This Resolution directs the Secretary of the Senate to notify the House of Representatives and the Governor that the Senate of the 151st General Assembly is organized.
This Resolution elects David P. Sokola to be the President Pro Tempore of the Senate of the 151st General Assembly.
This Resolution establishes the roll of members of the Senate of the 151st General Assembly.
This Concurrent Resolution accepts and approves the January 8, 2021, actions of the President of the Senate and the Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives, declares an emergency under § 5 of Article II and § 1 of Article XVII of the Delaware Constitution, and adopts rules of procedure for conducting virtual meetings of the 151st General Assembly and its legislative committees during an emergency. Specifically, this Concurrent Resolution: (1) Authorizes the Senate or House of Representatives or a legislative committee to convene and conduct a virtual meeting if the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives issue a public notice that the Senate or House of Representatives or a legislative committee is authorized to convene and conduct a virtual meeting due to an emergency. (2) Provides protections to ensure the integrity of the legislative process and public access and transparency for meetings held virtually. (3) Notwithstanding § 1711 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code, makes clear that the method of convening the General Assembly and the limitations on the length of legislative session are as provided under the Delaware Constitution and the rules of the Senate or House of Representatives adopted under § 9 of Article II of the Delaware Constitution.
This Resolution elects Ryan C. Dunphy to be the Secretary of the Senate of the 151st General Assembly and appoints Raymond Lewis to be the Assistant Secretary of the Senate of the 151st General Assembly.
This Act is the final leg of a constitutional amendment that would eliminate from the Delaware Constitution the limitations as to when an individual may vote by absentee ballot. This amendment to the Delaware Constitution provides that the General Assembly shall enact general laws providing the circumstances, rules, and procedures for absentee voting.
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 adopts the Uniform Civil Remedies for Unauthorized Disclosure of Intimate Images Act. This Act addresses an increasingly common form of abuse that can cause severe and often irreversible harm: the disclosure of private, sexually explicit images without consent. Much of the abuse is carried out electronically through internet websites, social media, email, or text messages, making it an interstate problem that is particularly suited for treatment by uniform state laws. This Act provides a uniform, comprehensive, clear, fair, and constitutionally sound definition of this harmful conduct and remedies for the harm it causes. Some intimate images disclosed without consent were originally created with consent or obtained within a confidential relationship. In other cases, the images were originally created or obtained without consent through surreptitious recording devices or other forms of voyeurism, or through theft, computer hacking, coercion, bribery, fraud, or force. Like many existing privacy laws, this Act applies only to sensitive content created or obtained under circumstances in which the individual had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Also similar to existing privacy laws, the Act includes limited exceptions for certain disclosures, including those made in the course of law enforcement, legal proceedings or education, medical treatment, or investigations of misconduct. This Act also includes an exception for disclosures relating to matters of public concern or public interest and disclosures reasonably intended to assist the victim. The Act further notes federal statutory limitations on the liability of providers and users of interactive computer services. The Act is narrowly drafted to avoid imposing liability on a discloser who lacks the requisite awareness of any of these elements: (1) that the image was created or obtained under circumstances in which the individual had a reasonable expectation of privacy or that the image was obtained through theft, bribery, false pretenses, voyeurism, or other wrongful acts, (2) that the individual shown in the image did not consent to the disclosure, or (3) that the individual shown was identifiable.
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.
