---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION DEVICES AND PENALTIES."
description: "This Act clarifies the definition of \"subsequent offense\" to mean a like offense occurring within 3 years of the former offense."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "SB 51"
citation: "Delaware SB 51 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "David L. Wilson", "Nicole Poore", "Stephanie T. Bolden", "Timothy D. Dukes"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 10
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-03-28"
last_action: "2018-04-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/128cdac4-49ac-4294-9501-1b7f3761df70"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25551"
source_hash: "d12a4f2e97a1ecb837327384249b0488d8b31583baecf6bf5730092a708ca66a"
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 SB 51 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION DEVICES AND PENALTIES.

This Act clarifies the definition of "subsequent offense" to mean a like offense occurring within 3 years of the former offense.

## 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=25551&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SB51)

## Votes

- SM — **41–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **18–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **18–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — primary (person)
- Timothy D. Dukes — primary (person)
- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
- Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald W. Hocker — cosponsor (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
- Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-28** Introduced and Assigned to Judicial & Community Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** Reported Out of Committee (Judicial & Community Affairs) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-05-02** Amendment SA 1 to SB 51 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2017-05-17** Amendment SA 1 to SB 51 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT `amendment-passage`
- **2017-05-17** Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-05-17** Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-05-18** Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-14** Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-03-13** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2018-04-17** 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/128cdac4-49ac-4294-9501-1b7f3761df70`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).