Fabio
65 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
65 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 17 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OWNERSHIP OF ABANDONED LAND ENCUMBERED BY THE DEPARTMENT’S RIGHT-OF-WAY EASEMENTS."
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description: "The purpose of this Act is to reduce the cost to the State in addressing ownership of land encumbered by public right-of-way permanent easements when the land has been abandoned by a prior owner and a current owner cannot be located. This Act will allow the Department, in the name of the State, to obtain fee simple ownership of land encumbered by right-of-ways, previously conveyed to the Department by permanent easement, when such right-of-ways are part of a current Department project. This Act requires the Department to promulgate regulations to establish the procedures for establishing that the land has been abandoned and for recording its fee simple ownership of the land."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
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legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
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session: "152"
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identifier: "HB 397"
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citation: "Delaware HB 397 (152)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Sean Matthews"]
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version_count: 1
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action_count: 7
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vote_count: 2
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first_action: "2024-05-15"
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last_action: "2024-07-17"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2a6943e8-a816-4a0d-ad21-6a12364d466e"
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source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=141386"
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source_hash: "895accfb14df6fe419d0a83839ffe021dbf11c51b86544dd9022fb8aacf5b7e4"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
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---
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# Delaware HB 397 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 17 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OWNERSHIP OF ABANDONED LAND ENCUMBERED BY THE DEPARTMENT’S RIGHT-OF-WAY EASEMENTS.
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The purpose of this Act is to reduce the cost to the State in addressing ownership of land encumbered by public right-of-way permanent easements when the land has been abandoned by a prior owner and a current owner cannot be located. This Act will allow the Department, in the name of the State, to obtain fee simple ownership of land encumbered by right-of-ways, previously conveyed to the Department by permanent easement, when such right-of-ways are part of a current Department project. This Act requires the Department to promulgate regulations to establish the procedures for establishing that the land has been abandoned and for recording its fee simple ownership of the land.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=141386&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB397)
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## Votes
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- SM — **39–0** (pass) · lower
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- 2/3 — **21–0** (pass) · upper
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## Sponsors
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- Sean Matthews — primary (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2024-05-15** Introduced and Assigned to Transportation Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2024-06-12** Reported Out of Committee (Transportation) in House with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2024-06-18** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2024-06-18** Assigned to Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2024-06-26** Reported Out of Committee (Environment, Energy & Transportation) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
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- **2024-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
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- **2024-07-17** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2a6943e8-a816-4a0d-ad21-6a12364d466e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).
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