republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-187.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 9 AND 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SHERIFF'S SALES.	With the implementation of land banks in the State of Delaware, an increasing number of vacant and abandoned properties will be brought to sheriff’s sales. Many of these parcels will be dilapidated and require investment to render the house habitable. Blight will only be ameliorated if the bidders upon such property acquire it intending to invest in the property, thereby improving the housing in the neighborhood and eliminating blight. If bidders at a tax lien sale have failed to pay taxes when due and have failed to maintain the condition of other real property they own in the same jurisdiction, it is not likely that they intend to invest in and improve the condition of additional property they acquire. Instead they are speculating on a turnaround in the neighborhood based upon the investment and efforts of others.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	HB 187	Delaware HB 187 (149)	bill		enacted	Bryan Townsend James Johnson	1	11	2	2017-05-18	2017-09-07	openstates	ocd-bill/d998b200-d5c1-4d9a-84c2-cbbf6b6d34e5	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25821	3e7ce9dda005c082d20c51164b42582115751877ccbc8a3c93b77dae690c90e6	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 187 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 9 AND 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SHERIFF'S SALES.

With the implementation of land banks in the State of Delaware, an increasing number of vacant and abandoned properties will be brought to sheriff’s sales. Many of these parcels will be dilapidated and require investment to render the house habitable. Blight will only be ameliorated if the bidders upon such property acquire it intending to invest in the property, thereby improving the housing in the neighborhood and eliminating blight. If bidders at a tax lien sale have failed to pay taxes when due and have failed to maintain the condition of other real property they own in the same jurisdiction, it is not likely that they intend to invest in and improve the condition of additional property they acquire. Instead they are speculating on a turnaround in the neighborhood based upon the investment and efforts of others.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 21–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 41–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
• James Johnson — primary (person)
• Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
• Joseph E. Miro — cosponsor (person)
• Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
• Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-05-18 Introduced and Assigned to Housing & Community Affairs Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-06-13 Amendment HA 1 to HB 187 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-06-14 Reported Out of Committee (Housing & Community Affairs) in House with 8 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-06-21 Amendment HA 2 to HB 187 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-06-22 Amendment HA 1 to HB 187 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2017-06-22 Amendment HA 2 to HB 187 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2017-06-22 Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES passage
• 2017-06-23 Assigned to Judicial & Community Affairs Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-06-28 Reported Out of Committee (Judicial & Community Affairs) in Senate with 3 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-06-30 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES passage
• 2017-09-07 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/d998b200-d5c1-4d9a-84c2-cbbf6b6d34e5. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).