---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 20 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC PROTECTIONS DURING THE COVID-19 STATE OF EMERGENCY AND MARRIAGE LICENSES."
description: "This Act ensures that the protections put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic related to marriage licenses do not cease immediately upon the lifting of the COVID-19 State of Emergency, but instead continue until June 30, 2021."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "150"
identifier: "SB 251"
citation: "Delaware SB 251 (150)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Franklin D. Cooke", "Laura V. Sturgeon"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-06-16"
last_action: "2020-07-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/20bc5039-dcda-4190-a9a3-b2734ee8d4c7"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=48146"
source_hash: "6fa81be9556d711ddeac9e16640ea604a0824db1766ccacf9025a7fb46df9d15"
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 SB 251 (150) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 20 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC PROTECTIONS DURING THE COVID-19 STATE OF EMERGENCY AND MARRIAGE LICENSES.

This Act ensures that the protections put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic related to marriage licenses do not cease immediately upon the lifting of the COVID-19 State of Emergency, but instead continue until June 30, 2021.

## 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=48146&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SB251)

## Votes

- 2/3 — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- 2/3 — **41–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-06-16** Introduced and Laid on Table in Senate `introduction`
- **2020-06-23** Suspension of Rules in Senate
- **2020-06-23** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2020-06-23** Assigned to Administration Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2020-06-25** Suspension of Rules in House
- **2020-06-25** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2020-07-16** 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/20bc5039-dcda-4190-a9a3-b2734ee8d4c7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).