AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 2, TITLE 6, TITLE 9, TITLE 10, TITLE 14, TITLE 19, TITLE 20, TITLE 24, TITLE 25, AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DISCRIMINATION.

This Act aligns Delaware’s non-discrimination laws. Delaware has several broad laws that prohibit discrimination in public accommodations, housing, employment, and insurance but also has many narrow non-discrimination laws that apply to a specific entity, or type of entity, even though a broad law also prohibits discrimination by that entity. This Act aligns the narrower non-discrimination laws with the applicable broad non-discrimination law by also prohibiting discrimination on any other basis protected under the applicable broad law. Adding the reference to the chapter for the applicable broad law includes all protected classes, definitions, and actions that are currently protected under the broad law or that are added to the broad law in the future. This Act does not make any substantive changes to current non-discrimination laws but is necessary because most of the narrow laws do not contain all of the same protected classes as the broad law that also applies or do not include the definitions of classes that are also in the broad law. These inconsistencies could lead to a misunderstanding by someone reading only an incomplete narrow law, and eventually litigation, about what constitutes illegal discrimination by an entity covered by both the narrow and broad laws. For example: • The non-discrimination provision for the Board of Podiatry under § 506(c) of Title 24 does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of the following classes, for which discrimination is prohibited under Chapter 45 of Title 6: age, marital status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. • Only 4 of the 42 chapters in Title 24 establishing professional licensing boards contain a non-discrimination provision, but this does not mean that the other 38 licensing boards are free to discriminate. Aligning these 4 non-discrimination provisions with Chapter 45 of Title 6 clarifies that Chapter 45 of Title 6 also applies to the 38 professional boards that do not have s