Legislative Bills, Laws, Journals and Committees

Del. Code tit. 29, ch. 9

in effect

Del. Code tit. 29, § 901 Altering, defacing, or concealing bills or acts; penalties.

(a) (1) It is unlawful to wilfully do any of the following to an act passed by the General Assembly or a bill pending before a House of the General Assembly, a committee of a House of the General Assembly, or a joint committee of the General Assembly: a. Add to. b. Alter. c. Deface. d. Erase. e. Obliterate. f. Mutilate. g. Blot. h. Blur. i. Steal. j. Hide. k. Conceal. l . Destroy. m. Misplace with the intent to conceal. (2) A violation of paragraph (a)(1) of this section is a felony and is to be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $5,000 and costs of prosecution and imprisonment of not less than 1 year nor more than 10 years. (b) For purposes of this section: (1) “Act” means a bill that has been enacted under § 18 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution. (2) “Bill pending” means a bill that is introduced but has not yet been enacted under § 18 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution. (c) An alteration or amendment of an act passed by the General Assembly or a bill pending before a House of the General Assembly, a committee of a House of the General Assembly, or a joint committee of the General Assembly made in the regular course of proceedings, including under Chapter 2 of Title 1 and §§ 904 and 906 of this title, is not a violation of this section. (d) This section does not prevent or limit a House of the General Assembly from punishing an individual who violates paragraph (a)(1) of this section for contempt according to parliamentary usage. A punishment for contempt by a House of the General Assembly does not prevent or limit a prosecution under this section.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 902 Preservation of bills and resolutions passed.

All bills and resolutions passed by the General Assembly which are published in the Session Laws are to be preserved by being printed, stenciled, or typewritten and not copied or transcribed with the pen. The original of all bills and resolutions are to be produced in a manner approved by the State Archivist and Records Administrator and the Director of the Division of Legislative Services, or the Director’s designee, for permanency and legibility.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 903 Appointment and duties of Bill Clerks.

(a) The Senate and the House of Representatives shall appoint a Bill Clerk for their respective House of the General Assembly. (b) A Bill Clerk shall have general supervision over all bills and resolutions introduced at a session of the General Assembly. When a bill or resolution passes both Houses of the General Assembly, the Bill Clerks shall attach a parchment backing to the bill or resolution and initial and seal or stamp each page of the bill or resolution and present them to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives for their signatures. The Bill Clerks shall certify with the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House, on the backing of the bill or resolution, that the bill or resolution is the same as that which passed both Houses, and the Bill Clerk of the House in which the bill or resolution was introduced shall then deliver the bill or resolution, with an engrossment under § 904(a) of this title, if necessary, to the Secretary of the Senate, for a Senate bill or resolution, or the Chief Clerk of the House, for a House bill or resolution.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 904 Engrossment; duty of Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the House as to passed bills or resolutions.

(a)(1) If a bill or resolution is amended, the Division of Legislative Services shall prepare an engrossed copy of the bill or joint resolution for the Governor and publication in the Session Laws. The Division shall prepare an engrossed copy of the bill, joint resolution, simple resolution, or concurrent resolution for publication on the General Assembly’s website. (2) In preparing the engrossed copy of a bill or resolution, the Division of Legislative Services may correct manifest clerical, typographical, and grammatical errors created during the amendment process. (3) In preparing the engrossed copy of a bill or resolution, the Division of Legislative Services shall proofread the engrossed copy before release to ensure accurate engrossment. (b) The Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Clerk of the House, as appropriate, shall do all of the following: (1) Present to the Governor a bill or resolution that is required to be presented to the Governor under § 18 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution. (2) Document the Governor’s receipt of a bill or resolution presented under paragraph (b)(1) of this section. (3) Report to their respective Houses and the Division of Legislative Services on each bill or resolution presented under paragraph (b)(1) of this section. (c) The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House shall report to their respective Houses on a bill or resolution that becomes law without the Governor’s signature under § 18 of Article III of the Delaware Constitution. The Division of Legislative Services shall publish the bill or resolution under § 906 of this title in the same manner as if the Governor had signed it. (d) The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House shall report to their respective members on the action taken by the Governor on each bill or resolution presented.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 905 Legislative journal; compiling; publication; content; disposition of originals.

(a) The legislative journals for the Senate and the House of Representatives required under § 10 of Article II of the Delaware Constitution must be published following each general election for the 2-year period immediately preceding the election. (b) (1) The full title of a bill, joint resolution, or concurrent resolution must be published not more than 3 times in either journal, once when introduced or presented in either House, once when voted on in either House, and once in the index. The full title of a simple resolution must be published in its respective journal only twice, once when introduced and once in the index. (2) If a bill or resolution is published elsewhere in either journal, the bill or resolution is to be designated only by the initial and number assigned to the bill or resolution at introduction. (c) The Secretary of the Senate shall prepare the journal text of, and index for, the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives shall prepare the journal text of, and index for, the House of Representatives. (d) [Repealed.] (e) The legislative journals must include committee action on a bill or resolution. The committee action on a bill or resolution must include all of the following: (1) The title to the bill or resolution only by the initial and number assigned to the bill or resolution at introduction. (2) The action taken on the bill or resolution without naming the members of the committee. (f) The rules of the Senate must be published in full in the Senate journal and the rules of the House must be published in full in the House journal. Joint rules of the Senate and House must be published in both journals. (g) (1) The yeas and nays which are required to be published in the journal must be line in compact form. (2) The certificate of election of not more than 1 member from each county is to be published in full. A brief record that certificates of election of all other members were duly received and found to be correct suffices. (3) Not more than 1 member’s constitutional oath of office and not more than 1 attache’s or employee’s oath is to be published in full. A brief record that all other oaths were administered suffices. (h) The publication of the legislative journals is to be done under contract made by the Director of the Division of Legislative Services, or the Director’s designee, and under the supervision of the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, as appropriate. The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House, as soon as their respective journals have been published, shall deliver the originals together with all communications, petitions, and other related papers to the State Archivist and Records Administrator for proper disposition.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 906 Publication of Session Laws; typographical errors; Executive Register.

(a) (1) The Director of the Division of Legislative Services (“Director”), or the Director’s designee, shall, as soon as practicable after the adjournment of the General Assembly, have published accurately in volume form, with an index thereto, copies of all of the following: a. Bills enacted. b. All resolutions enacted requiring the approval of the Governor, executive orders, and proclamations of the Governor, other than proclamations directing the repeal of corporate charters which are promulgated pursuant to legislative enactment. c. Municipal charters or amendments to municipal charters adopted pursuant to a referendum and filed with the Secretary of State pursuant to Chapter 8 of Title 22. d. Other legislative and executive papers as may be required by Legislative Council. (2) The volume published under subsection (a) of this section is to be known as the Session Laws or the Laws of Delaware. (3) The publication of the Session Laws is to be done under contract made by the Director, or the Director’s designee, and in accordance with the specifications furnished by the Director. (4) In the preparation of the Session Laws for publication, the Director, or the Director’s designee, may do the following: a. For a portion of a Session Law that is to be codified by the Code Revisors, and with the Code Revisors’ agreement, correct manifest clerical, typographical, and grammatical errors. b. For a portion of a Session Law that is not to be codified by the Code Revisors, correct manifest clerical, typographical, and grammatical errors. (b) The Secretary of State shall maintain and annually publish, in a manner as the Secretary of State determines, an Executive Register containing copies or abstracts of all official acts of the Governor and an index thereto, excepting therefrom acts and resolutions of the General Assembly.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 907 Publication of private acts [Repealed].

Del. Code tit. 29, § 908 Recording of private acts [Repealed].

Del. Code tit. 29, § 909 Fees for certified copies of private acts [Repealed].

Del. Code tit. 29, § 910 Consideration of agency rules during legislative interim.

(a) When an agency adopts a rule or regulation, or makes a substantive amendment to a rule or regulation of the agency during the legislative interim between July 1 and the second Tuesday in January, and the chair of a standing committee of either house believes in good faith that the rule, regulation, or amendment to the rule or regulation impacts or is within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the committee, the chair may schedule a meeting of the committee to consider the rule, regulation, or amendment to the rule or regulation. (b) When more than 1 standing committee wishes to hold a meeting to consider the same rule, regulation, or amendment to the rule or regulation, the standing committees shall become a joint committee and shall remain as a joint committee for that purpose until the first day of the next following General Assembly session, or until the adjournment of the joint committee, whichever comes first. A standing committee may withdraw from the joint committee at any time. Each joint committee consisting of standing committees from both Houses of the General Assembly must be co-chaired by a House standing committee chair and a Senate standing committee chair. (c) Each joint committee shall have the power, by a majority vote of its members, to draft a committee report setting forth its suggestions and recommendations, and to request the President Pro Tempore of the Senate or the Speaker of the House to call a special session to consider committee recommendations. Each joint committee shall provide its committee report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 911 Deliberative process.

(a) (1) A bill, resolution, or other legislative matter assigned to a standing committee must pass through a deliberative process before being brought to the floor of either House, unless the bill or resolution is sooner petitioned out of committee. (2) The deliberative process required under paragraph (a)(1) of this section must include regularly scheduled preannounced meetings at which the standing committee does all of the following: a. Receives testimony from the general public, including those affected by the proposed legislation. b. Considers an analysis of the proposed legislation, including a fiscal note or fee impact statement prepared by the Office of the Controller General. c. After notice to the sponsor, makes time available for each prime sponsor to explain the legislation and answer questions from the standing committee. (b) Each Thursday each standing committee shall release a committee agenda which must include all matters to be considered by the committee at that meeting, a listing of all bills in the committee, and any other announcements from the committee including the times, places, and dates of future meetings. (c) Minutes must be taken at each formal standing committee meeting, and the results of a committee vote must be recorded. A committee member who dissents from a committee decision may state the member’s dissent and reasoning in the minutes.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 912 Vote requirement for ratification of amendments to United States Constitution.

The General Assembly shall approve a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution by a majority of the members elected to each House of the General Assembly in a roll call vote. The vote on the proposed amendment must be entered on the journals of each House with the “ayes” and “nays” taken on the vote.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 913 Legislation affecting fees charged by state agencies.

(a) The Office of the Controller General shall prepare a statement to be attached to legislation that proposes a fee to be charged by, or an increase in a fee charged by, a state agency. The statement must include an explanation of all of the following: (1) The purpose of the proposed fee or fee increase. (2) A general identification of the persons, business entities, or organizations affected by the legislation. (3) Impact of the proposed fee or fee increase on these affected persons, business entities, or organizations. (4) Intended use by the agency of the revenues generated by the proposed fee or fee increase. (b) (1) The Office of the Controller General shall contact the state agency in preparation of the statement. The Office of the Controller General shall review or audit the information provided by the agency as deemed necessary to evaluate the reasons presented for the proposed fee or fee increase and shall include in the statement a report of its findings. (2) The Office of the Controller General shall attach the statement to the legislation before the legislation’s initial committee consideration in the House of origin. (c) Each House may waive the requirements of this section as to legislation pending before the House by a vote of the majority of all members elected to the House.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 914 Procedure for notice to the public of a proposed amendment to the Delaware Constitution.

(a) For purposes of this section: (1) “Newspaper of general circulation” means a newspaper that meets all of the following: a. Is published at least on a weekly basis. b. Is distributed throughout a county. c. Is published in the language most commonly spoken in the area in which it circulates. (2) “Newspaper of general circulation” does not include any of the following: a. A newspaper intended primarily for members of a particular professional or occupational group. b. A newspaper whose primary function is to carry legal notices. (3) “Proposed amendment” means the full text of the legislation proposing an amendment to the Delaware Constitution. (b) The notice required for a proposed amendment under § 1 of Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution must occur as follows: (1) The proposed amendment must be published not more than 120 days before the next general election and not less than 90 days before the next general election in at least 1 newspaper of general circulation in each county. (2) The proposed amendment must be posted for at least the 90 days before the next general election prominently on the Department of Elections’ and General Assembly’s websites. (c) The individual responsible for ensuring dissemination of the proposed amendment under subsection (b) of this section is as follows: (1) The Secretary of the Senate, for an amendment proposed by a Senate bill. (2) The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, for an amendment proposed by a House bill. (d) The Secretary of the Senate, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, State Election Commissioner, and Director of the Division of Legislative Services shall review and approve the notice to be disseminated under subsection (b) of this section. (e) (1) The individual responsible for dissemination under subsection (c) of this section shall provide immediate notice of doing so to all of the following: a. The Governor. b. The members of the General Assembly. c. The Director and the Librarian of the Division of Legislative Services. d. The State Archivist and Records Administrator. (2) The notice provided under paragraph (e)(1) of this section must include all of the following: a. A list of the newspapers in which the publication of the proposed amendment required under paragraph (b)(1) of this section occurred and the date of publication in those newspapers. b. The place within the websites in which the posting required under paragraph (b)(2) of this section is to be found and the date of the posting.

Del. Code tit. 29, § 915 Legislative Hall Art and History Advisory Commission.

(a) The Legislative Hall Art and History Advisory Commission (“Commission”) is established within the General Assembly to advise and make recommendations to Legislative Council on the gift, loan, or purchase of art, monuments, and historical exhibits to be displayed in Legislative Hall or on the grounds of Legislative Hall on a permanent or temporary basis. (b) In developing recommendations to Legislative Council, the Commission shall do all of the following: (1) Receive proposals from artists and historians, art and history organizations, and other individuals and evaluate the extent to which the proposals meet the criteria under subsection (c) of this section. (2) If recommended, include a summary of how the recommendation meets the criteria under subsection (c) of this section and the cost and logistical needs to implement the recommendation. (c) Art, monuments, and historical exhibits to be displayed in Legislative Hall or on the grounds of Legislative Hall must engage individuals to do 1 or more of the following: (1) Reflect on the rich and diverse history, cultures, and artistic and historical contributions of the people of Delaware. (2) Participate in the artistic, historical, political, or cultural life of this State. (3) Understand Delaware government. (4) Appreciate the varied landscapes of Delaware. (d) The Commission consists of the following members, or a designee selected by a member serving by virtue of position: (1) Six residents of this State with knowledge or experience in art or Delaware history and appointed as follows: a. Two residents appointed by the Governor. b. Two residents appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. c. Two residents appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. (2) The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives. (3) The Secretary of the Senate. (4) The Director of the Division of Legislative Services, who shall also serve as Secretary to the Commission. (5) The Chair of the Delaware Heritage Commission. (6) The Director of the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. (7) The Director of the Division of the Arts. (8) The Director of the Delaware Public Archives. (9) The Executive Director of the Delaware Historical Society. (10) The Executive Director of the Delaware Art Museum. (e) (1) A member of the Commission appointed under paragraph (d)(1) of this section serves at the pleasure of the appointing authority. (2) The Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall make reasonable efforts to ensure each county is represented by the members of the Commission appointed under paragraph (d)(1) of this section. (3) A member may be removed by the member’s appointing authority for any reason, including gross inefficiency, misfeasance, nonfeasance, malfeasance, or neglect of duty. a. A member is deemed in neglect of duty if the member is absent from 3 consecutive commission meetings without good cause or fails to attend at least 50% of all regular commission meetings in a calendar year. b. A member who is deemed in neglect of duty is considered to have resigned. (f) The Secretary of the Senate is the Chair of the Commission in odd-numbered years and Vice-Chair in even-numbered years and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives is Chair of the Commission in even-numbered years and Vice-Chair in odd-numbered years. (g) (1) A quorum of the Commission is a majority of its members. (2) Official action by the Commission, including making findings and recommendations, requires the approval of a quorum of the Commission. (3) The Commission may adopt rules necessary for its operation. (4) The Commission may invite individuals with relevant expertise to participate in commission discussions. An individual invited to participate in commission discussions is not a member of the Commission. (5) A member of the Commission with the ability to designate another individual to attend a commission meeting must provide the designation in writing to the Chair. An individual attending a meeting for a member as a designee has the same duties and rights as the member. (h) A member of the Commission may not receive compensation but may be reimbursed for the member’s actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of the member’s official duties. (i) Legislative Council, or the Commission with approval of Legislative Council, may accept donations of money, property, and personal services related to art, monuments, and historical exhibits recommended by the Commission and approved by Legislative Council. (j) Art, monuments, and historical exhibits recommended by the Commission and approved by Legislative Council may be placed in any location in Legislative Hall or on the grounds of Legislative Hall, if the location is approved by Legislative Council. (k) The Division of Legislative Services shall provide staff support to the Commission.

Source: DE Code (Official Site)URL: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title29/c009/index.htmlFetched: 10/4/2026