Bill Commons

DE HB 85

enacted

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 AND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS.

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

Description

Under current law, both school board members who are elected and those who are appointed to fill vacancies until the next election are required to complete a background check. However, the statute is currently unclear as to how a background check gets done and who is responsible for reviewing the background check for an appointment. This Act makes clear that a person may not be appointed unless a background check has been completed and the Commissioner of Elections has determined the person is qualified for the seat, in the same manner the Commissioner completes that duty for candidates for school board elections.

Introduced
2025-03-18
Status date
—
Latest action
2025-09-02 — Signed by Governor
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Nicole Pooreprimary
  • John "Jack" Walshprimary
  • Spiros Mantzavinosprimary
  • David P. Sokolaprimary
  • Lyndon D. Yearickprimary
  • Claire Snyder-Hallprimary
  • Michael F. Smithprimary
  • Dave G. Lawsonprimary
  • Daniel B. Shortprimary
  • Melanie Ross Levinprimary
  • Stell Parker Selbyprimary
  • Edward S. Osienskiprimary
  • Mara Gormanprimary
  • Bryant L. Richardsonprimary
  • Laura V. Sturgeonprimary
  • Madinah Wilson-Antonprimary
  • Cyndie Romerprimary
  • Eric Morrisonprimary
  • Kimberly Williamsprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2025-03-18

    Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House

    introduction,referral-committee

  2. 2025-03-26

    Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 2 Favorable, 12 On Its Merits

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  3. 2025-04-17

    Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT

    passage

  4. 2025-04-17

    Assigned to Education Committee in Senate

    introduction,referral-committee

  5. 2025-05-07

    Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 6 On Its Merits

    committee-passage

  6. 2025-06-24

    Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES

    passage

  7. 2025-09-02

    Signed by Governor

    executive-signature

Versions

Not provided by source.

Documents

Not provided by source.

Votes

  • SM

    2025-04-17 · pass · 37-0

    Member-level votes (41)
    • Stephanie T. Bolden: other
    • Frank Burns: yes
    • William Bush: yes
    • William J. Carson: yes
    • Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha: other
    • 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: yes
    • Jeff Hilovsky: yes
    • Valerie Jones Giltner: yes
    • Kendra Johnson: yes
    • Kimberly Williams: yes
    • Kamela T Smith: yes
    • Larry Lambert: yes
    • Sean M. Lynn: other
    • Michael F. Smith: yes
    • Melissa Minor-Brown: yes
    • Shannon Morris: yes
    • Eric Morrison: yes
    • DeShanna U Neal: yes
    • Josue O Ortega: yes
    • Edward S. Osienski: yes
    • Stell Parker Selby: other
    • 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

  • SM

    2025-06-24 · 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=141962

Attribution

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

Use this data

Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=DE&identifier=HB 85. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.

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