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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 TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGE LICENSE APPLICATION. This Act removes the requirement that applicants for a marriage license state their race as part of the application process. Delaware is one of a small number of states that currently requires this information. In October 2019, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that requiring marriage license applicants to provide their race violates the United States Constitution. In Delaware, the Clerks of the Peace, who are the points of data collection, have expressed support for this Act, as has the Office of Vital Statistics in the Department of Health and Social Services. The National Center for Health Statistics ("NCHS") has not requested detailed information from states regarding marriage and divorce since 1996. NCHS only requires states to provide the total number of marriages that occur each month. us/states/de Delaware General Assembly 150 SB 194 Delaware SB 194 (150)
bill
enacted
Bryan Townsend
Kendra Johnson
Paul S. Baumbach
Stephanie L. Hansen
1 8 2 2019-12-19 2020-09-28 openstates ocd-bill/2df75a6f-416e-42d4-9601-63b6feef0c8b https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=47908 5ec43f12384a61ef338c00648312124eee08759da9d52c679eafabf441112956 2026-07-01 https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump 2026-07-06 reported
legislation
bill
us-de

Delaware SB 194 (150) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGE LICENSE APPLICATION.

This Act removes the requirement that applicants for a marriage license state their race as part of the application process. Delaware is one of a small number of states that currently requires this information. In October 2019, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that requiring marriage license applicants to provide their race violates the United States Constitution. In Delaware, the Clerks of the Peace, who are the points of data collection, have expressed support for this Act, as has the Office of Vital Statistics in the Department of Health and Social Services. The National Center for Health Statistics ("NCHS") has not requested detailed information from states regarding marriage and divorce since 1996. NCHS only requires states to provide the total number of marriages that occur each month.

Version chain

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

  1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

  • SM — 200 (pass) · upper
  • 3/4 — 410 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

  • Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
  • Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
  • Paul S. Baumbach — primary (person)
  • Stephanie L. Hansen — primary (person)
  • Anthony Delcollo — cosponsor (person)
  • Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
  • Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
  • Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
  • Catherine Cloutier — cosponsor (person)
  • Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
  • Darius J. Brown — cosponsor (person)
  • Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
  • David B. McBride — cosponsor (person)
  • David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
  • David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
  • Earl G. Jaques Jr. — cosponsor (person)
  • Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
  • Ernesto B Lopez — cosponsor (person)
  • Gerald W. Hocker — cosponsor (person)
  • Harris B. McDowell — cosponsor (person)
  • John "Jack" Walsh — cosponsor (person)
  • John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
  • John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
  • Krista Griffith — cosponsor (person)
  • Laura V. Sturgeon — cosponsor (person)
  • Michael Ramone — cosponsor (person)
  • Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
  • Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha — cosponsor (person)
  • Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)
  • S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
  • Sherry Dorsey Walker — cosponsor (person)
  • Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
  • Trey Paradee — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

  • 2019-12-19 Introduced and Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
  • 2020-01-15 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 4 Favorable committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
  • 2020-01-16 Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT passage
  • 2020-01-17 Assigned to Housing & Community Affairs Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
  • 2020-01-22 Reported Out of Committee (Housing & Community Affairs) in House with 7 On Its Merits committee-passage
  • 2020-06-26 Suspension of Rules in Senate
  • 2020-06-29 Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES passage
  • 2020-09-28 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/2df75a6f-416e-42d4-9601-63b6feef0c8b. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).