Bill Commons

DE HB 8

dead

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.

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

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Quick answers

Did DE HB 8 pass?

No. DE HB 8 did not pass — it was defeated or died in the legislative process. Latest recorded action (2025-05-06): Defeated By House. Votes: 12 YES 23 NO 1 NOT VOTING 5 ABSENT

What is DE HB 8 about?

This Act amends Delaware’s marriage laws to recognize a valid marriage between first cousins obtained or recognized outside of Delaware (either in another state or territory of the United States or foreign country) as a valid and legal marriage in Delaware. This Act does not legalize the performance of marriages between first cousins within the State of Delaware. U.S. Immigration Services only recognizes marriages for immigrating couples as “valid” if the marriage is valid both where the marriage was performed and in the state where the couple is currently living or planning to live. Couples planning to settle in Delaware have been advised by federal officials to move to neighboring states that recognize marriages between first cousins as legal, leading to loss of economic activity to the state and unnecessary financial hardships for families seeking legal reunification. This substitute bill makes a technical correction and removes subsections of the Code that are unchanged.

Who sponsors DE HB 8?

Sarah McBride, Laura V. Sturgeon, Madinah Wilson-Anton are the primary sponsors of DE HB 8.

Description

This Act amends Delaware’s marriage laws to recognize a valid marriage between first cousins obtained or recognized outside of Delaware (either in another state or territory of the United States or foreign country) as a valid and legal marriage in Delaware. This Act does not legalize the performance of marriages between first cousins within the State of Delaware. U.S. Immigration Services only recognizes marriages for immigrating couples as “valid” if the marriage is valid both where the marriage was performed and in the state where the couple is currently living or planning to live. Couples planning to settle in Delaware have been advised by federal officials to move to neighboring states that recognize marriages between first cousins as legal, leading to loss of economic activity to the state and unnecessary financial hardships for families seeking legal reunification. This substitute bill makes a technical correction and removes subsections of the Code that are unchanged.

Introduced
2025-03-06
Latest action
2025-05-06 — Defeated By House. Votes: 12 YES 23 NO 1 NOT VOTING 5 ABSENT
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Sarah McBrideprimary
  • Laura V. Sturgeonprimary
  • Madinah Wilson-Antonprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2025-05-06

    Defeated By House. Votes: 12 YES 23 NO 1 NOT VOTING 5 ABSENT

    failure

  2. 2025-03-19

    Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 1 Favorable, 9 On Its Merits

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  3. 2025-03-06

    Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 8, and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House

    introduction,referral-committee

Versions

Not provided by source.

Documents

Not provided by source.

Votes

  • SM

    2025-05-06 · fail · 12-23

    Member-level votes (41)
    • Stephanie T. Bolden: other
    • Frank Burns: yes
    • William Bush: no
    • William J. Carson: no
    • Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha: other
    • Richard G. Collins: no
    • Franklin D. Cooke: no
    • Daniel B. Short: no
    • Timothy D. Dukes: no
    • Mara Gorman: yes
    • Ronald E. Gray: no
    • Krista Griffith: no
    • Kerri Evelyn Harris: no
    • Debra Heffernan: other
    • Kevin S Hensley: no
    • Jeff Hilovsky: no
    • Valerie Jones Giltner: other
    • Kendra Johnson: yes
    • Kimberly Williams: no
    • Kamela T Smith: yes
    • Larry Lambert: yes
    • Sean M. Lynn: yes
    • Michael F. Smith: no
    • Melissa Minor-Brown: no
    • Shannon Morris: no
    • Eric Morrison: yes
    • DeShanna U Neal: yes
    • Josue O Ortega: yes
    • Edward S. Osienski: no
    • Stell Parker Selby: other
    • Sophie Phillips: yes
    • Charles S Postles Jr.: no
    • Cyndie Romer: no
    • Melanie Ross Levin: yes
    • Sherae'a Moore: other
    • Bryan W. Shupe: no
    • Claire Snyder-Hall: no
    • Jeffrey N. Spiegelman: no
    • Jesse R. Vanderwende: no
    • Madinah Wilson-Anton: yes
    • Lyndon D. Yearick: no

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=141900

Attribution

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

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