Bill Commons

DE SB 297

enacted

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 6 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CONSUMER PROTECTION.

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

Follow this bill’s action updates (Atom)

Subscribe in a feed reader. The feed covers recorded actions from the last 30 days; Bill Commons may record an action after it happened at the legislature.

Quick answers

Did DE SB 297 pass?

Yes. DE SB 297 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-07-23): Signed by Governor

What is DE SB 297 about?

This Act adds a clarifying interpretive paragraph to the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act (Subchapter II, Chapter 25, Title 6 of the Code) to address a recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court and to make clear that the Consumer Fraud Act’s use of the phrase “in connection with” in § 2513 should be interpreted to include unfair and deceptive acts and practices that occur “before, during, and after” the sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement of any merchandise. The Delaware Supreme Court recently construed the Consumer Fraud Act to be confined to conduct “between businesses and consumers which happen before a transaction or during the transaction itself.” Blue Beach Bungalows DE, LLC v. State, No. 14, 2025, 2025 WL 3768232, at *11 (Del. Dec. 30, 2025). However, in recognition of the broad purpose of the Consumer Fraud Act set forth by the 123rd General Assembly in Section 2512, subsequent amendments to the Consumer Fraud Act to include the “receipt” of merchandise, and the scope of comparable statutes in other states, this bill ensures that the Consumer Fraud Act is interpreted to apply to unfair or deceptive conduct that occurs after a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement, including, but not limited to, conduct occurring in instances in which a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement creates an ongoing relationship or a continuing obligation, or where performance has not yet been completed. This aligns the Consumer Fraud Act with Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (“UDAP”) laws with similar language in other states, as well as many other UDAP laws, including the FTC Act, that cover post-transaction conduct. This Act will allow the Delaware Department of Justice to use the Consumer Fraud Act to address the full range of unfair and deceptive acts or practices that consumers report to the Delaware Department of Justice, including, for example, false and threatening landlord communications, unscrupulous debt collection tactics, and failures to honor promises to fix returned merchandise. It will also ensure that businesses throughout the state can compete on a level playing field throughout the duration of their relationships with consumers, without being undercut by unscrupulous competitors who engage in post-transaction misconduct. Additionally, it ensures that the Delaware Department of Justice is not disadvantaged when coordinating with other states to hold entities accountable for unfair or deceptive acts or practices that are nationwide in scope.

Who sponsors DE SB 297?

Cyndie Romer, Mara Gorman, Franklin D. Cooke and 8 others are the primary sponsors of DE SB 297.

Description

This Act adds a clarifying interpretive paragraph to the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act (Subchapter II, Chapter 25, Title 6 of the Code) to address a recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court and to make clear that the Consumer Fraud Act’s use of the phrase “in connection with” in § 2513 should be interpreted to include unfair and deceptive acts and practices that occur “before, during, and after” the sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement of any merchandise. The Delaware Supreme Court recently construed the Consumer Fraud Act to be confined to conduct “between businesses and consumers which happen before a transaction or during the transaction itself.” Blue Beach Bungalows DE, LLC v. State, No. 14, 2025, 2025 WL 3768232, at *11 (Del. Dec. 30, 2025). However, in recognition of the broad purpose of the Consumer Fraud Act set forth by the 123rd General Assembly in Section 2512, subsequent amendments to the Consumer Fraud Act to include the “receipt” of merchandise, and the scope of comparable statutes in other states, this bill ensures that the Consumer Fraud Act is interpreted to apply to unfair or deceptive conduct that occurs after a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement, including, but not limited to, conduct occurring in instances in which a sale, lease, receipt, or advertisement creates an ongoing relationship or a continuing obligation, or where performance has not yet been completed. This aligns the Consumer Fraud Act with Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices (“UDAP”) laws with similar language in other states, as well as many other UDAP laws, including the FTC Act, that cover post-transaction conduct. This Act will allow the Delaware Department of Justice to use the Consumer Fraud Act to address the full range of unfair and deceptive acts or practices that consumers report to the Delaware Department of Justice, including, for example, false and threatening landlord communications, unscrupulous debt collection tactics, and failures to honor promises to fix returned merchandise. It will also ensure that businesses throughout the state can compete on a level playing field throughout the duration of their relationships with consumers, without being undercut by unscrupulous competitors who engage in post-transaction misconduct. Additionally, it ensures that the Delaware Department of Justice is not disadvantaged when coordinating with other states to hold entities accountable for unfair or deceptive acts or practices that are nationwide in scope.

Introduced
2026-05-04
Latest action
2026-07-23 — Signed by Governor
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Cyndie Romerprimary
  • Mara Gormanprimary
  • Franklin D. Cookeprimary
  • Darius J. Brownprimary
  • John "Jack" Walshprimary
  • Laura V. Sturgeonprimary
  • David P. Sokolaprimary
  • Marie Pinkneyprimary
  • Sarah McBrideprimary
  • Nicole Pooreprimary
  • Stephanie L. Hansenprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-07-23

    Signed by Governor

    executive-signature

  2. 2026-06-25

    Passed By House. Votes: 36 YES 1 NO 4 ABSENT

    passage

  3. 2026-06-10

    Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 8 On Its Merits

    committee-passage

  4. 2026-05-21

    Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

    introduction,referral-committee

  5. 2026-05-20

    Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT

    passage

  6. 2026-05-13

    Reported Out of Committee (Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology) in Senate with 3 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  7. 2026-05-04

    Introduced and Assigned to Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology Committee in Senate

    introduction,referral-committee

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • SM

    2026-05-20 · 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: yes
    • 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: other
    • Laura V. Sturgeon: yes
    • Bryan Townsend: yes
    • John "Jack" Walsh: yes
    • David L. Wilson: yes

  • 2/3

    2026-06-25 · pass · 36-1

    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: yes
    • Timothy D. Dukes: other
    • Mara Gorman: yes
    • Ronald E. Gray: yes
    • Krista Griffith: yes
    • Kerri Evelyn Harris: yes
    • Debra Heffernan: yes
    • Kevin S Hensley: other
    • Jeff Hilovsky: no
    • Valerie Jones Giltner: yes
    • Kendra Johnson: yes
    • Kimberly Williams: yes
    • Kamela T Smith: yes
    • Larry Lambert: yes
    • Sean M. Lynn: yes
    • Michael F. Smith: yes
    • Melissa Minor-Brown: yes
    • Shannon Morris: other
    • Eric Morrison: yes
    • DeShanna U Neal: yes
    • Josue O Ortega: yes
    • Edward S. Osienski: yes
    • Sophie Phillips: yes
    • Charles S Postles Jr.: other
    • 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: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=143213

Attribution

Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-10-21T22:24:32.181666Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Source and document changesStatus and relationship changes

Session-wide evidence can include changes to other bills:

Bulk imports for this sessionSession dates and activity

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=SB 297. 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.