republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/152/hb-5.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REIMBURSEMENT OF SCHOOL-BASED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES."
description: "The State’s Medicaid Plan still limits the reimbursement of Medicaid-covered, school-based behavioral health services to those provided under an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), despite federal policy changes that allow for these services to be provided as a medical necessity without IEP or IFSP documentation. This bill would charge the Department of Health & Social Services to apply to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a State Plan Amendment that would allow for reimbursement of medically necessary behavioral health services without IEP or IFSP documentation. Local education agencies must use the reimbursed funds to further invest in school-based behavioral health supports."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 5"
citation: "Delaware HB 5 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "David P. Sokola", "Edward S. Osienski", "Eric Morrison", "Franklin D. Cooke", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "Kendra Johnson", "Kerri Evelyn Harris", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Michael F. Smith", "Nicole Poore", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "Russell Huxtable", "Sarah McBride", "Sean Matthews", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Spiros Mantzavinos", "Timothy D. Dukes", "Trey Paradee", "Valerie Longhurst", "William Bush"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2024-02-29"
last_action: "2024-08-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9dd4a62f-d9e8-466b-92d5-18328cd0f646"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=140947"
source_hash: "24c7cda3fd8a40ca41938e2bd7c625f936b73d54f04319c405c948662d3317af"
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 5 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 31 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REIMBURSEMENT OF SCHOOL-BASED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES.

The State’s Medicaid Plan still limits the reimbursement of Medicaid-covered, school-based behavioral health services to those provided under an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), despite federal policy changes that allow for these services to be provided as a medical necessity without IEP or IFSP documentation. This bill would charge the Department of Health & Social Services to apply to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a State Plan Amendment that would allow for reimbursement of medically necessary behavioral health services without IEP or IFSP documentation. Local education agencies must use the reimbursed funds to further invest in school-based behavioral health supports.

## 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=140947&legislationTypeId=6&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HS1forHB5)
2. **HA 1 to HS 1 for HB 5** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141184&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower
- 3/5 — **21–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
- Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Michael F. Smith — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
- Sarah McBride — primary (person)
- Sean Matthews — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)
- Timothy D. Dukes — primary (person)
- Trey Paradee — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- William Bush — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-02-29** Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 5, and Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-03-06** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 3 Favorable, 13 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-03-07** Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-04-11** Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-04-17** Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-05-16** Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-05-16** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2024-05-16** Assigned to Education Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-22** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-05-22** Assigned to Finance Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-12** Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-06-27** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-08-07** 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/9dd4a62f-d9e8-466b-92d5-18328cd0f646`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).