---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH BENEFITS."
description: "This bill increases the line of duty death benefits from $150,000 to $200,000 for those persons covered under Chapter 66, Title 18 of the Delaware Code. Additionally, the bill increases the maximum amount payable in any year from $30,000 to $40,000."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 257"
citation: "Delaware HB 257 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John L. Mitchell", "Nicole Poore"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-06-22"
last_action: "2017-08-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/96727050-4665-4d6d-9acf-b94105c5388e"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26065"
source_hash: "c121afb4242868aa6c2ec7bb985ec66da48ed09119a29bc7d5fbe4bca651d21c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 257 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH BENEFITS.

This bill increases the line of duty death benefits from $150,000 to $200,000 for those persons covered under Chapter 66, Title 18 of the Delaware Code. Additionally, the bill increases the maximum amount payable in any year from $30,000 to $40,000.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=26065&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB257)

## Votes

- SM — **41–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **20–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John L. Mitchell — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-06-22** Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-29** Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 8 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-07-02** Amendment HA 1 to HB 257 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-02** Amendment HA 1 to HB 257 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2017-07-02** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2017-07-02** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-08-09** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/96727050-4665-4d6d-9acf-b94105c5388e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).