Delaware Bills

With only minor modifications consistent with Delaware law and practice, this Act adopts the Uniform Assignment for Benefit of Creditors Act (the “Uniform Act”), authored by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” The Uniform Act was approved by the Uniform Law Commission in October 2025 and, as of March 2026, has been enacted in Nebraska and Utah and introduced in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, and Oklahoma. Because this Act adopts the Uniform Act with only minor modifications, the “Comments” to the Uniform Act may be deemed to be persuasive authority in interpreting this Act; provided, however, that the second and third sentences of the Comment to Section 2 of the Uniform Act shall instead be deemed to read as follows: “If an asset is not assignable by its terms or under other law, that asset is not part of the assignment estate unless either any required consent is obtained or other law overrides the anti-assignment provision. This Uniform Act does not preclude the assignee from negotiating with any person whose consent is required for an assignment to obtain its consent for the assignment of an asset.” This Act provides for the use of an assignment for benefit of creditors (an “ABC”), which is an efficient and flexible state law mechanism to wind up a distressed business. Although the use of an ABC to liquidate the assets of a failing business is rooted in the common law, the various states have significant differences in their statutes or common law of ABCs and Delaware’s statute has few details, was enacted many decades ago, and has not subsequently been revised. This inconsistency and lack of detail leads to significant variance throughout the country in the utility of ABCs and the frequency with which ABCs are used. This Act addresses this gap in the law by cementing the common law in statute and providing updates that modernize the law and provide clarity to assignors, assignees, and creditors alike. In an ABC, a financially distressed business, called an “assignor,” transfers control of all of its assets to an “assignee,” who acts as a fiduciary for the business’s creditors. The assignee liquidates the business’s assets and distributes the proceeds to the business’s creditors. These proceeds go towards payment of the creditors’ claims against the assignor. This Act creates a state law alternative to other procedures available to the assignor for winding up its business and provides benefits that are not available through a federal bankruptcy case or a state or federal law receivership. In many cases, an ABC will be more flexible, quicker, and less costly than the other alternatives. An ABC may be an improvement on these alternatives in certain situations in significant ways: (1) it is debtor-initiated; (2) it provides assurances to creditors by imposing fiduciary duties upon the assignee; (3) it aims to maximize the value of the business’s assets for the benefit of all creditors; and (4) it encourages cooperation between the distressed business and the creditors by aligning these parties’ goals. This Act’s roadmap for ABCs clearly establishes: (1) The persons eligible to be assignors and the qualifications for assignees; (2) The relationship between an ABC under this Act and existing federal and state statutes, including the Bankruptcy Code; (3) The contents of the assignment agreement; (4) The effect of an ABC on the assignor’s property interests and the procedure for conveying those assets to the assignee; (5) Procedures for notifying creditors of the ABC and the implications of the opt-out decision; (6) Duties and powers of the assignor and assignee, including limitations on liability; (7) A process for allowing and disputing claims; (8) A waterfall for the distribution of proceeds to secured and unsecured creditors and payment of expenses incurred by the assignee; (9) Procedures for winding up the assignment estate; (10) The extent of recognition of out-of-state transactions and appointment of an ancillary assignee for administration of out-of-state assets; and (11) That a conveyance by an assignor or assignee for the benefit of the assignor’s creditors under this Act is not subject to this State’s realty transfer tax. This Act is intended to replace Delaware’s current ABC law, resulting in the repeal of the current law under Sections 2 through 8 of this Act and provision, under Section 9 of this Act, for the continued application of the current law for existing ABCs made before the effective date of this Act.

This Senate Joint Resolution recognizes that missed court appearances create costs for the justice system and negative consequences for individuals, and that reminder notifications can reduce failure-to-appear rates. It directs the Delaware Judiciary to report on the cost, timeline, and requirements to build a court date reminder program for the Justice of the Peace Court and to expand it to the Court of Common Pleas, Family Court, and Superior Court and provides that DELJIS shall build the program if funding is appropriated.

This Act makes updates to the Delaware workplace safety program to increase the workers’ compensation insurance credit that businesses can access while maintaining overall program stability. Past legislation that adjusted Workplace Safety Program parameters led to the filing of a new Experience Rating Plan by Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau, which inadvertently resulted in lower discounts. Most businesses with lower-than-average claim costs, regardless of size, continue to see reductions in their experience modification factors. The Workplace Safety Program credit and the experience modification factor savings result in a similar savings as before for employers with favorable loss history. However, this was not the intention of prior law. This Act ensures that companies can reach maximum premium savings of 12%.

SB 239 removes an 8% cap on net metering for customer-generated electricity in Delaware. This change directly affects residential and business customers with solar panels or other renewable energy systems, allowing them to send more excess power to the grid without hitting the previous limit. Utilities will now need to accommodate higher levels of customer-generated energy under this policy. The bill was introduced in the Senate on February 19, 2026, and referred to the Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee.

This Act clarifies that paid leave for the adoption of a child may begin at one of the following times: (1) when the child is placed for adoption with the employee; (2) when the employee initiates a petition for adoption; or (3) when the adoption process is completed.

This Act makes multiple changes to Title 7 of the Delaware Code. First it increases recreational hunting opportunities and clarifies that Sunday hunting is permitted for all game animals and game birds that the Department has established hunting seasons for, while allowing private landowners and public agencies discretion when and where Sunday hunting is permitted without being overly burdensome. This Act amends and simplifies the caliber of handgun ammunition permitted for deer hunting as well as updates the use of other hunting implements consistent with new and improved technology. This Act removes European and snowshoe hares as game animals and includes skunks and weasels as such.

This Act adopts the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact (“Compact”). This Compact takes effect on the date on which this Compact is enacted into law in 7 states. As of January 2026, this Compact has been enacted in 5 states and has been filed in 6 other states. This Compact is an interstate occupational licensure compact for respiratory therapists. There are approximately 130,000 licensed respiratory therapists in the United States. Licensees currently face significant barriers providing services across state borders, even when they meet the qualifications to practice in another state. This Compact will facilitate multistate practice by reducing unnecessary licensure burdens and improve public safety by enhancing state information sharing.

This Act adopts the Cosmetology Licensure Compact (“Compact”). The Compact is active because enough states have enacted legislation to adopt the Compact. The purpose of the Compact is to reduce the burdens on state governments and to facilitate and regulate the interstate practice of cosmetology by creating a framework for a multistate licensing program. The multistate licensing program provides increased value and mobility to licensed cosmetologists, including military members and their spouses, and ensures safe, competent, and reliable cosmetology services are provided to the public. The Compact allows individuals residing in a state that joins the Compact (a “member state”) to apply, through the state, for a multistate license. A multistate license allows a qualifying licensee to practice cosmetology in all member states. Applicants for a multistate license must hold an unrestricted license to practice cosmetology in the applicant’s home state and must meet educational, national licensing examination, and background check requirements to qualify for a multistate license. Licensees must meet continuing competency requirements to qualify for renewal of a multistate license. Member states share information related to disciplinary actions against licensees, investigations of licensees, and anything that would disqualify a licensee from holding a multistate license so that each member state is aware if a licensee’s authority to practice is restricted or if the licensee is disqualified from practicing cosmetology.

This Act changes the age at which a person can bartend from 21 years old to 18 years old, and requires that a bartender who is 18, 19, or 20 years old be directly supervised by a person who is 21 years of age or older and who is working behind the bar with the 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old. This Act also increases the frequency of statutorily mandated alcoholic beverage server training from every 4 years to every 2 years. To ensure that 18–20-year-olds are protected from sexually oriented content by virtue of being permitted to bartend, this Act prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from entering into or working in any capacity in a tavern or taproom that offers sexually oriented entertainment. This includes taverns and taprooms that are licensed as adult entertainment establishments under Chapter 16 of Title 24, taverns and taprooms that offer sexually explicit performances as defined in § 787 of Title 11, and tavern and taprooms that are advertised as “strip clubs,” “adult entertainment clubs,” “gentlemen’s clubs,” or that offer performances or services of a sexually oriented nature. Currently, Delaware is in the minority of states when it comes to requiring bartenders to be 21 years old. By reducing the legal bartending age to 18, this Act will help Delaware’s food service industry remain competitive with the many other states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in which 18–20-year-olds can bartend.

This Act amends the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law to adopt the protections of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973’s Section 504 (“Section 504”), and its implementing regulations as those regulations existed on January 1, 2025. This bill will help ensure that Delawareans with disabilities get broad and full protection within Delaware. The bill also adds that references to Section 504 in other parts of Delaware law or regulation will be considered a reference to the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law.

This Act adopts the 2017 updates to the Uniform Parentage Act ("Uniform Act") authored by the Uniform Law Commission. Delaware 's current law related to parentage is based on the Uniform Law Commission's 2000 version of the Uniform Parentage Act. The Uniform Law Commission’s website states that it “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” The 2017 updates to the Uniform Act have been adopted by 11 states and is pending before the Pennsylvania state legislature. This Act, through the adoption of the Uniform Act, does all of the following: (1) Removes gendered terms throughout this Act to ensure equal treatment of children born to same-sex couples. In Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court held that laws barring marriage between two people of the same sex are unconstitutional. And, in Pavan v. Smith, 137 S. Ct. 2075, 2078-79 (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state may not deny married same-sex couples recognition on their children’s birth certificates that the state grants to married different-sex couples. After these decision, parentage laws that treat same-sex couples differently than different-sex couples may be unconstitutional. These changes are also consistent with Delaware’s efforts to write laws using gender silent language unless a solely masculine or feminine term is required to apply a law to 1 gender. See § 211(c) of Title 1 of the Delaware Code. Specifically, these changes include broadening the provisions of Delaware’s parentage law related to the presumption of parentage (Section 11 of this Act), acknowledgment of parentage (Sections 12 through 26 of this Act), genetic testing (Sections 41 through 52 of this Act), and assisted reproduction (Sections 82 through 89 of this Act) to make them gender neutral. (2) Includes a provision for the establishment of a de facto parent as a legal parent of a child. A de facto parent is one who functions as a parent to the child but is unconnected through biology or marriage. This is not a change for Delaware, which has recognized de facto parents in Delaware’s definition of parent in Delaware’s parentage law since 2010. This Act moves the process for establishing de facto parentage to § 8-609 of Title 13 (Section 62 of this Act) to be part of the provisions related to adjudicating parentage, as establishing de facto parentage requires a judicial determination. (3) Updates the assisted reproduction provisions of Delaware’s parentage law, including the parental status of a deceased individual addressing issues similar to those raised by Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 119 (153rd General Assembly). Specifically, the Uniform Act would treat a deceased individual as a parent of a child conceived by assisted reproduction if the embryo is in utero not later than 36 months after the individual’s death or the child was born not later than 45 months after the individual’s death and if one of the following apply: a. The individual consented in a record to be a parent if assisted reproduction occurs after the individual’s death. b. The individual’s intent to be a parent after the individual’s death is established by clear-and-convincing evidence. (4) Updates the surrogacy provisions of Delaware’s parentage law to reflect recent scientific, legal, and cultural developments in surrogacy practice (See Section 90 of this Act). Delaware’s parentage law currently includes a gestational carrier law and this Act continues that law and adds procedures related to a genetic carrier, which is an individual who is not an intended parent but becomes pregnant through assisted reproduction using the individual’s own gamete. Specifically, §§ 8-801 through 8-807 establish the rules that apply to both types of carrier agreements. Sections 8-808 through 8-813 includes the current rules that apply to gestational carrier agreements. Sections 8-814 through 8-821 adopts the Uniform Act’s rules that apply to genetic carrier agreements. (5) Adopts requirements and procedures regarding access to non-identifying medical history and identifying information regarding gamete providers by children born through assisted reproduction and their parents. Based on data from 2015, the CDC reports that “approximately 1.6% of all infants born in the United States every year are conceived using ART.” Data suggests that this percentage continues to increase. Gaia Bernstein, Unintended Consequences: Prohibitions on Gamete Donor Anonymity and the Fragile Practice of Surrogacy, 10 Ind. Health L. Rev. 291, 298 (2013) (noting that “from 2004 to 2008 the number of IVF cycles used for gestational surrogacy grew by 60%, the number of births by gestational surrogates grew by 53% and the number of babies born to gestational surrogates grew by 89%”). Accordingly, it is increasingly important for states to address these issues. The Uniform Act specifically does the following: a. Requires gamete banks and fertility clinics to collect and retain both identifying information and nonidentifying medical history about gamete donors. b. Requires gamete banks and fertility centers to provide non-identifying medical history to parents on request at any time and on request by the donor-conceived child who attains 18 years of age. c. With regard to identifying information, provides that a gamete bank or fertility center shall provide this information to the donor conceived child who attains 18 years of age on their request. (6) Makes technical corrections that conform existing law to current standards of legislative drafting, consistent with the Uniform Act and the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. (7) Consolidates or transfers existing provisions of Delaware’s Parentage Act to ensure logical organization of the law consistent with the Uniform Act, including the following: a. Definitions related to genetic testing, which are transferred from § 8-102 to § 8-501 (Section 41 of this Act). b. Provisions related to genetic testing, which are transferred to § 8-503(e) and (h) (Section 43 of this Act) from § 8-622 (Section 70 of this Act). c. Provisions related to the admissibility of results of genetic testing, which are transferred to § 8-606 (Section 59 of this Act) from § 8-621 (Section 69 of this Act). d. Provisions adjudicating parentage of a child with an alleged genetic parent, which are transferred to § 8-607 (Section 60 of this Act) from §§ 8-622, 8-623, 8-631, and 8-634 (regarding adjudicating parentage by default) (Sections 70, 71, 73, and 76 of this Act). e. Provisions adjudicating parentage of a child with a presumed parent, which are transferred to § 8-608 (Section 61 of this Act) from § 8-607 (Section 60 of this Act). f. Provisions adjudicating parentage of a child with an acknowledged parent, which are transferred to § 8-610 (Section 63 of this Act) from § 8-609 (Section 62 of this Act). g. Provisions adjudicating parentage of a child with an adjudicated parent, which are transferred to § 8-611 (Section 64 of this Act) from § 8-609 (Section 62 of this Act). h. Provisions adjudicating parentage of a child with an acknowledged parent, which are transferred to § 8-610 (Section 63 of this Act) from § 8-609 (Section 62 of this Act). i. Provisions related to issuing temporary orders, which are transferred to § 8-615 (Section 67 of this Act) from § 8-609 (Section 62 of this Act). j. Provisions related to combining proceedings, which are transferred to § 8-616 (Section 67 of this Act) from § 8-610 (Section 63 of this Act). k. Provisions related to proceedings before birth, which are transferred to § 8-617 (Section 67 of this Act) from § 8-611 (Section 64 of this Act). l. Provisions related to the child being a party and representated, which are transferred to § 8-618 (Section 67 of this Act) from § 8-612 (Section 65 of this Act). m. Provisions related to the court adjudicating parentage, which are transferred to § 8-619 (Section 67 of this Act) from § 8-632 (Section 74 of this Act). n. Provisions related to dismissal for want of prosecution, which are transferred to § 8-621 (Section 69 of this Act) from § 8-635 (Section 77 of this Act). o. Provisions related to orders adjudicating parentage, which are transferred to § 8-622 (Section 70 of this Act) from § 8-636 (Section 78 of this Act). p. Provisions related to the binding effect of a determination of parentage, which are transferred to § 8-623 (Section 71 of this Act) from § 8-637 (Section 79 of this Act). q. Miscellaneous provisions currently in subchapter IX which are transferred to subchapter X to allow for the inclusion of new provisions related to information about donors of gametes or embryos intended for use in assisted reproduction. (8) In Sections 98 through 125 of this Act, makes changes to conform existing law to the changes made by the Uniform Act. The majority of these changes ensure consistent usage of terms and definitions used by the Uniform Act.

This Act is a substitute for House Bill No. 370. This Act differs from HB 370 in that it adds a provision for the selection of the DEFAC Co-Chair, authorizes designees for the ex officio members, clarifies a provision relating to DEFAC meetings proceedings, and makes several technical corrections. This Act also differs from HB 370 by making the effective date July 1, 2026, or upon enactment, whichever is later. Like HB 370, this Act codifies the Delaware Economic & Financial Advisory Council (“DEFAC”) which was initially created by Executive Order No. 5 in March 3, 1977, and has continued through several executive orders issued since 1977. This Act is known and may be cited as the “DuPont-Cook Financial Responsibility Act.” The purpose of this Act is to preserve DEFAC’s structure under executive order while strengthening continuity, transparency, and clarity. DEFAC consists of at least 25, but no more than 34, members. The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate Pro Tempore each appoint 2 members, 1 from each caucus. The Governor appoints the remaining members, from the public and private sectors, and must appoint at least 12 members. The following serve by virtue of their positions: the Controller General, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Secretary of Finance, Secretary of State, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, Joint Finance Committee Co-Chairs, and State Treasurer. The duties of DEFAC are as follows: (1) Meet in March, May, June, October, and December of each year, and on other occasions that the Governor or DEFAC Chair deem necessary. (2) Serve in a general advisory capacity to the Governor and Department of Finance. (3) Advise the Governor, Secretary of Finance, and Legislative Council on: (a) The overall financial condition of the State of Delaware. (b) Current and projected economic conditions and trends, particularly as they affect the expenditures and revenues of the State, its citizens, and its major industries. (c) The tax policy of the State and the impact of federal tax policies. (4) Submit to the Governor, Secretary of Finance, Controller General, and General Assembly, by the dates required under § 6534(a) of Title 29, the General Fund and Transportation Trust Fund revenue and expenditures. (5) Submit to the Governor, Secretary of Finance, Controller General, and General Assembly, not later than December 31 of each year, estimates on the General Fund and Transportation Trust Fund revenue and expenditures. (6) Perform other duties and responsibilities imposed upon it in the Delaware Code. (7) Prepare an annual report summarizing DEFAC’s activities throughout the year, including forecast accuracy and key fiscal risks identified, no later than December 31, for distribution to the Governor and General Assembly. This Act also establishes the DEFAC Healthcare Spending Benchmark Subcommittee. Under this Act, state agencies must provide DEFAC financial and staffing support.