---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 13 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REPRESENTATION OF INDIGENT PERSONS IN CIVIL PROCEEDINGS."
description: "This Act establishes a right to counsel for indigent parents in DSCYF custody proceedings. Parent representation will primarily be provided by a legal services entity contracted with the Family Court, but may also be provided by the Office of Defense Services or a private attorney appointed by the Court."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 86"
citation: "Delaware HB 86 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cyndie Romer", "David L. Wilson", "David P. Sokola", "Eric Morrison", "Franklin D. Cooke", "Kendra Johnson", "Krista Griffith", "Madinah Wilson-Anton", "Paul S. Baumbach", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "Russell Huxtable", "Sarah McBride", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Spiros Mantzavinos"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-17"
last_action: "2024-10-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7aa00918-ae68-492d-8a98-8830c2cd43de"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=130094"
source_hash: "687966646b282fdd0df50fb5ec11aa259a392f804d667505f3593ce448c679bd"
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 86 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 13 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REPRESENTATION OF INDIGENT PERSONS IN CIVIL PROCEEDINGS.

This Act establishes a right to counsel for indigent parents in DSCYF custody proceedings. Parent representation will primarily be provided by a legal services entity contracted with the Family Court, but may also be provided by the Office of Defense Services or a private attorney appointed by the Court.

## 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=130094&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB86)

## Votes

- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **39–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cyndie Romer — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
- Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
- Krista Griffith — primary (person)
- Madinah Wilson-Anton — primary (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
- Sarah McBride — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-17** Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-29** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 5 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-30** Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-22** Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-06-11** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2024-06-11** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-18** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 3 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-06-18** Assigned to Finance Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-26** Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-10-25** 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/7aa00918-ae68-492d-8a98-8830c2cd43de`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).