---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PAID LEAVE."
description: "This Act clarifies that paid leave for the adoption of a child may begin at one of the following times: (1) when the child is placed for adoption with the employee; (2) when the employee initiates a petition for adoption; or (3) when the adoption process is completed."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "153"
identifier: "HB 262"
citation: "Delaware HB 262 (153)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "Bryan Townsend", "Bryant L. Richardson", "Claire Snyder-Hall", "Darius J. Brown", "Dave G. Lawson", "David L. Wilson", "David P. Sokola", "Debra Heffernan", "Eric Morrison", "Franklin D. Cooke", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "Josue O Ortega", "Kerri Evelyn Harris", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Marie Pinkney", "Melanie Ross Levin", "Nicole Poore", "Ray Seigfried", "Russell Huxtable", "Sarah McBride", "Sean M. Lynn", "Spiros Mantzavinos", "Stell Parker Selby", "Trey Paradee"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-08"
last_action: "2026-06-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cb1e6d2b-329d-427e-b002-2820c93edeea"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=142746"
source_hash: "080f3ce0a1cc0a47ddb87064424dadffb6b206a3ed43d0876ac76a27e542904d"
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 262 (153) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PAID LEAVE.

This Act clarifies that paid leave for the adoption of a child may begin at one of the following times: (1) when the child is placed for adoption with the employee; (2) when the employee initiates a petition for adoption; or (3) when the adoption process is completed.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.


## Votes

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

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — primary (person)
- Claire Snyder-Hall — primary (person)
- Darius J. Brown — primary (person)
- Dave G. Lawson — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- Josue O Ortega — primary (person)
- Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
- Melanie Ross Levin — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Ray Seigfried — primary (person)
- Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
- Sarah McBride — primary (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)
- Stell Parker Selby — primary (person)
- Trey Paradee — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-08** Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2026-03-11** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 11 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-19** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT `passage`
- **2026-03-19** Assigned to Education Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2026-04-15** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-05-06** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2026-06-10** 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/cb1e6d2b-329d-427e-b002-2820c93edeea`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).