness.

This Act updates and modernizes Delaware law regarding birth certificates, death certificates, driver’s licenses, identification cards, and marriage license applications, licenses, and certificates (government documents) as follows: • Establishes uniform gender designations. • Provides uniform requirements when an individual seeks to change their gender designation. • Protects the privacy of records related to a change of an individual’s gender designation. • Revises existing law regarding marriage licenses and certificates to reflect current practices and to clarify current procedures. Under existing law, people can change their gender designation on these government documents. However, only the Office of Vital Statistics (OVS) can amend marriage certificates and the requirements to change gender on these government documents are only in regulations. These existing regulations require certification from a medical or social service provider certifying the individual’s true gender identity and do not explicitly keep the original documents and information submitted in support of the change confidential. Specifically, this Act does all of the following in Sections 1 through Section 6 of this Act: • Establishes, for these government documents, that “sex” or “gender” may be designated by “F” for female, “M” for male, or “X” for unspecified. Unspecified designates a gender identity that is not female or male. • Allows an individual to change their gender designation without a court order or certification from a medical or other service provider. • Allows a parent to amend the parent’s gender designation and name on their child’s birth certificate. • Creates procedures so that people can amend marriage certificates through either OVS or the county clerk of the peace that issued the marriage license. These procedures require that OVS and the clerk of the peace share the amended certificate with the other office, using the existing electronic records system. • None of the documents or records under this Act are public records. This Act adds strengthened protections that prohibits the release of a request to change gender, and previous versions of the amended government document, unless the following specific requirements are met: For birth certificates and marriage certificates, information related to the change of gender and the previous birth certificate may only be released if the request meets the requirements for the release of records of healthcare services under § 3928 of Title 10 and § 611 of Title 29. Section 3928 of Title 10 prohibits a court from ordering the release of records related to healthcare services requested by another state related to a criminal violation of a law if the healthcare services are legal in Delaware. In addition, § 611 of Title 29 prohibits a state or local government agency from releasing information in response to inquiries concerning the lawfulness of healthcare services that is related to healthcare services that are lawful in this State. For driver’s licenses and identification cards, information related to the change of gender, including previous photos and names on these documents, may only be released if the request is for a permissible use of personal information. In addition, if the request is from another state, there must be a demonstrated legitimate public safety need for the information that would be necessary to obtain a valid court order in Delaware. Before releasing gender change information to a person in another state, the individual making the request must provide a signed affidavit acknowledging their responsibility to protect this information and agreement that the information will only be used for the legitimate public safety need that is the basis for the request. In addition, Sections 7 through Section 12 of this Act makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and updates existing law to conform to modern procedures as follows: • Revises Chapter 1 of Title 13 and Chapter 31 of Title 16 to eliminate duplicative and conflicting provisions. • Transfers the requirements for the information required in a marriage license application from Title 13 to Title 16, because under existing law in Title 16, OVS is responsible for creating all forms related to marriage. • Creates separate terms for marriage license applications, marriage licenses, marriage certificates, and the background information provided at the time of the application for a marriage license. It clarifies that a marriage license becomes a marriage certificate when the officiant and both witnesses sign the form after the marriage is performed. These changes are necessary because existing law uses the term “marriage license” when referring to both the license required to get married and the certificate documenting that the marriage was performed. • Clarifies that only individuals with authority under Title 12 may obtain a certified copy of death certificate from OVS. • Align the existing privacy protections under § 305 of Title 21 with the strengthened protection in Section 6 of this Act. This Act is effective immediately but has a delayed implementation date for all of the following: • The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) and the Department of Transportation (DelDOT) to adopt the necessary regulations and forms. • DelDOT, DHSS, and the clerks of the peace to make necessary changes to computer systems.

This Act amends the procedure for disseminating to the public a proposed amendment to the Delaware Constitution by eliminating the requirement that the dissemination through publication in a newspaper. Removing this requirement is expected to result in cost savings for the State, while still requiring the posting on state websites to ensure continued public accessibility.

Maddy summaryThis Senate Concurrent Resolution designates May 2026 as "Healthy Vision Month" throughout the State of Delaware. The bill does not create new laws or alter existing regulations but serves as a formal acknowledgment to encourage public awareness of eye health during that period. By passing both the Senate and the House, the measure establishes an official state designation for the month without imposing any mandatory actions on individuals or businesses.

Maddy summaryThis bill is a concurrent resolution that formally acknowledges the 60th anniversary of the Division of Legislative Services. It does not create new laws or change existing policies but serves as a ceremonial recognition of the agency's history. The measure was passed by both the House and the Senate without requiring a formal vote count in the House. Its primary effect is to express appreciation for the division's contributions over the past six decades.

Like Senate Bill No. 5, this Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to ensure that every Delawarean is afforded reproductive freedom. This Act differs from Senate Bill No. 5 by making the following clarifications: (1) That an individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom relating to that individual’s pregnancy. (2) That the standard of medical judgment is a “good-faith medical judgment” rather than a “professional judgment”. (3) That the health care professional making the good-faith medical judgment is the “treating attending health care professional” rather than the “attending health care professional”. 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.

Because Delaware lacks an adequate amount of emergency shelter beds, housing support services, and affordable housing units, only 952 out of 7,131 households that contacted the Housing Alliance Delaware’s homelessness hotline in 2024 were referred to housing assistance. Without adequate shelter available, thousands of individuals experiencing homelessness are forced to seek shelter on the streets, parks, parking lots, and sidewalks, which puts them in constant conflict with local residents, businesses, and the police. Instead of providing adequate housing, local governments are using emergency services, hospital services, and the criminal justice system to remove unhoused individuals from public spaces, exacerbating the barriers unhoused individuals face to achieve stable housing and wasting taxpayer money. This Act seeks to incentivize localities to coordinate or create adequate emergency housing, permanent housing, and wrap-around services for individuals experiencing homelessness, which will ease the financial burden placed on emergency services, hospitals, and the criminal justice system, while providing unhoused individuals stability and dignity. To that end, this Act does the following: 1. Permits an individual experiencing homelessness to conduct life sustaining activities in public, so long as such activities do not obstruct the normal movement of pedestrian or vehicular traffic in such a manner that creates a hazard to others, unless adequate alternative indoor space is available to the individual in a given jurisdiction and has been offered to the individual, including transportation for the individual and their belongings. 2. Mandates that an individual experiencing homelessness receive the same degree of protection for personal property stored in public places as personal property stored in a private dwelling, which includes protections against unreasonable search and seizure. 3. Prohibits the State or local jurisdiction from requiring an individual experiencing homelessness to move a motor vehicle or a recreational vehicle provided that the vehicle is parked on public property and the vehicle is not parked in a position to obstruct the normal movement of traffic or create a hazard to other traffic upon the highway. 4. Provides that, if a motor vehicle or recreational vehicle must be moved because the vehicle is obstructing normal movement of traffic or creates a hazard to other traffic on the roadway, the individual experiencing homelessness must be permitted to relocate the vehicle before a parking ticket is issued or the vehicle is towed. This Act does not prohibit State and local governments from making and enforcing reasonable time restrictions on public spaces (including public parks and parking lots) so long as those time restrictions apply to everyone and are not disproportionately enforced against individuals experiencing homelessness. This Act further permits an individual experiencing homelessness to raise a violation of this Act as an affirmative defense to any charge of violating a statute or ordinance that prohibits life-sustaining activities protected under this Act. The attorney general may commence a civil action against any State or local government, government agency, or government official that violates this Act and this Act also contains a private right of action. This Act specifically waives sovereign immunity. This Act is named in honor of Dr. DeBorah Gilbert White.

This Joint Resolution indicates that the reimbursement rates for Purchase of Care providers serving children ages 0-5 should be increased by 10% for FY2027 across all settings.