republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-21.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO NONDISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION.	This Act takes steps to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not denied access to organ transplant procedures based solely on their disability. Historically, individuals with disabilities have sometimes been denied access to life-saving organ transplants based on assumptions that people with disabilities are less worthy of care, or assumptions that the lack support services and/or the ability to follow post-transplant treatment plans. This bill prohibits denying a person with a disability a referral, evaluation and recommendation for transplantation solely on the basis of a non-medically significant disability and notes that persons who have the necessary support system to comply with post-transplant medical requirements should not have the inability to independently comply with those requirements held against them. The Act does not require referrals, recommendations or performance of medically inappropriate organ transplants. It affirms the state's commitment to the elimination of discrimination on the basis of disability.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	HB 21	Delaware HB 21 (149)	bill		enacted	Debra Heffernan Harris B. McDowell Melanie George Smith Nicole Poore	1	11	2	2017-01-05	2017-09-13	openstates	ocd-bill/fa259d76-e50e-471c-b87d-c805a375a8b2	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25348	e414b1088ffb9eaa480906e7c58b762a96ca66f1f83e42d66fdd779077839968	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 21 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO NONDISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION.

This Act takes steps to ensure that individuals with disabilities are not denied access to organ transplant procedures based solely on their disability. Historically, individuals with disabilities have sometimes been denied access to life-saving organ transplants based on assumptions that people with disabilities are less worthy of care, or assumptions that the lack support services and/or the ability to follow post-transplant treatment plans. This bill prohibits denying a person with a disability a referral, evaluation and recommendation for transplantation solely on the basis of a non-medically significant disability and notes that persons who have the necessary support system to comply with post-transplant medical requirements should not have the inability to independently comply with those requirements held against them. The Act does not require referrals, recommendations or performance of medically inappropriate organ transplants. It affirms the state's commitment to the elimination of discrimination on the basis of disability.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 21–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 38–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
• Harris B. McDowell — primary (person)
• Melanie George Smith — primary (person)
• Nicole Poore — primary (person)
• Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
• David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
• David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
• Deborah Hudson — cosponsor (person)
• John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
• John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
• John L. Mitchell — cosponsor (person)
• Kevin S Hensley — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2017-01-05 Introduced and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-01-18 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 4 Favorable, 9 On Its Merits committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2017-01-19 Amendment HA 1 to HB 21 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-03-28 Amendment HA 2 to HB 21 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-03-28 Amendment HA 1 to HB 21 - Stricken in House
• 2017-03-28 Amendment HA 2 to HB 21 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2017-03-28 Passed By House. Votes: 38 YES 2 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT passage
• 2017-03-28 Assigned to Health, Children & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-04-05 Reported Out of Committee (Health, Children & Social Services) in Senate with 3 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-06-07 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES passage
• 2017-09-13 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/fa259d76-e50e-471c-b87d-c805a375a8b2. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).