---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO MUNICIPAL BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT."
description: "This bill broadens the eligibility requirement for an appointment to a board of adjustment in jurisdictions which have adopted a home rule charter."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 177"
citation: "Delaware HB 177 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David P. Sokola", "Paul S. Baumbach"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 10
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-05-16"
last_action: "2018-03-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1623f971-353d-41d0-8606-47e8b2ed802e"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25784"
source_hash: "7224c90856fc39b09a4502f0d1731849f5cfe8118e8e2f0b7d0b26e7e4445cc5"
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 177 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO MUNICIPAL BOARDS OF ADJUSTMENT.

This bill broadens the eligibility requirement for an appointment to a board of adjustment in jurisdictions which have adopted a home rule charter.

## 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=25784&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB177)

## Votes

- 2/3 — **41–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **41–0** (pass) · lower
- 2/3 — **20–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — primary (person)
- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
- John Walsh — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-05-16** Introduced and Assigned to Housing & Community Affairs Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-14** Reported Out of Committee (Housing & Community Affairs) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-07-02** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2017-07-12** Assigned to Judicial & Community Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-01-10** Amendment SA 1 to HB 177 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-01-24** Reported Out of Committee (Judicial & Community Affairs) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-03-06** Amendment SA 1 to HB 177 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `amendment-passage`
- **2018-03-06** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-03-13** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2018-03-29** 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/1623f971-353d-41d0-8606-47e8b2ed802e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).