Bill Commons

DE HB 265

enacted

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SEXUAL OFFENSE REPORTING AND IMMUNITY FOR CERTAIN CRIMES.

Delaware · 2025-2026 Regular Session (153rd General Assembly) · lower

Description

This Act provides limited immunity from prosecution for persons who seek to report a sexual offense. Under this Act a person who is a victim or witness or otherwise seeks law enforcement assistance in relation to a sexual offense may not be charged, arrested, or prosecuted, or issued a civil citation for low-level crimes relating to drug or alcohol use or possession. This Act also provides that a person’s probation or pretrial release status may not be revoked or changed based on an incident for which the person would receive the limited immunity from prosecution provided under this statute.

Introduced
2026-01-08
Status date
Latest action
2026-06-24 — Signed by Governor
Bill type
bill
Last updated

Sponsors

  • Bryan Townsendprimary
  • Josue O Ortegaprimary
  • Sarah McBrideprimary
  • Kerri Evelyn Harrisprimary
  • Nicole Pooreprimary
  • William Bushprimary
  • Brian Pettyjohnprimary
  • Claire Snyder-Hallprimary
  • Cyndie Romerprimary
  • Eric Morrisonprimary
  • Spiros Mantzavinosprimary
  • Ray Seigfriedprimary
  • Russell Huxtableprimary
  • Mara Gormanprimary
  • Stell Parker Selbyprimary
  • Marie Pinkneyprimary
  • David L. Wilsonprimary
  • Melanie Ross Levinprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-01-08

    Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

    introduction,referral-committee

  2. 2026-03-11

    Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 7 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  3. 2026-03-19

    Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT

    passage

  4. 2026-03-19

    Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate

    introduction,referral-committee

  5. 2026-05-13

    Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits

    committee-passage

  6. 2026-06-18

    Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT

    passage

  7. 2026-06-24

    Signed by Governor

    executive-signature

Versions

Not provided by source.

Documents

Not provided by source.

Votes

  • SM

    2026-03-19 · pass · 37-0

    Member-level votes (41)
    • Alonna Berry: yes
    • Stephanie T. Bolden: yes
    • Frank Burns: yes
    • William Bush: yes
    • William J. Carson: yes
    • Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha: yes
    • Richard G. Collins: yes
    • Franklin D. Cooke: yes
    • Daniel B. Short: other
    • Timothy D. Dukes: other
    • Mara Gorman: yes
    • Ronald E. Gray: yes
    • Krista Griffith: yes
    • Kerri Evelyn Harris: yes
    • Debra Heffernan: yes
    • Kevin S Hensley: yes
    • Jeff Hilovsky: yes
    • Valerie Jones Giltner: yes
    • Kendra Johnson: yes
    • Kimberly Williams: yes
    • Kamela T Smith: yes
    • Larry Lambert: yes
    • Sean M. Lynn: other
    • Michael F. Smith: yes
    • Melissa Minor-Brown: yes
    • Shannon Morris: yes
    • Eric Morrison: yes
    • DeShanna U Neal: yes
    • Josue O Ortega: yes
    • Edward S. Osienski: yes
    • Sophie Phillips: yes
    • Charles S Postles Jr.: yes
    • Cyndie Romer: yes
    • Melanie Ross Levin: yes
    • Sherae'a Moore: yes
    • Bryan W. Shupe: yes
    • Claire Snyder-Hall: yes
    • Jeffrey N. Spiegelman: yes
    • Jesse R. Vanderwende: yes
    • Madinah Wilson-Anton: yes
    • Lyndon D. Yearick: other
  • SM

    2026-06-18 · pass · 20-0

    Member-level votes (21)
    • Darius J. Brown: yes
    • Eric Buckson: yes
    • Daniel Cruce: yes
    • Stephanie L. Hansen: yes
    • Gerald W. Hocker: yes
    • Kyra L. Hoffner: yes
    • Russell Huxtable: yes
    • Dave G. Lawson: other
    • S. Elizabeth Lockman: yes
    • Spiros Mantzavinos: yes
    • Trey Paradee: yes
    • Brian Pettyjohn: yes
    • Marie Pinkney: yes
    • Nicole Poore: yes
    • Bryant L. Richardson: yes
    • Ray Seigfried: yes
    • David P. Sokola: yes
    • Laura V. Sturgeon: yes
    • Bryan Townsend: yes
    • John "Jack" Walsh: yes
    • David L. Wilson: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T03:53:51.443619Z

Use this data

Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=DE&identifier=HB 265. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.

Known limitations

  • Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
  • Committee referrals are not yet captured.

See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.