Hold these dates! Fund raisers! Mark your Calendars~! Volunteers welcome! See Michele Eric Hansen 5/29 and Kim Hoey Stevenson 6/20

Pending Amendments to the Constitution:

1st a note on Constitutional Amendments in DE:

Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes proposed in one year, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly. Section § 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. For the Senate that means 13 votes and 27 for the House. 

SB 3 removes all the Constitutional grounds for absentee voting such as public/military service, business obligations, illness, disability, vacation, or religious observance, leaving the grounds and process for absentee ballots to the legislature to establish. The only caveat is that the persons seeking to vote absentee must take an oath or affirm the qualified voter’s vote is free from improper influence. The Bill passed in the Senate 15-5-1 ands now on the House Ready List. 



HB 237 seeks to expand the Delaware Supreme Court to 7 Justices by requiring at least 2 justices from each county and a seventh appointed.



SB 242 imposes a filing deadline for the introduction of new bills. The purpose of this Act is to prevent the last-minute introduction of legislation that is apt to circumvent the deliberative process required by § 911 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code and the Senate and House Rules. Specifically, this Act prohibits a bill from being introduced after the second Friday in June unless one of the exceptions apply: (1) The bill is the annual budget act, one-time supplemental appropriations act, bond and capital improvement act, or grants-in-aid act. (2) The bill is introduced in a special session. (3) The bill is authorized to be introduced in the House of origin by a motion or resolution of the other House passed with the concurrence of three-fourths of all the members elected to the other House.

Other Bills of importance!



SB 230 clarifies that elected officials may not be prevented from engaging in constituent relations and that candidates for public office or staff or volunteers may not be prevented from engaging in election-related or similar activities in residential communities. 



HB 344 confronts ballot position bias! Even California, “the Delaware Assembly’s Legislative Guru,” has changed its law so as to randomize the listing of candidates on its ballots. HB 344 seeks to make this same change to DE law. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 states have enacted reforms to deal with ballot position bias. Delaware law currently mandates that one political party always appears in the first column on the machine ballots or on the first line of absentee ballots. 



Let us get the government out of your real estate sales! HB 343 seeks to reduce the state’s realty transfer tax rate by .25% per year for 4 years, for residential property conveyances having a property value less than $500,000, and for commercial property convenances having a property value less than $1,000,000, starting January 1, 2025. After January 1, 2028, the State’s realty transfer tax rate will be the same rate as it was prior to August 1, 2017, for these conveyances. 



Dear to my heart and professional work in public health is HB245 which addresses the Governor’s unrestricted use of emergency powers by giving the Legislature a power of review and consent.