---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 4, 10 AND 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNDERAGE POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA AND ALCOHOL."
description: "This Act permits an officer to refer a juvenile who is in possession of alcohol or marijuana to the Juvenile Civil Citation Program rather than issue an assessment for a monetary civil penalty. Pursuant to the Juvenile Civil Citation Program, a juvenile may be referred to counseling, treatment, or other appropriate interventions. The bill also removes a provision requiring monetary marijuana penalties to double if unpaid within 90 days."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 241"
citation: "Delaware HB 241 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Debra Heffernan", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Trey Paradee"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-06-10"
last_action: "2021-09-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7c40e522-cd88-4050-8266-b07f040bd7cd"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=78883"
source_hash: "99182f1d9721babd74c71615cd604e834384afc532a9031ec6885840523bde8c"
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 241 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 4, 10 AND 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNDERAGE POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA AND ALCOHOL.

This Act permits an officer to refer a juvenile who is in possession of alcohol or marijuana to the Juvenile Civil Citation Program rather than issue an assessment for a monetary civil penalty. Pursuant to the Juvenile Civil Citation Program, a juvenile may be referred to counseling, treatment, or other appropriate interventions. The bill also removes a provision requiring monetary marijuana penalties to double if unpaid within 90 days.

## 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=78883&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB241)

## Votes

- SM — **18–3** (pass) · upper
- SM — **37–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Trey Paradee — primary (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
- Krista Griffith — cosponsor (person)
- S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-06-10** Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-15** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2021-06-22** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 NO `passage`
- **2021-06-22** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-23** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2021-06-29** Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 NO `passage`
- **2021-09-17** 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/7c40e522-cd88-4050-8266-b07f040bd7cd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).