---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 4 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEER GARDENS."
description: "This Act eliminates the requirement of a daily average of no less than 25 full time employees to operate a beer garden. Beer gardens are presently the only liquor establishments that have a statutory staffing requirement. This Act also includes beer gardens along with taprooms and taverns as establishments the Commissioner may deny a license if an existing same establishment is within 1200 feet, by accessible public road in an incorporated city or town, or 9/10 of a mile in an unincorporated or rural area."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 69"
citation: "Delaware HB 69 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kerri Evelyn Harris", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Lyndon D. Yearick", "Michael F. Smith", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "Ruth Briggs King", "Sean M. Lynn"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-02"
last_action: "2023-05-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/47e3eb1f-aebc-4a41-9b50-269924bdcc0c"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=130037"
source_hash: "abd227fd204cf21bae0e544cd71c8b93ec0697b8c53103ec2e905821f5de6e21"
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 69 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 4 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEER GARDENS.

This Act eliminates the requirement of a daily average of no less than 25 full time employees to operate a beer garden. Beer gardens are presently the only liquor establishments that have a statutory staffing requirement. This Act also includes beer gardens along with taprooms and taverns as establishments the Commissioner may deny a license if an existing same establishment is within 1200 feet, by accessible public road in an incorporated city or town, or 9/10 of a mile in an unincorporated or rural area.

## 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=130037&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB69)

## Votes

- SM — **38–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Lyndon D. Yearick — primary (person)
- Michael F. Smith — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- Ruth Briggs King — primary (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-02** Introduced and Assigned to Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-07** Reported Out of Committee (Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce) in House with 4 Favorable, 7 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-16** Passed By House. Votes: 38 YES 3 ABSENT `passage`
- **2023-03-16** Assigned to Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-26** Reported Out of Committee (Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2023-05-11** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2023-05-25** 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/47e3eb1f-aebc-4a41-9b50-269924bdcc0c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).