DE SB 80

enacted

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE UNIFORM PUBLIC EXPRESSION PROTECTION ACT.

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

Description

This Act adopts the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act ("the Act") authored by the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Law Commission “provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law.” The Act was adopted by the Uniform Law Commission in October 2020 and has been adopted in 10 states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is currently pending in 10 states. The Act protects the public’s right to engage in activities protected by the First Amendment without abusive, expensive legal retaliation. Specifically, the Act combats the problem of strategic lawsuits against public participation, also called “SLAPPs.” A SLAPP may come in the form of a defamation, invasion of privacy, nuisance, or other claim, but its real goal is to entangle the defendant of a SLAPP in expensive litigation and stifle the ability to engage in constitutionally protected activities. While Delaware has an “anti-SLAPP” law (see §§ 8136 through 8138 of Title 10 of the Delaware Code), the law received a score of “D-” from the Institute for Free Speech due to limited types of speech it protects and lack of basic protections provided by the Act.

Introduced: 2025-03-25
Status date: —
Latest action: 2025-09-15 — Signed by Governor
Bill type: bill
Last updated: —

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

2025-03-25
Introduced and Assigned to Executive Committee in Senate
introduction,referral-committee
2025-05-07
Reported Out of Committee (Executive) in Senate with 5 Favorable, 1 On Its Merits
committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable
2025-05-14
Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT
passage
2025-05-15
Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
introduction,referral-committee
2025-06-11
Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 7 On Its Merits
committee-passage
2025-06-18
Amendment HA 1 to SB 80 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
amendment-introduction
2025-06-25
Amendment HA 2 to SB 80 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
amendment-introduction
2025-06-25
Amendment HA 1 to SB 80 - Stricken in House
2025-06-25
Amendment HA 2 to SB 80 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
amendment-passage
2025-06-25
Passed By House. Votes: 38 YES 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 1 VACANT
passage
2025-06-26
Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
passage
2025-09-15
Signed by Governor
executive-signature

Versions

HA 2 to SB 80Compare

Documents

Votes

SM
2025-05-14 · 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: other
- 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

https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142002

Attribution

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

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