---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LIABILITY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD BY AN ADULT EMPLOYEE OF A SCHOOL, ORGANIZATION, OR BUSINESS."
description: "This Act codifies the principle set forth in Doe v. Bicking, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 43, *32, 2020 WL 374677 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2020) that recognizes that in cases of childhood sexual abuse by an employee of a school, organization, or business that serves or cares for children, the perpetrator often has authority and power over the child victim, which can be enabled by the perpetrator’s position in that institution. If a child is abused while the perpetrator is doing the perpetrator’s job, the employer should be responsible."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 277"
citation: "Delaware HB 277 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "Melissa Minor-Brown", "Nicole Poore", "Sean M. Lynn", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Timothy D. Dukes", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 9
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-01-06"
last_action: "2022-08-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/37912162-3278-492c-92a2-ea059f93022b"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=79054"
source_hash: "097a9d121d8ec57c5fa8d0ba7599abf0d0d27f07d2f08f4dbb407463975d3398"
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 277 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LIABILITY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD BY AN ADULT EMPLOYEE OF A SCHOOL, ORGANIZATION, OR BUSINESS.

This Act codifies the principle set forth in Doe v. Bicking, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 43, *32, 2020 WL 374677 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2020) that recognizes that in cases of childhood sexual abuse by an employee of a school, organization, or business that serves or cares for children, the perpetrator often has authority and power over the child victim, which can be enabled by the perpetrator’s position in that institution. If a child is abused while the perpetrator is doing the perpetrator’s job, the employer should be responsible.

## 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=79054&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB277)
2. **HA 1 to HB 277** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=89273&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- Melissa Minor-Brown — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Timothy D. Dukes — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- Andria L. Bennett — cosponsor (person)
- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
- Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
- Darius J. Brown — cosponsor (person)
- Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
- David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
- Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
- Ernesto B. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald W. Hocker — cosponsor (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — cosponsor (person)
- Krista Griffith — cosponsor (person)
- Kyle Evans Gay — cosponsor (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — cosponsor (person)
- Marie Pinkney — cosponsor (person)
- S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
- Sarah McBride — cosponsor (person)
- Sherae'a Moore — cosponsor (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
- Trey Paradee — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-06** Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-23** Amendment HA 1 to HB 277 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2022-05-10** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 2 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-17** Amendment HA 1 to HB 277 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2022-05-17** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2022-05-17** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-08** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2022-06-23** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2022-08-19** 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/37912162-3278-492c-92a2-ea059f93022b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).