republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/hb-277.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 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LIABILITY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD BY AN ADULT EMPLOYEE OF A SCHOOL, ORGANIZATION, OR BUSINESS.	This Act codifies the principle set forth in Doe v. Bicking, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 43, *32, 2020 WL 374677 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2020) that recognizes that in cases of childhood sexual abuse by an employee of a school, organization, or business that serves or cares for children, the perpetrator often has authority and power over the child victim, which can be enabled by the perpetrator’s position in that institution. If a child is abused while the perpetrator is doing the perpetrator’s job, the employer should be responsible.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	151	HB 277	Delaware HB 277 (151)	bill		enacted	Brian Pettyjohn Melissa Minor-Brown Nicole Poore Sean M. Lynn Sherry Dorsey Walker Timothy D. Dukes Valerie Longhurst	2	9	2	2022-01-06	2022-08-19	openstates	ocd-bill/37912162-3278-492c-92a2-ea059f93022b	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=79054	097a9d121d8ec57c5fa8d0ba7599abf0d0d27f07d2f08f4dbb407463975d3398	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 277 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO LIABILITY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD BY AN ADULT EMPLOYEE OF A SCHOOL, ORGANIZATION, OR BUSINESS.

This Act codifies the principle set forth in Doe v. Bicking, 2020 Del. Super. LEXIS 43, *32, 2020 WL 374677 (Del. Super. Jan. 22, 2020) that recognizes that in cases of childhood sexual abuse by an employee of a school, organization, or business that serves or cares for children, the perpetrator often has authority and power over the child victim, which can be enabled by the perpetrator’s position in that institution. If a child is abused while the perpetrator is doing the perpetrator’s job, the employer should be responsible.

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 277 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 40–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 21–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
• Melissa Minor-Brown — primary (person)
• Nicole Poore — primary (person)
• Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)
• Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
• Timothy D. Dukes — primary (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
• Andria L. Bennett — cosponsor (person)
• Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
• Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
• Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
• Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
• Darius J. Brown — cosponsor (person)
• Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
• David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
• David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
• Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
• Ernesto B. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
• Gerald W. Hocker — cosponsor (person)
• John "Jack" Walsh — cosponsor (person)
• Krista Griffith — cosponsor (person)
• Kyle Evans Gay — cosponsor (person)
• Laura V. Sturgeon — cosponsor (person)
• Marie Pinkney — cosponsor (person)
• S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
• Sarah McBride — cosponsor (person)
• Sherae'a Moore — cosponsor (person)
• Spiros Mantzavinos — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
• Trey Paradee — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2022-01-06 Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-03-23 Amendment HA 1 to HB 277 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2022-05-10 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 2 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2022-05-17 Amendment HA 1 to HB 277 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2022-05-17 Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT passage
• 2022-05-17 Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-06-08 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2022-06-23 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES passage
• 2022-08-19 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/37912162-3278-492c-92a2-ea059f93022b. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).