Delaware 150th General Assembly (2019-2020) Status: Enacted 8 D cosponsors

SB 44 — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 4 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNDERAGE POSSESSION OR CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL.

Last action — Signed by Governor

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed House
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced May 08, 2019. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 82% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 13 sponsors

    5 primary, 8 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (8 D).

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 3 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

This Act makes the possession or consumption of alcohol by an individual under 21 years of age a civil offense. This Act also prohibits including information concerning a civil violation of the underage possession or consumption law on an individual’s certified criminal record.

Bill Text

What changed in the latest version

19 added · 25 removed

19 line(s) added, 25 removed.

→
Previous
Latest
Sen.
Rep.
Sturgeon & Sen.
Schwartzkopf HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 150th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE AMENDMENT NO.
McBride & Rep.
1 TO SENATE BILL NO.
Minor-Brown & Rep.
44 AMEND Senate Bill No.
Schwartzkopf & Rep.
44 by deleting lines 4 through 11 in their entirety and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
Cooke Sens.
“(f) Whoever, being under the age of 21 years, has alcoholic liquor in his or her possession at any time, or consumes or is found to have consumed alcoholic liquor shall have their driver’s license revoked for a period of 30 days for the 1 offense and not less than 90 days nor more than 180 days for each subsequent offense.
Delcollo, Sokola;
If the underage person does not have a Delaware’s driver’s license, the person shall be fined $100 for the 1 offense and not less than $200 nor more than $500 for each subsequent offense.
Reps.
A first and second violation of this subsection is a civil offense.
Carson, Chukwuocha, Heffernan, Kowalko, Longhurst, Lynn DELAWARE STATE SENATE 150th GENERAL ASSEMBLY SENATE BILL NO.
44 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 4 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNDERAGE POSSESSION OR CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1.
Amend § 904, Title 4 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:
§ 904.
Offenses concerning certain persons.
(f) Whoever, being under the age of 21 years, has alcoholic liquor in his or her possession at any time, or consumes or is found to have consumed alcoholic liquor, shall have their Delaware driver's license revoked for a period of 30 days for the 1st offense and not less than 90 days nor more than 180 days for each subsequent offense.
If the underage person does not have a Delaware driver's license, the person shall be fined $100 for the 1st offense and not less than $200 nor more than $500 for each subsequent offense.
A violation of this subsection is a civil offense.
This section shall not apply to the possession or consumption of alcoholic liquor in connection with any religious service or by members of the same family within the private home of any of said members.
This section shall not apply to the possession or consumption of alcoholic liquor in connection with any religious service or by members of the same family within the private home of any of said members.” SYNOPSIS This Amendment makes the possession or consumption of alcohol by an individual under 21 years of age a civil offense only for the first and second offenses.
SYNOPSIS This Act makes the possession or consumption of alcohol by an individual under 21 years of age a civil offense.
This amendment also removes driver’s license revocation as a penalty for a violation of this section.
This Act also prohibits including information concerning a civil violation of the underage possession or consumption law on an individual’s certified criminal record.
HD :
Author:
NSW :
Senator Sturgeon LC :
MAW Page 1 of 1 Released:
MJC :
06/18/2019 05:13 PM 2141500129
CM Page 1 of 1 Released:
05/07/2019 06:16 PM 1921500005
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How this bill changes current law

2 changes Share ↗

AI-generated reading aid from the bill's amendatory text — verify against the official bill.

This bill amends existing law to classify underage possession or consumption of alcohol as a civil offense and provides that such violations do not appear on an individual's certified criminal record.

  • § 904, Title 4 of the Delaware Code

    A violation of this subsection is a civil offense.

    This change clarifies that the underage possession or consumption is a civil offense.

  • § 904, Title 4 of the Delaware Code

    Information concerning this civil offense may not appear on an individual’s certified criminal record.

    This change ensures that violations for underage possession or consumption will not be recorded on criminal records.

Action History

  1. Signed by Governor

  2. Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT

  3. Passed By House. Votes: 34 YES 6 NO 1 ABSENT

  4. Amendment HA 1 to SB 44 - Passed In House by Voice Vote

  5. Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 7 On Its Merits

  6. Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

  7. Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT

  8. Reported Out of Committee (Banking, Business & Insurance) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits

  9. Introduced and Assigned to Banking, Business & Insurance Committee in Senate

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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5 sponsors · 8 co-sponsors · 49 not signed on · 6 voted No

Sponsors (5)

Co-sponsors (8)

Not signed on (49)

49 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 49 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

SM

Passed 19 Yea · 0 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 7000
Democratic 9000
Republican 3002
Total 19002
% of votes cast 90%0%0%10%
How each member voted (21)
Member Party Vote
Anthony Delcollo — Yea
Bruce C. Ennis — Yea
Catherine Cloutier — Yea
Colin Bonini — Yea
David B. McBride — Yea
Ernesto B Lopez — Yea
Harris B. McDowell — Yea
Bryan Townsend Democratic Yea
Darius J. Brown Democratic Yea
David P. Sokola Democratic Yea
John "Jack" Walsh Democratic Yea
Laura V. Sturgeon Democratic Yea
Nicole Poore Democratic Yea
S. Elizabeth Lockman Democratic Yea
Stephanie L. Hansen Democratic Yea
Trey Paradee Democratic Yea
Brian Pettyjohn Republican Not Voting
Bryant L. Richardson Republican Not Voting
Dave G. Lawson Republican Yea
David L. Wilson Republican Yea
Gerald W. Hocker Republican Yea

Official roll call →

SM

Passed 34 Yea · 6 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 16001
Democratic 12000
Republican 6600
Total 34601
% of votes cast 83%15%0%2%
How each member voted (41)
Member Party Vote
Andria L. Bennett — Yea
David Bentz — Yea
Earl G. Jaques Jr. — Yea
Gerald L. Brady — Yea
John A. Kowalko — Yea
John J. Viola — Yea
John L. Mitchell — Yea
Michael Ramone — Yea
Paul S. Baumbach — Yea
Peter C. Schwartzkopf — Yea
Quinton Johnson — Yea
Raymond Seigfried — Yea
Ruth Briggs King — Yea
Sean Matthews — Yea
Sherry Dorsey Walker — Yea
Stephen Smyk — Not Voting
Valerie Longhurst — Yea
Debra Heffernan Democratic Yea
Edward S. Osienski Democratic Yea
Franklin D. Cooke Democratic Yea
Kendra Johnson Democratic Yea
Kimberly Williams Democratic Yea
Krista Griffith Democratic Yea
Melissa Minor-Brown Democratic Yea
Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha Democratic Yea
Sean M. Lynn Democratic Yea
Stephanie T. Bolden Democratic Yea
William Bush Democratic Yea
William J. Carson Democratic Yea
Bryan W. Shupe Republican Nay
Charles S Postles Jr. Republican Nay
Daniel B. Short Republican Nay
Jeffrey N. Spiegelman Republican Yea
Jesse R. Vanderwende Republican Yea
Kevin S Hensley Republican Yea
Lyndon D. Yearick Republican Yea
Michael F. Smith Republican Yea
Richard G. Collins Republican Nay
Ronald E. Gray Republican Yea
Shannon Morris Republican Nay
Timothy D. Dukes Republican Nay

Official roll call →

SM

Passed 20 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 6001
Democratic 9000
Republican 5000
Total 20001
% of votes cast 95%0%0%5%
How each member voted (21)
Member Party Vote
Anthony Delcollo — Yea
Bruce C. Ennis — Yea
Catherine Cloutier — Yea
Colin Bonini — Yea
David B. McBride — Yea
Ernesto B Lopez — Yea
Harris B. McDowell — Not Voting
Bryan Townsend Democratic Yea
Darius J. Brown Democratic Yea
David P. Sokola Democratic Yea
John "Jack" Walsh Democratic Yea
Laura V. Sturgeon Democratic Yea
Nicole Poore Democratic Yea
S. Elizabeth Lockman Democratic Yea
Stephanie L. Hansen Democratic Yea
Trey Paradee Democratic Yea
Brian Pettyjohn Republican Yea
Bryant L. Richardson Republican Yea
Dave G. Lawson Republican Yea
David L. Wilson Republican Yea
Gerald W. Hocker Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Subjects

public-safety civil-rights
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 44 do?
This Act makes the possession or consumption of alcohol by an individual under 21 years of age a civil offense. This Act also prohibits including information concerning a civil violation of the underage possession or consumption law on an individual’s certified criminal record.
Who sponsors SB 44?
SB 44 is sponsored by Sean M. Lynn (Democratic), Debra Heffernan (Democratic), Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha (Democratic), William J. Carson (Democratic), David P. Sokola (Democratic), Franklin D. Cooke (Democratic), Melissa Minor-Brown (Democratic), Laura V. Sturgeon (Democratic), David B. McBride, Peter C. Schwartzkopf, Anthony Delcollo, John A. Kowalko, and Valerie Longhurst.
What is the current status of SB 44?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced May 08, 2019. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 44?
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