republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/hb-255.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 TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CIVIL RIGHTS.	This Act criminalizes the deprivation of civil rights modeled after federal law (18 U.S.C. 242) and enforced by the Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust. The new crime of deprivation of civil rights would be a Class A misdemeanor, which could elevate to a Class D or Class B felony depending on the nature of the injury or harm. This new crime of deprivation of civil rights serves as a predicate offense for hate crimes, or for racketeering if committed by an enterprise. By including conduct committed under color of any ordinance, regulation, or custom, this law accounts for conduct by actors in areas such as banking, lending, leasing, government contracts or political operatives.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	151	HB 255	Delaware HB 255 (151)	bill		enacted	Kendra Johnson S. Elizabeth Lockman	2	11	2	2021-06-09	2022-10-26	openstates	ocd-bill/1b626e47-bd80-44d0-83ba-65648c9b0f0a	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=78869	9dc1e870712acfd1be7e2c8e2ee47362743f47a76d7dec29d83e05ab888adaf9	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 255 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CIVIL RIGHTS.

This Act criminalizes the deprivation of civil rights modeled after federal law (18 U.S.C. 242) and enforced by the Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust. The new crime of deprivation of civil rights would be a Class A misdemeanor, which could elevate to a Class D or Class B felony depending on the nature of the injury or harm. This new crime of deprivation of civil rights serves as a predicate offense for hate crimes, or for racketeering if committed by an enterprise. By including conduct committed under color of any ordinance, regulation, or custom, this law accounts for conduct by actors in areas such as banking, lending, leasing, government contracts or political operatives.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source
2. HA 1 to HB 255 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 39–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 20–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
• S. Elizabeth Lockman — primary (person)
• Melissa Minor-Brown — cosponsor (person)
• Sherry Dorsey Walker — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2021-06-09 Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2021-06-15 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 6 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2022-01-27 Amendment HA 1 to HB 255 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2022-01-27 Amendment HA 1 to HB 255 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2022-01-27 Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT passage
• 2022-01-27 Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-03-17 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 3 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2022-06-22 Laid On Table in Senate
• 2022-06-23 Lifted From Table in Senate
• 2022-06-23 Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT passage
• 2022-10-26 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/1b626e47-bd80-44d0-83ba-65648c9b0f0a. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).