---
type: "Bill"
title: "CREATING AN ADVISORY PANEL TO THE DELAWARE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL TO STUDY POTENTIAL FISCAL CONROLS AND BUDGET SMOOTHING MECHANISMS."
description: "This Joint Resolution creates an Advisory Panel to the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) that is tasked with developing a report concerning the State’s historic budgeting practices, the need for reasonable restrictions on the use of budget surpluses, the benefits of a budget stabilization fund, and such other matters as the Advisory Panel deems appropriate. A preliminary report shall be submitted to the General Assembly and the Governor no later than May 1, 2018."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HJR 8"
citation: "Delaware HJR 8 (149)"
classification: ["joint resolution"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David B. McBride", "John J. Viola", "Margaret Rose Henry", "Nicole Poore", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "Quinton Johnson", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 5
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-06-30"
last_action: "2017-08-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b0ccc539-9f35-41f0-a2e4-cf29b3e4cd4d"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26154"
source_hash: "3e1dfefa900c564b7aba5ebf544b4c397002b51c12b68541e01f4b1894ec624c"
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 HJR 8 (149) — CREATING AN ADVISORY PANEL TO THE DELAWARE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL TO STUDY POTENTIAL FISCAL CONROLS AND BUDGET SMOOTHING MECHANISMS.

This Joint Resolution creates an Advisory Panel to the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) that is tasked with developing a report concerning the State’s historic budgeting practices, the need for reasonable restrictions on the use of budget surpluses, the benefits of a budget stabilization fund, and such other matters as the Advisory Panel deems appropriate. A preliminary report shall be submitted to the General Assembly and the Governor no later than May 1, 2018.

## 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=26154&legislationTypeId=4&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HJR8)

## Votes

- SM — **41–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **19–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- David B. McBride — primary (person)
- John J. Viola — primary (person)
- Margaret Rose Henry — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- Quinton Johnson — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- Anthony Delcollo — cosponsor (person)
- Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
- Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
- David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
- F. Gary Simpson — cosponsor (person)
- Gregory F. Lavelle — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-06-30** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2017-07-01** Suspension of Rules in House
- **2017-07-01** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2017-07-01** Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-08-25** 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/b0ccc539-9f35-41f0-a2e4-cf29b3e4cd4d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).