republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-380.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 9 AND 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REALTY TRANSFER TAX."
description: "This bill allows first-time home buyers to pay their portion of the realty transfer tax at the rate that was in effect prior to the increase that took effect on August 1, 2017. The credit is calculated as 0.5% of the first $400,000 in home value, with a maximum allowable credit of $2,000. This legislation is retroactive for any first-time home buyer who entered into a transaction for the transfer of real estate on or after August 1, 2017. The seller in any transaction with a first-time buyer will still pay the current tax rate. The bill also removes a provision that applied to contracts entered into prior to 1971, since such provision is no longer relevant. For ease of application, the new definition of \"first-time home buyer\" is cross-referenced in the already existing Code provision directing the counties to exempt such buyers from any county-imposed realty transfer tax. This reduction in the tax rate for first-time home buyers will be effective for transactions entered into on or after the effective date of this Act."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 380"
citation: "Delaware HB 380 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Andria L. Bennett", "David B. McBride", "John J. Viola", "Kimberly Williams", "Nicole Poore", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "Robert Marshall", "Trey Charles Paradee", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 9
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-04-17"
last_action: "2018-08-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e9441324-7c1d-42af-84a6-b9d9cff4714e"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26491"
source_hash: "1bfb1d5ee10594854a5e00454f5a59d1631b08c6e95202c0b9660f52e24ee0da"
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 380 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 9 AND 30 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REALTY TRANSFER TAX.

This bill allows first-time home buyers to pay their portion of the realty transfer tax at the rate that was in effect prior to the increase that took effect on August 1, 2017. The credit is calculated as 0.5% of the first $400,000 in home value, with a maximum allowable credit of $2,000. This legislation is retroactive for any first-time home buyer who entered into a transaction for the transfer of real estate on or after August 1, 2017. The seller in any transaction with a first-time buyer will still pay the current tax rate. The bill also removes a provision that applied to contracts entered into prior to 1971, since such provision is no longer relevant. For ease of application, the new definition of "first-time home buyer" is cross-referenced in the already existing Code provision directing the counties to exempt such buyers from any county-imposed realty transfer tax. This reduction in the tax rate for first-time home buyers will be effective for transactions entered into on or after the effective date of this Act.

## 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=26491&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB380)

## Votes

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

## Sponsors

- Andria L. Bennett — primary (person)
- David B. McBride — primary (person)
- John J. Viola — primary (person)
- Kimberly Williams — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- Robert Marshall — primary (person)
- Trey Charles Paradee — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- Brian J. Bushweller — cosponsor (person)
- Bryon H. Short — cosponsor (person)
- Charles Potter Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
- David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
- Earl G. Jaques Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Ernesto B Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald L. Brady — cosponsor (person)
- Jeff N. Spiegelman — cosponsor (person)
- John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
- John Walsh — cosponsor (person)
- Kevin S Hensley — cosponsor (person)
- Lyndon D. Yearick — cosponsor (person)
- Michael Ramone — cosponsor (person)
- Quinton Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Richard G. Collins — cosponsor (person)
- Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-04-17** Introduced and Assigned to Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-05-02** Reported Out of Committee (Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce) in House with 3 Favorable, 8 On Its Merits `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-05-08** Amendment HA 1 to HB 380 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-05-08** Amendment HA 1 to HB 380 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2018-05-08** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-05-10** Assigned to Banking, Business & Insurance Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-06** Reported Out of Committee (Banking, Business & Insurance) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-06-19** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-08-28** 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/e9441324-7c1d-42af-84a6-b9d9cff4714e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).