---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND THE TOWN CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF MAGNOLIA."
description: "This Act amends the Charter of the Town of Magnolia to update and clarify the authority of the Town to borrow money. Specifically, this Act increases the short-term borrowing limit from $15,000 to $50,000, which borrowings are to be authorized by a majority vote of the Town Council. This Act establishes procedures for the Town Council to borrow up to 15% of the assessed value of real property in the Town pursuant to a super-majority vote of the Town Council following a public hearing on the borrowing. The Town’s long-term debt limit pursuant to the favorable vote of the qualified voters is being increased from 15% to 25% of the total assessed value of real property in the Town. This Act clarifies that the owner of more than one lot in an unfinished subdivision may only vote once in a borrowing referendum. This Act makes various miscellaneous changes to internal references to establish consistency with the changes made herein."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 38"
citation: "Delaware HB 38 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charles S Postles Jr.", "Franklin D. Cooke", "Kerri Evelyn Harris"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 10
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2023-01-05"
last_action: "2023-04-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0e84144f-13af-43b5-9086-759d0f937ce6"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=129905"
source_hash: "247c3f67ceef5f2a0f5bbfe4a040bc36266d5a3681a0d67cd7e03a6f6368fa4f"
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 38 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND THE TOWN CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF MAGNOLIA.

This Act amends the Charter of the Town of Magnolia to update and clarify the authority of the Town to borrow money. Specifically, this Act increases the short-term borrowing limit from $15,000 to $50,000, which borrowings are to be authorized by a majority vote of the Town Council. This Act establishes procedures for the Town Council to borrow up to 15% of the assessed value of real property in the Town pursuant to a super-majority vote of the Town Council following a public hearing on the borrowing. The Town’s long-term debt limit pursuant to the favorable vote of the qualified voters is being increased from 15% to 25% of the total assessed value of real property in the Town. This Act clarifies that the owner of more than one lot in an unfinished subdivision may only vote once in a borrowing referendum. This Act makes various miscellaneous changes to internal references to establish consistency with the changes made herein.

## 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=129905&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB38)
2. **SA 1 to HB 38** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=130045&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- 2/3 — **40–0** (pass) · lower
- 2/3 — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- 2/3 — **37–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Charles S Postles Jr. — primary (person)
- Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
- Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-05** Introduced and Assigned to Administration Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-01-11** Reported Out of Committee (Administration) in House with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-12** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT `passage`
- **2023-01-12** Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-06** Amendment SA 1 to HB 38 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2023-03-15** Reported Out of Committee (Elections & Government Affairs) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2023-03-29** Amendment SA 1 to HB 38 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `amendment-passage`
- **2023-03-29** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2023-03-30** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2023-04-12** 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/0e84144f-13af-43b5-9086-759d0f937ce6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).