Why Is Delaware’s Majority Party Suddenly Trying To Make Constitutional Changes Easier?

May23, 2026

Representative Bryan Shupe

Constitutions are supposed to be difficult to change.

They are designed to protect citizens from temporary political movements, emotional swings in public opinion, and short term control by one party or another. That is exactly why Delaware’s constitutional amendment process has historically required broad agreement over time before permanent changes can be made.

That process is now under attack.

First came House Bill 321, legislation that removed the longstanding requirement that proposed constitutional amendments be published in local newspapers. Instead, those notices can now appear only on government websites.

That change matters more than many people realize.

For generations, local newspapers served as an independent source of public notification for major constitutional changes. Moving those notices away from the press and into government controlled websites makes it easier for constitutional changes to happen with less public visibility and less accountability.

Now comes House Bill 440.

Under Delaware’s current constitutional process, amendments must pass by a two thirds supermajority vote in both the House and Senate across two consecutive General Assemblies. In simple terms, constitutional amendments currently must survive two election cycles before becoming law.

That process was intentionally designed to slow things down and require long term consensus.

HB 440 changes that.

Instead of requiring passage in two separate General Assemblies, constitutional amendments could move directly to a statewide referendum after only one supermajority vote by lawmakers. The amendment could then pass with only 55 percent voter approval.

That is a major lowering of the threshold for permanently changing Delaware’s Constitution.

And Delawareans should ask themselves one simple question:

Why now?

The answer is obvious.

The majority party already holds a supermajority in the Senate and is only one seat away from holding a supermajority in the House. If they gain that final seat in the next election cycle, they will have the power to move constitutional amendments forward with almost no opposition.

At the same time, there are already approximately 15 constitutional amendments currently being discussed in Dover, including proposals involving same day voter registration, voting rights for felons, and abolishing the death penalty even for violent offenders.

This is also happening after years of controversial legislation involving Second Amendment rights, abortion policy, and local land use authority. Some of those laws were challenged in court and found to violate constitutional protections.

Now the focus appears to be shifting from simply passing controversial legislation to permanently changing the Constitution itself.

The strategy is becoming increasingly clear:• Reduce public visibility• Speed up the constitutional process• Lower the threshold for passage• And lock major political priorities into the Constitution while political power remains concentrated in one party

Constitutions are not supposed to be rewritten based on temporary political advantages. They are supposed to stand as stable protections for future generations, even when political power changes hands.

Once constitutional changes are made, reversing them becomes incredibly difficult. In many cases, it can take decades or may never happen at all.

That is why Delaware’s current process exists. It forces constitutional amendments to withstand public scrutiny, election cycles, and long term debate before becoming permanent law.

Delawareans should be paying very close attention to what is happening in Dover right now. Because this debate is not simply about one bill. It is about whether the safeguards protecting Delaware’s Constitution are about to be permanently weakened for political convenience.