DE HB 468

enacted

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EMERGENCY SERVICES.

Delaware · 2025-2026 Regular Session (153rd General Assembly) · lower

Description

This Act modernizes Delaware’s emergency communications infrastructure by transitioning the State’s legacy Enhanced 911 (E911) system to a Next Generation 911 (NG911) system and updating the funding structure needed to support a statewide emergency communications network. Delaware’s current E911 system is funded through a monthly surcharge of $0.60 per telephone line, which has remained unchanged since 2001. This Act also authorizes periodic adjustments or scheduled increases in the surcharge to account for inflation, technological upgrades, and the growing operational costs associated with maintaining a modern emergency communications system. The transition to NG911 will allow Delaware’s public safety answering points (PSAPs) to support modern communications technologies, including text-to-911, multimedia communications, improved geolocation capabilities, and enhanced data sharing with first responders. These capabilities require significant upgrades to network infrastructure, cybersecurity protections, geographic information systems (GIS), and redundancy to ensure reliability during emergencies. Revenue generated by the updated surcharge structure will be deposited into the 911 System Fund and used for costs associated with planning, deploying, operating, and maintaining the statewide NG911 system. Eligible expenditures include network infrastructure, call handling equipment, software systems, cybersecurity protections, GIS data management, training of emergency communications personnel, and other costs necessary to operate a modern statewide emergency communications system. By establishing a sustainable funding mechanism and enabling the transition to NG911, this Act ensures that Delaware’s emergency communications system can meet current and future public safety needs, improve response times, and provide residents with access to modern emergency communication capabilities. Finally, this Act makes technical changes to existing statutory language to conform with the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Introduced: 2026-06-09
Status date: —
Latest action: 2026-06-30 — Signed by Governor
Bill type: bill
Last updated: —

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

2026-06-09
Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House
introduction,referral-committee
2026-06-16
Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 5 On Its Merits
committee-passage
2026-06-16
Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 5 On Its Merits
committee-passage
2026-06-17
Amendment HA 1 to HB 468 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
amendment-introduction
2026-06-18
Amendment HA 1 to HB 468 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
amendment-passage
2026-06-18
Passed By House. Votes: 38 YES 3 ABSENT
passage
2026-06-18
Assigned to Corrections & Public Safety Committee in Senate
introduction,referral-committee
2026-06-24
Reported Out of Committee (Corrections & Public Safety) in Senate with 5 Favorable
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2026-06-30
Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
passage
2026-06-30
Signed by Governor
executive-signature

Versions

HA 1 to HB 468Compare
(document, no version)Compare

Documents

Votes

3/5
2026-06-18 · pass · 38-0
Member-level votes (41)
- Alonna Berry: yes
- Stephanie T. Bolden: yes
- Frank Burns: yes
- William Bush: yes
- William J. Carson: yes
- Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha: yes
- Richard G. Collins: yes
- Franklin D. Cooke: yes
- Daniel B. Short: yes
- Timothy D. Dukes: yes
- Mara Gorman: yes
- Ronald E. Gray: yes
- Krista Griffith: yes
- Kerri Evelyn Harris: yes
- Debra Heffernan: yes
- Kevin S Hensley: other
- Jeff Hilovsky: yes
- Valerie Jones Giltner: yes
- Kendra Johnson: other
- Kimberly Williams: yes
- Kamela T Smith: yes
- Larry Lambert: yes
- Sean M. Lynn: yes
- Michael F. Smith: yes
- Melissa Minor-Brown: yes
- Shannon Morris: other
- Eric Morrison: yes
- DeShanna U Neal: yes
- Josue O Ortega: yes
- Edward S. Osienski: yes
- Sophie Phillips: yes
- Charles S Postles Jr.: yes
- Cyndie Romer: yes
- Melanie Ross Levin: yes
- Sherae'a Moore: yes
- Bryan W. Shupe: yes
- Claire Snyder-Hall: yes
- Jeffrey N. Spiegelman: yes
- Jesse R. Vanderwende: yes
- Madinah Wilson-Anton: yes
- Lyndon D. Yearick: yes
3/4
2026-06-30 · pass · 21-0
Member-level votes (21)
- Darius J. Brown: yes
- Eric Buckson: yes
- Daniel Cruce: yes
- Stephanie L. Hansen: yes
- Gerald W. Hocker: yes
- Kyra L. Hoffner: yes
- Russell Huxtable: yes
- Dave G. Lawson: yes
- S. Elizabeth Lockman: yes
- Spiros Mantzavinos: yes
- Trey Paradee: yes
- Brian Pettyjohn: yes
- Marie Pinkney: yes
- Nicole Poore: yes
- Bryant L. Richardson: yes
- Ray Seigfried: yes
- David P. Sokola: yes
- Laura V. Sturgeon: yes
- Bryan Townsend: yes
- John "Jack" Walsh: yes
- David L. Wilson: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=143477

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T03:53:51.443619Z

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