republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/hb-271.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 13 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INDEPENDENT LIVING SERVICES FOR YOUNG ADULTS AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE."
description: "The Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families (DSCYF) is charged with providing transitional and independent living services for youth ages 14 to 21. The Division of Family Services (DFS) contracts for case management services for youth ages 16 to 21, with services designed to promote self-sufficiency and responsible living for young adults who are aging out of foster care. Participants receive life skills training and personal development, mentoring, tuition assistance, and support with transitional housing. Participants may also qualify to receive needs-based stipends through ASSIST (Achieving Self Sufficiency & Independence through Supported Transition) to help with living expenses. DFS recently changed the name of the Independent Living Program to the “Transitional and Independent Living Program” to better reflect the comprehensive nature of services offered to youth. This bill updates references to the program to include “transitional” and independent living services."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 271"
citation: "Delaware HB 271 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Debra Heffernan", "Krista Griffith", "Melissa Minor-Brown", "Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha", "S. Elizabeth Lockman", "Sherry Dorsey Walker"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-01-06"
last_action: "2022-05-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/24b5883c-c3c4-4e5b-a631-683c8d19dd40"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=79050"
source_hash: "76363232754c0eb5856011413b98c913c2173b17168d5097e3af16cadd400d17"
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 271 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 13 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INDEPENDENT LIVING SERVICES FOR YOUNG ADULTS AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE.

The Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families (DSCYF) is charged with providing transitional and independent living services for youth ages 14 to 21. The Division of Family Services (DFS) contracts for case management services for youth ages 16 to 21, with services designed to promote self-sufficiency and responsible living for young adults who are aging out of foster care. Participants receive life skills training and personal development, mentoring, tuition assistance, and support with transitional housing. Participants may also qualify to receive needs-based stipends through ASSIST (Achieving Self Sufficiency & Independence through Supported Transition) to help with living expenses. DFS recently changed the name of the Independent Living Program to the “Transitional and Independent Living Program” to better reflect the comprehensive nature of services offered to youth. This bill updates references to the program to include “transitional” and independent living services.

## 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=79050&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB271)

## Votes

- SM — **36–3** (pass) · lower
- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
- Krista Griffith — primary (person)
- Melissa Minor-Brown — primary (person)
- Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha — primary (person)
- S. Elizabeth Lockman — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
- David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
- Eric Morrison — cosponsor (person)
- Ernesto B. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — cosponsor (person)
- John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
- Kyle Evans Gay — cosponsor (person)
- Larry Lambert — cosponsor (person)
- Marie Pinkney — cosponsor (person)
- Michael F. Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Ronald E. Gray — cosponsor (person)
- Sarah McBride — cosponsor (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)
- Sherae'a Moore — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-01-06** Introduced and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-01-11** Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 7 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-01-13** Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-01-13** Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2022-01-27** Passed By House. Votes: 36 YES 3 NO 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2022-01-27** Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-09** Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 4 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-09** Assigned to Finance Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-17** Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 2 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-22** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2022-05-03** 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/24b5883c-c3c4-4e5b-a631-683c8d19dd40`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).