---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 AND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EXPULSION OF STUDENTS."
description: "Previously, a school superintendent was required to notify the DMV any time a student was expelled from a public school, at which time the DMV was permitted to suspend or refuse to issue or renew the expelled student a driver’s license. This bill eliminates the ability for the DMV to suspend a student’s driver’s license who has been expelled from a public school."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 402"
citation: "Delaware HB 402 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Debra Heffernan", "Harris B. McDowell", "Sean M. Lynn"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-05-03"
last_action: "2018-09-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7253e35e-0a9e-4425-9685-ce532e82df96"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26626"
source_hash: "8cdbcebf2568fb14ae370a5b6a20faa83b745099e19fdc96f4cce89b45db763a"
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 402 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 AND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EXPULSION OF STUDENTS.

Previously, a school superintendent was required to notify the DMV any time a student was expelled from a public school, at which time the DMV was permitted to suspend or refuse to issue or renew the expelled student a driver’s license. This bill eliminates the ability for the DMV to suspend a student’s driver’s license who has been expelled from a public school.

## 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=26626&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB402)

## Votes

- SM — **18–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **28–12** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
- Harris B. McDowell — primary (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)
- Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-05-03** Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-06** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 11 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-06-26** Passed By House. Votes: 28 YES 12 NO 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-06-26** Assigned to Education Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-27** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-09-13** 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/7253e35e-0a9e-4425-9685-ce532e82df96`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).