Delaware 153rd General Assembly Status: Introduced 1 D cosponsors

SB 31 — State Employees' Pension Plan/Burial Benefit/Increase

Last action — Finance

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

This bill has been introduced in the Senate. Introduced March 12, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee referral and hearing.

Odds of enactment

Low chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a low chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Not enough signal yet

Not enough signal yet to read this bill's trajectory — we surface a likelihood only once there's real movement (stage, sponsorship, committee, or votes) to point to.

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Section 1 of this Act increases the burial benefit for individuals receiving a pension under the State Employees’ Pension Plan (Chapter 55 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code) from $7,000 to $10,000. The amount of this benefit has not been increased since 2001 (See 73 Del. Laws, c. 146, § 5). Section 1 of this Act directly increases the amount of the burial benefit for individuals receiving a pension under the State Employees’ Pension Plan and also increases the funeral benefits under additional pension plans because the amount of the benefits under the following pension plans is the same as the amount under § 5546 of Title 29: • The State Police Pension Plan, Chapter 83 of Title 11. • The Delaware County and Municipal Police and Firefighter Pension Plan, Chapter 88 of Title 11. • The early retirement option for state employees, Chapter 53 of Title 29. In addition, Section 1 of this Act increases the reasonable funeral expenses permitted in a wrongful death action under § 3724(d)(4) of Title 10 because the maximum for these damages is the amount under § 5546 of Title 29. Section 2 of this Act delays the effect of this Act until October 1, 2025, to provide time to implement this Act after the enactment of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations act containing the funding for this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Bill Text

We don't have the full text on file for this bill yet.

Read SB 31 on the official Delaware source →

Action History

  1. Finance

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 61 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (61)

61 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 61 →

"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

Subjects

finance labor
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 31 do?
Section 1 of this Act increases the burial benefit for individuals receiving a pension under the State Employees’ Pension Plan (Chapter 55 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code) from $7,000 to $10,000. The amount of this benefit has not been increased since 2001 (See 73 Del. Laws, c. 146, § 5). Section 1 of this Act directly increases the amount of the burial benefit for individuals receiving a pension under the State Employees’ Pension Plan and also increases the funeral benefits under additional pension plans because the amount of the benefits under the following pension plans is the same as the amount under § 5546 of Title 29: • The State Police Pension Plan, Chapter 83 of Title 11. • The Delaware County and Municipal Police and Firefighter Pension Plan, Chapter 88 of Title 11. • The early retirement option for state employees, Chapter 53 of Title 29. In addition, Section 1 of this Act increases the reasonable funeral expenses permitted in a wrongful death action under § 3724(d)(4) of Title 10 because the maximum for these damages is the amount under § 5546 of Title 29. Section 2 of this Act delays the effect of this Act until October 1, 2025, to provide time to implement this Act after the enactment of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations act containing the funding for this Act. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
Who sponsors SB 31?
SB 31 is sponsored by Darius J. Brown (Democratic).
What is the current status of SB 31?
This bill has been introduced in the Senate. Introduced March 12, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
Where can I track SB 31?
Track SB 31 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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