---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO A VACANCY IN THE NEW CASTLE COUNTY OFFICE OF COUNTY EXECUTIVE."
description: "This bill addresses how a vacancy in the office of New Castle County Executive will be filled. Initially the County Chief Administrative Officer will fill the position. Thereafter a special election shall be held to fill the vacancy for the balance of the term of office. This is the same special election process as applicable to a vacancy in a County Council district."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 239"
citation: "Delaware HB 239 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Gregory F. Lavelle", "Michael Ramone"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-06-20"
last_action: "2018-05-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/006df82b-12ce-41fa-9a24-01e4d12d7786"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25994"
source_hash: "01e46c9421dbada170096b6722697348acb6936aab88ad8fe147768a3a243f67"
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 239 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 9 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO A VACANCY IN THE NEW CASTLE COUNTY OFFICE OF COUNTY EXECUTIVE.

This bill addresses how a vacancy in the office of New Castle County Executive will be filled. Initially the County Chief Administrative Officer will fill the position. Thereafter a special election shall be held to fill the vacancy for the balance of the term of office. This is the same special election process as applicable to a vacancy in a County Council 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=25994&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB239)

## Votes

- SM — **33–6** (pass) · lower
- SM — **15–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Gregory F. Lavelle — primary (person)
- Michael Ramone — primary (person)
- Deborah Hudson — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-06-20** Introduced and Assigned to Housing & Community Affairs Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-01-17** Reported Out of Committee (Housing & Community Affairs) in House with 8 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-01-24** Amendment HA 1 to HB 239 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-03-08** Amendment HA 1 to HA 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-03-27** Amendment HA 1 to HA 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2018-03-27** Amendment HA 1 to HB 239 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2018-03-27** Passed By House. Votes: 33 YES 6 NO 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-03-28** Assigned to Judicial & Community Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-18** Reported Out of Committee (Judicial & Community Affairs) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-04-25** Passed By Senate. Votes: 15 YES 6 NO `passage`
- **2018-05-09** 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/006df82b-12ce-41fa-9a24-01e4d12d7786`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).