---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ASSAULTS IN A DETENTION FACILITY."
description: "This bill provides greater protection to correctional officers and other state employees who are assaulted in detention facilities by prohibiting assaults committed with a reckless state of mind."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 122"
citation: "Delaware HB 122 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Andria L. Bennett", "Dave G. Lawson", "David L. Wilson", "Gerald W. Hocker", "Stephen Smyk", "William J. Carson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-04-04"
last_action: "2017-09-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a7d7d638-9c4a-4c64-8759-b7c51d0a1091"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25586"
source_hash: "0c0f0ec4355d80a7b1e0fc8e13e143de72abcde5e5e6b74ca34750f8a589d1c3"
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 122 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ASSAULTS IN A DETENTION FACILITY.

This bill provides greater protection to correctional officers and other state employees who are assaulted in detention facilities by prohibiting assaults committed with a reckless state of mind.

## 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=25586&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB122)

## Votes

- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **19–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Andria L. Bennett — primary (person)
- Dave G. Lawson — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- Gerald W. Hocker — primary (person)
- Stephen Smyk — primary (person)
- William J. Carson — primary (person)
- Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
- F. Gary Simpson — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald L. Brady — cosponsor (person)
- Harvey R. Kenton — cosponsor (person)
- James Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Jeff N. Spiegelman — cosponsor (person)
- John L. Mitchell — cosponsor (person)
- Joseph E. Miro — cosponsor (person)
- Kevin S Hensley — cosponsor (person)
- Melanie George Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Richard G. Collins — cosponsor (person)
- Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)
- William R. Outten — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-04-04** Introduced and Assigned to Corrections Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** Reported Out of Committee (Corrections) in House with 3 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-02** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-05-02** Assigned to Corrections & Public Safety Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-03** Reported Out of Committee (Corrections & Public Safety) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-10** Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-09-08** 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/a7d7d638-9c4a-4c64-8759-b7c51d0a1091`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).