HB 320 DE Passed Legislature
AN ACT PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO THE DELAWARE CONSTITUTION RELATING TO TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.
A state bill is a proposed law in a state legislature — separate from the U.S. Congress. Learn more →
Summary
This bill proposes the first reading of technical corrections to the Delaware Constitution, identified by legislative staff during the incorporation of recent constitutional amendments. The corrections address minor grammar and punctuation issues throughout multiple articles of the Constitution, including removing unnecessary words, adding missing punctuation, correcting duplicate language, clarifying references to the Internal Revenue Code, and correcting errors introduced by recent amendments. The changes also add subsection designations to one constitutional section to improve readability and enable future amendments. Constitutional amendments in Delaware require approval twice—once in the current General Assembly and again after the next general election by the newly elected General Assembly—and this bill requires a two-thirds majority vote in each house.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill (from the OpenStates abstract — no full text available yet) — neutral, and may be imperfect.
Official abstract
This Act is a Substitute for House Bill No. 320. Like House Bill No. 320, this Substitute Act is the first leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution to make necessary technical corrections identified by the Code Revisors and the Division of Legislative Services during the incorporation of amendments to the Delaware Constitution enacted during the first session of the 153rd General Assembly. This Substitute Act differs from House Bill No. 320 by removing the authority to make certain limited technical amendments to the Delaware Constitution without the concurrence of the next General Assembly. Specifically, Sections 1 through 11 of this Act makes the following specific technical corrections: (1) In Sections 1 and 2 of this Act, makes changes to §§ 17A and 17 B of Article II by removing an unnecessary “by” before “fraternal societies” in both Sections (lines 6 and 17), adding “Internal” to clarify in both Sections that the cited provision is in the Internal Revenue Code (lines 10 and 22, and making changes in Section 1 to ensure consistency with similar language in Section 2 (lines 10 and 11). (2) In Section 3 of this Act, amends § 10 of Article III to correct errors caused by the enactment of House Bill No. 10 (153rd General Assembly) and Senate Bill No. 15 (153rd General Assembly) (lines 29 to 30). (3) In Section 4 of this Act, amends § 19 of Article III to add a comma (line 35). (4) In Section 5 of this Act, amends § 35 of Article IV remove unnecessary commas and add an Oxford comma (lines 42, 46, and 51). (5) In Section 6 of this Act, amends § 37 of Article IV to remove a duplicate “the” (line 59). (6) In Section 7 of this Act, amends § 1 of Article V to remove a duplicate comma (line 67). (7) In Section 8 of this Act, amends § 4 of Article V to remove a duplicate “the” (line 76). (8) In Section 9 of this Act, amends § 8 of Article V to remove an unnecessary “and” (line 125) and to add subsection designations to § 8 to increase readability and enable pinpoint amendments in the future. (9) In Section 10 of this Act, amends § 10 of Article VIII to remove a duplicate “an act” (line 144). (10) In Section 11 of this Act, amends § 2 of Article IX to add a “the” (line 148). Amending the Delaware Constitution requires not only the passing of the changes in this Act, but also passage of the same changes after the next general election by the next General Assembly. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 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.
Sponsors (9)
- Melissa Minor-Brown Democratic · primary
- Kerri Evelyn Harris Democratic · primary
- Edward S. Osienski Democratic · primary
- Timothy D. Dukes Republican · primary
- Bryan Townsend Democratic · primary
- David P. Sokola Democratic · primary
- Josue O Ortega Democratic · primary
- Stell Parker Selby · primary
- Brian Pettyjohn Republican · primary
Action history (7)
- Jun 12, 2026 was introduced and adopted in lieu of HB 320 · lower
- Jun 18, 2026 Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill · lower
- Jun 18, 2026 Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote · lower
- Jun 18, 2026 Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT · lower
- Jun 18, 2026 Assigned to Executive Committee in Senate · upper
- Jun 24, 2026 Reported Out of Committee (Executive) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits · upper
- Jun 30, 2026 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES · upper
Full text
The full text hasn’t been imported yet. CivicGate fetches it from the state legislature’s published version documents — check now.
Comments
Data from OpenStates. View on OpenStates →
Comments