Sen. Margaret Rose Henry

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide for equal rights. This amendment would advance human dignity and equality for all under the Delaware Constitution, and would correct a constitutional shortcoming. It subjects unequal treatment arising from historical bias to strict scrutiny, and enables courts in Delaware to establish jurisprudence concerning equal rights violations under State law reflecting Delaware values.

This legislation amends the Delaware Code to establish the Department of Human Resources by transferring various divisions and other organizational units from the Office of Management and Budget to the newly established Department of Human Resources. The powers and duties of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources are aligned to reflect the transfers of the divisions and other organizational units of the newly established Department of Human Resources. Various sections of the Delaware Code are amended to reflect changes in titles and nomenclature.

This Concurrent Resolution recognizes the 120th Anniversary of the Constitution of the State of Delaware.

This bill will allow defendants serving consecutive sentences, who were sentenced prior to the amendment of 11 Del. C. § 3901(d), to be allowed to petition the court to consider applying concurrent rather than consecutive sentences. Prior to June 30, 2014 no concurrent sentencing was allowed in the State of Delaware. The bill lays out a process similar to the review process put in place after the habitual offender laws were revised pursuant to Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 163 in the 148th General Assembly. Delaware has the highest rate of incarceration of any state in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region, and the fiscal costs of incarceration continue to strain the state budget. This bill provides a mechanism to review the sentences of some of the current inmate population to determine if their sentences remain appropriate under our current sentencing laws.

This bill provides that civil violations or penalties under subchapters IV and V of Delaware’s Uniform Controlled Substances Act in Title 16 are included as offenses whereby a $15 penalty is assessed for the Fund to Combat Violent Crimes.

The United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe v. Wade and subsequent cases established that access to abortion is a constitutional right and that states may not prohibit abortion prior to viability. As a result of these decisions, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Attorney General, see Del. Op. Att’y Gen. No. 73-030, § III (Apr. 12, 1973), the Delaware Code's prohibitions against abortion are unconstitutional, and thus unenforceable. This Substitute makes Delaware’s laws on abortion consistent with the scope of the right protected by the United States Constitution and the practice in Delaware for the past 43 years. In doing so, this Act permits the termination of a pregnancy prior to viability, to protect the life or health of the mother, or in the event of serious fetal anomaly. This Substitute differs from Senate Bill No. 5 as follows: (1) It clarifies lines 31 through 34 related to fetal anomalies. (2) It notes, on lines 79 through 81, that informed consent for a procedure under this subchapter is required by § 4408-1.0 through 10.0, Title 16 of the Delaware Administrative Code. (3) It makes clear that nothing in this Substitute is to be construed to affect the continued effectiveness of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act, Subchapter VIII of Chapter 17 of Title 24 of the Delaware Code.

This resolution recognizes June 8, 2017 as League of Local Governments Day in Delaware.

This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to provide for equal protection. This amendment would advance human dignity and equality for all under the Delaware Constitution, and would correct a constitutional shortcoming. It subjects unequal treatment based on discrimination to strict scrutiny, and enables courts in Delaware to establish jurisprudence concerning equal rights violations under State law reflecting Delaware values. Currently, while the federal and many state constitutions afford equal protection, Delaware’s constitution fails to do so.

This Act is meant to prohibit the practice of waiving certain sections of the Delaware Code year after year through the use of epilogue language in the budget bill.

This Concurrent Resolution celebrates the 50th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision In re Gault and the importance of its extension of the Constitutional guarantee of due process.