Delaware House Bill 159 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)
Status: Passed on September 15 2021 - 100% progression
Action: 2021-09-15 - Signed by Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Engrossed) [HTML]

This act modifies the locations at which sheriffs sales may be conducted to provide the sheriffs with needed flexibility and to modernize the sheriffs sale process. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has revealed substantial inflexibility in 10 Del. C. § 4974 as currently adopted, forcing the sheriff of each of the three counties to either hold sheriffs sales outdoors, find non-governmental venues in which to hold sheriffs sales or cancel sheriffs sales. Additionally, the New Castle County Sheriff is considering using an online auction process to conduct sheriffs sales, as other counties throughout the United States have done, but § 4974 as currently adopted does not permit online sheriffs sales. Finally, this act removes uncertainty regarding the meaning of the term public building as currently used in § 4974 by adopting a definition that is consistent with the Delaware Supreme Courts definition of that term in Moore v. Wilmington Housing Authority, 619 A.2d 1166, 1174-75 (Del. 1993).

An Act To Amend Title 10 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Sales Of Real Estate Made By A Sheriff.

Rep. John Mitchell [D]	Sen. Nicole Poore [D]	Sen. Stephanie Hansen [D]	Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker [D]
Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]	Sen. Kyle Gay [D]	Sen. Laura Sturgeon [D]	Rep. Ruth Briggs King [R]

2021-06-29 - Senate - Senate Third Reading (Y: 21 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-06-17 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 40 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 1) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2021-09-15		Signed by Governor
2021-06-29		Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
2021-06-23		Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits
2021-06-17		Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate
2021-06-17		Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT
2021-06-17		Amendment HA 1 to HB 159 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
2021-06-14		Amendment HA 1 to HB 159 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2021-05-19		Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 2 Favorable, 6 On Its Merits
2021-04-27		Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=68631
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=68631&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB159
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocumentEngrossment?engrossmentId=24612&docTypeId=6
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#52346
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#52625