republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-3.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 14 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE.	This legislation requires that all full-time employees of the State, including employees of school districts, continuously in the employ of the state for at least one year, shall be eligible for 12 weeks of paid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child 6 years of age or younger. Both parents would be eligible for such leave. Employees shall continue to have the right, as they do under current law, to use accrued sick leave for maternity and paternity purposes. This legislation leaves intact the rights of persons adopting a child over 6 years of age to take unpaid leave. Due to lack of adequate paid family leave policies, many parents must return to work sooner than is optimal for the health of mothers (in the case of biological birth) and children. Granting paid leave will contribute to the establishment of parent-child bonds, breastfeeding establishment, and allow infants to receive vaccines and develop stronger immune systems prior to entering daycare. Further, a more generous leave policy will increase the productivity of workers and reduce employee turnover.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	HB 3	Delaware HB 3 (149)	bill		enacted	Debra Heffernan Harris B. McDowell Margaret Rose Henry Valerie Longhurst	1	19	2	2017-04-05	2018-06-30	openstates	ocd-bill/4e20ffdf-00fe-4de9-9831-a1499c6fd8c7	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25617	2e81537ee877352a1c35576678fa6ee58a5eb899f0ce911ebfd4d3bdf05f01ce	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 3 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 14 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE.

This legislation requires that all full-time employees of the State, including employees of school districts, continuously in the employ of the state for at least one year, shall be eligible for 12 weeks of paid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child 6 years of age or younger. Both parents would be eligible for such leave. Employees shall continue to have the right, as they do under current law, to use accrued sick leave for maternity and paternity purposes. This legislation leaves intact the rights of persons adopting a child over 6 years of age to take unpaid leave. Due to lack of adequate paid family leave policies, many parents must return to work sooner than is optimal for the health of mothers (in the case of biological birth) and children. Granting paid leave will contribute to the establishment of parent-child bonds, breastfeeding establishment, and allow infants to receive vaccines and develop stronger immune systems prior to entering daycare. Further, a more generous leave policy will increase the productivity of workers and reduce employee turnover.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 16–4 (pass) · upper
• SM — 27–13 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
• Harris B. McDowell — primary (person)
• Margaret Rose Henry — primary (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
• Andria L. Bennett — cosponsor (person)
• Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
• Bryon H. Short — cosponsor (person)
• Catherine Cloutier — cosponsor (person)
• Charles Potter Jr. — cosponsor (person)
• David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
• David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
• Ernesto B Lopez — cosponsor (person)
• Gerald L. Brady — cosponsor (person)
• Gregory F. Lavelle — cosponsor (person)
• Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
• John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
• John Walsh — cosponsor (person)
• Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
• Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
• Robert Marshall — cosponsor (person)
• Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
• Trey Charles Paradee — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-04-05 Introduced and Assigned to House Administration Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2018-01-09 Amendment HA 1 to HB 3 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-01-17 Reported Out of Committee (House Administration) in House with 3 Favorable committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2018-03-14 Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2018-04-25 Amendment HA 2 to HB 3 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-06-06 Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 1 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, committee-passage-unfavorable
• 2018-06-07 Amendment HA 3 to HB 3 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-06-12 Amendment HA 4 to HB 3 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-06-12 Amendment HA 1 to HB 3 - Stricken in House
• 2018-06-12 Amendment HA 2 to HB 3 - Defeated By House. Votes: 16 YES 24 NO 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2018-06-12 Amendment HA 3 to HB 3 - Stricken in House
• 2018-06-12 Amendment HA 4 to HB 3 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2018-06-12 Passed By House. Votes: 27 YES 13 NO 1 ABSENT passage
• 2018-06-13 Assigned to Elections & Government Affairs Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2018-06-19 Reported Out of Committee (Elections & Government Affairs) in Senate with 3 Favorable, 1 On Its Merits committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2018-06-20 Amendment SA 1 to HB 3 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 5 YES 15 NO 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2018-06-20 Amendment SA 2 to HB 3 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 7 YES 13 NO 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2018-06-20 Passed By Senate. Votes: 16 YES 4 NO 1 ABSENT passage
• 2018-06-30 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/4e20ffdf-00fe-4de9-9831-a1499c6fd8c7. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).