---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES."
description: "This Act requires the permitting of an electric substation as an allowed conditional use in a heavy industrial zone under certain conditions set forth in the Act, including that the electrical substation is being constructed to support the operation of a proposed renewable energy generation project of 250 MW or greater."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "153"
identifier: "SB 159"
citation: "Delaware SB 159 (153)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bryan Townsend", "Bryant L. Richardson", "Claire Snyder-Hall", "Cyndie Romer", "David L. Wilson", "David P. Sokola", "Edward S. Osienski", "Eric Morrison", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "Josue O Ortega", "Kerri Evelyn Harris", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Madinah Wilson-Anton", "Mara Gorman", "Marie Pinkney", "Melanie Ross Levin", "Nicole Poore", "Ray Seigfried", "Sarah McBride", "Sean M. Lynn", "Spiros Mantzavinos", "Stephanie L. Hansen", "Trey Paradee"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 11
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2025-05-21"
last_action: "2025-06-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0d481981-827e-4ac9-8570-a1a9753d32d4"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142363"
source_hash: "b967877df7421606d98409e32f4c2d0a5ee36ca64ccc07dee0f3e410e630724a"
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 159 (153) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES.

This Act requires the permitting of an electric substation as an allowed conditional use in a heavy industrial zone under certain conditions set forth in the Act, including that the electrical substation is being constructed to support the operation of a proposed renewable energy generation project of 250 MW or greater.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HA 1 to SB 159** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=142671&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)
2. **SA 1 to SB 159** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=142465&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **15–5** (pass) · upper
- SM — **25–15** (pass) · lower
- SM — **15–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — primary (person)
- Claire Snyder-Hall — primary (person)
- Cyndie Romer — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- Josue O Ortega — primary (person)
- Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Madinah Wilson-Anton — primary (person)
- Mara Gorman — primary (person)
- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
- Melanie Ross Levin — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Ray Seigfried — primary (person)
- Sarah McBride — primary (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — primary (person)
- Trey Paradee — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-05-21** Introduced and Assigned to Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-06-06** Amendment SA 1 to SB 159 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2025-06-10** Reported Out of Committee (Environment, Energy & Transportation) in Senate with 3 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-10** Amendment SA 1 to SB 159 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `amendment-passage`
- **2025-06-10** Passed By Senate. Votes: 15 YES 5 NO 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2025-06-11** Assigned to Natural Resources & Energy Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-06-24** Reported Out of Committee (Natural Resources & Energy) in House with 4 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-30** Amendment HA 1 to SB 159 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2025-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 25 YES 15 NO 1 VACANT `passage`
- **2025-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 15 YES 6 NO `passage`
- **2025-06-30** 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/0d481981-827e-4ac9-8570-a1a9753d32d4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).