---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO POSSESSION OF A WEAPON IN A SAFE SCHOOL AND RECREATION ZONE."
description: "This bill gives local school boards or charter school boards more discretion on a case by case basis to suspend students for the possession of a deadly weapon other than a firearm in a Safe School or Recreation Zone. This bill is the result of a case in the Brandywine School District."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 176"
citation: "Delaware HB 176 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Deborah Hudson", "Gregory F. Lavelle", "James Johnson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 9
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-05-16"
last_action: "2017-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/64338572-4ee3-4a53-9614-8a923597764a"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25782"
source_hash: "f02f348d1c22bf302ca544bdf647b95a4dee5dc60dfa94ada77d98b6bf2a4172"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 176 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO POSSESSION OF A WEAPON IN A SAFE SCHOOL AND RECREATION ZONE.

This bill gives local school boards or charter school boards more discretion on a case by case basis to suspend students for the possession of a deadly weapon other than a firearm in a Safe School or Recreation Zone. This bill is the result of a case in the Brandywine School District.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=25782&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB176)

## Votes

- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **20–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Deborah Hudson — primary (person)
- Gregory F. Lavelle — primary (person)
- James Johnson — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
- Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-05-16** Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-01** Amendment HA 1 to HB 176 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-14** Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 8 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-06-29** Amendment HA 2 to HB 176 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-02** Amendment HA 1 to HB 176 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2017-07-02** Amendment HA 2 to HB 176 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2017-07-02** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 NOT VOTING `passage`
- **2017-07-02** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-09-29** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/64338572-4ee3-4a53-9614-8a923597764a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).