This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to ensure that every Delawarean is afforded personal reproductive liberty. The Delaware Constitution is our founding legal document stating the overarching values of our society. This amendment is in keeping with the values espoused by the current Delaware Constitution. The Preamble to the Delaware Constitution states: Through Divine goodness, all people have by nature the rights of worshiping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences, of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring and protecting reputation and property, and in general of obtaining objects suitable to their condition, without injury by one to another; and as these rights are essential to their welfare, for due exercise thereof, power is inherent in them; and therefore all just authority in the institutions of political society is derived from the people, and established with their consent, to advance their happiness; and they may for this end, as circumstances require, from time to time, alter their Constitution of government. Section 21 of Article 1 of the Delaware Constitution provides that, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, national origin, or sex." The core value reflected in the Preamble and § 21 is that all people should be afforded all the benefits and protections bestowed by the government, and that the government should not confer special advantages on the privileged. The right to reproductive liberty is fundamental to the exercise of personal autonomy and involves decisions people should be able to make free from compulsion of the State. Enshrining this right in the Constitution is critical to ensuring equal protection and treatment under the law and upholding the right of all people to health, dignity, independence, and freedom. This Act would ensure that government does not create or perpetuate the legal, social, or economic inferiority of any class of people. This Act requires greater than a majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution requires an affirmative vote of 2/3 of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend the Delaware Constitution. Amending Delaware’s Constitution requires 2 pieces of legislation, referred to as “legs,” which are enacted in successive General Assemblies. This Act is the first leg of this amendment to the Delaware Constitution.
Sponsored bills
This Bill is the Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations Act.
This Resolution provides the official revenue, refund, and unencumbered funds estimates for Fiscal Year 2023.
This Act appropriates $378,613,700 to provide one-time funded projects through the Office of Management and Budget.
This Resolution provides the official revenue, refund, and unencumbered funds estimates for Fiscal Year 2022.
This Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to make necessary technical corrections identified by the General Assembly's Division of Research. Specifically, these technical corrections consist of the following: Section 1 and Section 12 of this Act work in concert to transfer the date of the commencement of the terms of the members of the General Assembly from the Constitution’s Schedule to Article II (relating to the General Assembly) to avoid confusion and for ease of locating this information. Section 2 of this Act deletes § 24 of Article II of the Delaware Constitution to remove antiquated language to conform the Delaware Constitution to existing practice. This Section dates back to the Delaware Constitution of 1792 when the State Treasurer was also considered what we now know as the State Accountant, the Budget Director, the Director of Revenue, and the Secretary of Finance. The purpose of this Section was to provide the General Assembly with one, detailed report indicating that the State’s books were balanced and finances were being managed properly. Over time, as other, more specific roles were created within State government, the State Treasurer’s role in these aspects were shifted to other executive branch officers. Today, this constitutional requirement is now being met by several different state agencies in several different forms, all culminating in final products overseen by entities like the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC), the Cash Management Policy Board, and the General Assembly itself, and take the form of final reports issued to the General Assembly, administrative paperwork, and legislation like the annual appropriations act and annual capital improvement act. Section 3 of this Act corrects a codification error. The sentence stricken in Section 3 of this Act was originally to be struck by Chapter 607, Volume 50 of the Laws of Delaware in 1956. However, the sentence remains in the Delaware Constitution to this day. See Opinion of the Justices, 405 A.2d 694, 697 fn. 6 (1979). Section 4 of this Act updates the name of the State officer and State agency involved in determining whether the Governor is able or unable to discharge the Governor’s duties, which has changed since the adoption of this Section in 1969. Section 5 and Section 13 of this Act work in concert to transfer the date of the commencement of the terms of certain State and County elective executive branch officers from the Constitution’s Schedule to Article III (relating to the Executive) to avoid confusion and for ease of locating this information. Section 6 of this Act designates § 2 of Article V to make an internal reference clear. Section 7 of this Act makes changes to ensure the accurate adoption of an amendment to the Constitution proposed in 1998 by 71 Del. Laws, ch. 398. The amendment proposed in 1998 was proposed by Senate Bill No. 277 of the 139th General Assembly, which was later replaced by Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 277. Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 277 passed the General Assembly. When the 140th General Assembly concurred in the proposed amendment, the General Assembly used the language of Senate Bill No. 277 instead of Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 277. See 72 Del. Laws, ch. 437 (Senate Bill No. 394 of the 140th General Assembly). This change ensures the original intent to concur in the language of Senate Substitute No. 1 to Senate Bill No. 277 is achieved. To properly achieve this change, the version of § 6 of Article V that existed before the passage of 72 Del. Laws, ch. 437 is shown as struck through in this Section. Section 7 of this Act also makes additional technical corrections to conform existing law to current practice and to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Sections 8 and 9 of this Act hyphenates “three fourths” to ensure consistent hyphenation of the supermajority vote requirements throughout the Constitution. Section 10 also makes additional technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual; specifically, to ensure use of the serial comma in two places in this Section. Section 10 of this Act corrects an incorrect reference to another provision of the Delaware Constitution. The reference to “Section 30” has existed in Section 7 of Article XV of the Delaware Constitution since its adoption in 1897; however, in 1951, a constitutional amendment was adopted to reorganize Delaware’s Judiciary. See 48 Del. Laws, ch. 109. That reorganization resulted in deletion and renumbering of Sections originally contained in Article IV of the Delaware Constitution, as adopted in 1897, but did not account for the internal reference to Section 30. Section 11 of this Act hyphenates “two thirds” to ensure consistent hyphenation of the supermajority vote requirements throughout the Constitution. House Bill No. 130 of the 151st General Assembly proposes an amendment to this Section and makes a technical correction to the first “two thirds” but not the second. This Section is intended to ensure that, on the 152nd General Assembly’s concurrence in House Bill No. 130 and this Act, the correct hyphenation of “two thirds” is achieved throughout this Section. 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 concurrent resolution recognizes and honors the young women of Delaware participating in the 2022 session of Delaware Girls State.
This Act seeks to increase the supply of homes available to rent for low-income individuals and families by providing incentives to landlords who participate in a government-sponsored rental assistance program. To that end, this Act creates a Landlord Mitigation Fund, administered by the Delaware State Housing Authority ("DSHA"), to provide payment for certain types of claims for payment or reimbursement for certain expenses incurred by participating landlords. The Act provides that the DSHA shall set the maximum amount that a landlord may recover from the Landlord Mitigation Fund, per claim and per tenancy. In addition, the Act provides that the DSHA has sole discretion to determine payment from the Landlord Mitigation Fund. Payment is subject to the availability of funds in the Landlord Mitigation Fund. A landlord who has received payment from the Landlord Mitigation Fund is prohibited from taking legal action against, or pursuing collection from, a tenant for damages attributable to the same tenancy, except to the extent the landlord seeks damages in excess of the amounts received from the Landlord Mitigation Fund. The Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 167 by eliminating claims for payment of a security deposit from the types of claims for which reimbursement from the Landlord Mitigation Fund may be sought. In addition, this Act removes dollar limitations on reimbursement from the Landlord Mitigation Fund and instead authorizes the DSHA to determine such limitations. The Act further eliminates the requirement that the DSHA create and maintain a waitlist, in the event that funds do not exist in the Landlord Mitigation Fund to pay eligible claims. The Act also creates exceptions to the limits on remedies for landlords receiving a payment from the Landlord Mitigation Fund. Finally, the Act eliminates the requirement that a tenant repay to the DSHA amounts paid to a landlord for a claim pursuant to subsection (b)(3) or (b)(4).
The Delaware Fair Housing Act and Residential Landlord-Tenant Code both prohibit discrimination based on source of income, which is defined as including rental payments from any government program, but both laws also provide that a landlord's nonparticipation in a government-sponsored rental assistance, voucher, or certificate system cannot be the basis for an administrative or judicial proceeding. This Act revises both the Delaware Fair Housing Act and Residential Landlord-Tenant Code to repeal the exception to discrimination based on source of income that allows a landlord to discriminate against tenants who participate in government-sponsored rental assistance programs. This exemption contributes to a lack of affordable housing in this State. There is currently a severe shortage of affordable housing for extremely low-income households in Delaware, with only 38 affordable rental units available for every 100 extremely low-income households. In addition, studies have shown that people who use government subsidies to move from high-poverty neighborhoods to communities with more opportunity have measurable health improvements and the children in these families earn more in adulthood than children who remain in high-poverty neighborhoods. At least 12 states and the District of Columbia have fair housing laws that protect against discrimination based on source of income that covers recipients of government subsidies. As of the end of 2019, half of all voucher households in the United States were protected by discrimination laws. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 1 of Article IX of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to amend a charter issued to a municipal corporation.
In January 2021, of the 57 municipalities in this State, the following 12 municipalities had an agreement with the Department of Elections to use the State’s Voter Registration System to determine if a resident of the municipality is eligible to vote in a municipal election: Camden, Delaware City, Dover, Elsmere, Georgetown, Harrington, New Castle, Newark, Smyrna, Townsend, Wilmington, and Wyoming. Since January 2021, the General Assembly has adopted charter changes authorizing Laurel, Lewes, Milton, and Seaford to use the State’s Voter Registration System, and Milford adopted an ordinance to do so. The residents of the remaining municipalities are required to register with the municipality before voting in a municipal election. While some municipalities are exploring ending municipal voter registration requirements, and the General Assembly has authorized some to do so by changing their charter, this Act would do so for all municipalities as it relates to resident voters. A municipality would continue to be required to maintain municipal voter registration requirements for nonresident voters, as those voters would not be included in the State’s Voter Registration System. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.