republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/hb-440.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 OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON.	This bill changes the definition of and class of felony for the crime of Strangulation from a class C felony to a Class D felony unless additional factors are present, then the crime elevates to a class B felony, punishable from 2-25 years in jail. This bill also adds the crime of suffocation.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	151	HB 440	Delaware HB 440 (151)	bill		enacted	Krista Griffith Sherry Dorsey Walker Stephanie L. Hansen William Bush	2	9	2	2022-06-02	2022-08-04	openstates	ocd-bill/1a2453cd-cdd4-4620-a3ba-f8c64c4c57ca	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109579	89f3319c4330f856d33365a9a522d2d2f6ce2f539177ba156986fc6597e6a7c5	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 440 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON.

This bill changes the definition of and class of felony for the crime of Strangulation from a class C felony to a Class D felony unless additional factors are present, then the crime elevates to a class B felony, punishable from 2-25 years in jail. This bill also adds the crime of suffocation.

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 440 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 17–2 (pass) · upper
• SM — 41–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Krista Griffith — primary (person)
• Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
• Stephanie L. Hansen — primary (person)
• William Bush — primary (person)
• Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
• Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
• Franklin D. Cooke — cosponsor (person)
• Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
• Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
• Spiros Mantzavinos — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2022-06-02 Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-06-08 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 4 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage-unfavorable
• 2022-06-21 Amendment HA 1 to HB 440 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2022-06-21 Amendment HA 1 to HB 440 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2022-06-21 Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES passage
• 2022-06-21 Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-06-29 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2022-07-01 Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 2 NO 2 ABSENT passage
• 2022-08-04 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/1a2453cd-cdd4-4620-a3ba-f8c64c4c57ca. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).