Criminal Justice

HB 150 prohibits civil arrests from occurring inside Delaware courthouses without a judicial warrant. This directly affects courthouse staff, law enforcement, and individuals entering courthouses, as it requires a court-issued warrant for any civil arrest (like those for unpaid debts or civil contempt) within courthouse grounds. The key provision amends Delaware law to mandate this warrant requirement, replacing the previous practice that allowed such arrests without court oversight in these locations.

This bill adds a new crime of application insurance fraud under the criminal code to include fraudulent statements submitted in support of an application to obtain or renew insurance or made for purposes of obtaining a commission or other payment from an insurer. This bill makes application-related insurance fraud a class A misdemeanor unless the benefits wrongfully obtained or sought to be obtained is at least $1,000, in which case application insurance fraud is a class G felony.

This Act increases the penalty when an individual commits theft by impersonating a family member of the victim. A person convicted of a violation of this section shall be imprisoned for not less than 60 days. The minimum sentence under this section may not be suspended.

This Act codifies Executive Order No. 9 issued on May 1, 2025, by Governor Matthew Meyer regarding the establishment, within the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety.

This Act expands the definition of a “course of conduct” in the stalking statute and also provides that if the court finds as a matter of law that acts subject to this statute are in fact constitutionally protected activities, then all evidence associated with those activities must be excluded. This Act raises stalking under § 1312(c) from a class F to a class D felony. And also raises stalking under § 1312 (b) from a class G to a class E felony. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act adds intentional interference with the operation of a school bus to the offense of disorderly conduct. Intentional interference with a school bus may include boarding a school bus and refusing to exit after being lawfully ordered to do so by the school bus driver; wrongfully restricting the movement of a school bus; or threatening the school bus driver, a student, or any passenger entering, leaving, or waiting for a school bus. A student or passenger otherwise authorized to be on the school bus in the ordinary course of business may not be guilty of disorderly conduct for intentional interference with the operation of a school bus. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of 2/3 of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to expand the scope of an existing crime within the jurisdiction of an inferior court.

This Act changes the period of time for which relief may be granted under a lethal violence protective order from 1 year to 5 years. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This bill clarifies that only law enforcement officers may petition for emergency relief in the Justice of the Peace Court pursuant to Title 10, Section 7703. The statute is currently ambiguous with regard to who may file pursuant to Section 7703. Section 7701(4) defines a "Petitioner" as a law enforcement officer or any person who would be qualified to file a Petition for Protection from Abuse. Section 7702(a) provides that "a petitioner may request relief under section 7703 (Emergency hearings) or Section 7704 (Nonemergency hearings)." However, Section 7703 only addresses the process a law enforcement officer must follow to procure a Lethal Violence Protective Order ("LVPO") and fails to mention any other class of petitioner. At the time of the passage of the LVPO statute, there was specific discussion and intention to prevent individuals from filing for emergencies in the Justice of the Peace Court for the same reason that citizen warrants are no longer accepted in that Court. This conclusion is borne out by the fact that Section 7703 does not prescribe any procedure or burden of proof an individual would need to meet to prevail in an emergency petition for a LVPO. As with Weapons Relinquishment Orders governed by Section 1448C of Title 11, this proposed bill requires requests for emergency relief to come through a law enforcement agency rather than directly from an individual member of the public. The bill removes the confusion that exists with the current wording of the statute.

This Act creates the crime of “discharging a firearm at a dwelling, place of worship, vehicle, or place of business.” The offense is a class E felony. The offense contains a provision that provides that a person may not be convicted of both a violation of this section and reckless endangering 1st or 2nd with regard to the same conduct. It also exempts a shooting range from the businesses covered by the statute.

Beginning in 2002, schools, school districts, and licensed child care providers have been required to keep binders of community notifications with information about registered sex offenders. This requirement was enacted based on recommendation from the Community Notification Task Force that schools have a role in community awareness. However, this requirement has created financial, administrative, and emotional burdens for staff who maintain the binders. The binders are rarely reviewed by the public and they do not necessarily provide up-to-date information or information on sex offenders in the immediate geographic area of the school, school district, or licensed child care provider. Additionally, in its March 31, 2002, report, the Community Notification School Task Force found that schools do not have the expertise to answer inevitable questions regarding the nature of particular offenses or the risk posed by particular offenders, and that it is not an appropriate role for educators to answer those questions. This Act eliminates the requirement that a school, school district, or licensed child care provider keep community notifications in a binder. Instead, schools, school district, or licensed child care providers are required to provide “school and child care notification” that includes all of the following information: 1. Notification that searchable records available to the public can be obtained at a police agency or the Delaware State Bureau of Identification (“SBI”). 2. Notification that the public can register for community notifications on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. 3. The URL for the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. The school, school district, or licensed child care provider must provide the school and child care notification upon request from staff, faculty, or a parent or guardian of an enrolled child. Additionally, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must post the school and child care notification on its website or, if it does not have website, the school, school district, or licensed child care provider must send the information to staff, faculty, and a legal parent or guardian of an enrolled child in writing at least annually. The Act also clarifies that sex offender registry information must be available on the Internet on the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry website. Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) guidelines require law enforcement to keep a registry of sex offenders and to provide public notification. Specifically, the guidelines require law enforcement to notify schools, but do not require schools to provide access to sex offender records. Instead, federal law enacted in 2006, 34 U.S.C. § 20920, requires states to provide public access to sex offender registry information on the Internet. The SBI maintains the Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry on its website, which allows the general public to find information about registered sex offenders by searching the offender’s information or by searching in a geographic radius. The website also allows the public to sign up for e-mail notifications regarding sex offenders who appear on the website. The website is updated every Friday. It is easily accessible to most of the public, including on computers at public libraries. Additionally, the public can request sex offender registry information in-person at a Delaware State Police troop. The public also can call the SBI for information. Certain municipal police agencies, such as the City of Dover Police Department and the Newark Delaware Police Department, also provide access to community notifications for offenders located in the municipality on the agency’s website. Law-enforcement agencies are better equipped than schools or licensed childcare providers to answer questions about the registry. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.