---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 AND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS IN BANKRUPTCY AND DEBT PROCEEDINGS."
description: "This Act increases the exemption in bankruptcy and other debt proceedings for a debtor’s personal residence from $125,000 to $200,000. The exemption has been limited to $125,000 since 2012 while home prices have increased dramatically in the intervening years. It also increases the exemption for tools of the trade and for a vehicle to $25,000 from $15,000."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 318"
citation: "Delaware HB 318 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Darius J. Brown", "David L. Wilson", "David P. Sokola", "Eric Morrison", "Marie Pinkney", "Paul S. Baumbach", "Sean Matthews", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Spiros Mantzavinos"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 13
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2024-02-29"
last_action: "2024-08-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/46fe50b0-a51f-44f0-b6c9-e5fbfc5b9ff3"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=140966"
source_hash: "8312e1a1f80e70606f8229e62669c0840565111001d8f183d9087dc4caf484a4"
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 318 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 AND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS IN BANKRUPTCY AND DEBT PROCEEDINGS.

This Act increases the exemption in bankruptcy and other debt proceedings for a debtor’s personal residence from $125,000 to $200,000. The exemption has been limited to $125,000 since 2012 while home prices have increased dramatically in the intervening years. It also increases the exemption for tools of the trade and for a vehicle to $25,000 from $15,000.

## 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=140966&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB318)
2. **HA 1 to HB 318** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141133&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)
3. **SA 1 to HB 318** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141592&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **37–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Darius J. Brown — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — primary (person)
- Sean Matthews — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-02-29** Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-03-13** Not Worked in Committee
- **2024-03-26** Amendment HA 1 to HB 318 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-03-27** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-04-23** Amendment HA 1 to HB 318 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-04-23** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 1 NOT VOTING 3 ABSENT `passage`
- **2024-04-23** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-11** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-06-14** Amendment SA 1 to HB 318 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-06-27** Amendment SA 1 to HB 318 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `amendment-passage`
- **2024-06-27** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2024-08-02** 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/46fe50b0-a51f-44f0-b6c9-e5fbfc5b9ff3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).