Delaware / State / 153rd General Assembly, 2025
85 Del. Laws c. 137 (HS 1 for HB 1 with HA 1) Created a cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs, kept inside the Department of State until a transition plan is approved
Enacted 29 Del. C. §§ 8801-8804 and moved the Commission of Veterans Affairs to §§ 8811-8816. The Department runs the veterans cemeteries, the Veterans Trust Fund and the discharge paper repository, but under § 8801(c) remains a division of the Department of State until the General Assembly approves a transition report, with separation targeted by July 1, 2030. The act also moved recorded discharge documents from the county recorders to the Department (9 Del. C. § 9605(j)) and renamed references throughout the Code. Approved August 13, 2025.
Progress
Path to law: Bill in a two-chamber legislature
- Introduced Done, House, as HB 1; House Substitute 1 was adopted in its place on April 10, 2025
- In committee Done, House Veterans Affairs and Appropriations, then Senate Veterans Affairs
- Passed one chamber Done, House, 38-0, with House Amendment 1
- Passed both chambers Done, Senate, 21-0
- Signed by the governor Done,
- In effect Done,
Sponsors
- Carson
- Bush
- Hilovsky
- D. Short
- Poore
- Hoffner
- Lawson
- Pettyjohn
- Burns
- Collins
- Gorman
- Heffernan
- Lynn
- Parker Selby
- Michael Smith
- Wilson-Anton
- Yearick
- Dukes
- K. Johnson
- Snyder-Hall
- Chukwuocha
- Kamela Smith
- Buckson
- Hansen
- Hocker
- Huxtable
- Mantzavinos
- Cruce
- Richardson
- Seigfried
- Brown
- Lockman
- Paradee
- Pinkney
- Sokola
- Sturgeon
- Townsend
- Walsh
- Wilson
What it touches
- 29 Del. C. § 8801
- 29 Del. C. § 8804
- 29 Del. C. § 8811
- 9 Del. C. § 9605
- 30 Del. C. § 1197
- 20 Del. C. § 1202
Catalog entries (3)
Official record
Read 85 Del. Laws c. 137 (HS 1 for HB 1 with HA 1) on the jurisdiction's own record