Delaware 153rd General Assembly (2025-2026) Status: In Committee 2 D cosponsors

HB 8 — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.

Last action — Defeated By House. Votes: 12 YES 23 NO 1 NOT VOTING 5 ABSENT

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed House
  4. 4
    Passed Senate
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced March 06, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee vote, then a floor vote in the House.

Prognosis

Stalled 8% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

Low

How often bills like it became law.

  • In Committee

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 3 sponsors

    3 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (2 D).

  • Failed a recorded vote

    Failed 1 recorded vote so far — a real headwind.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

This Act amends Delaware’s marriage laws to recognize a valid marriage between first cousins obtained or recognized outside of Delaware (either in another state or territory of the United States or foreign country) as a valid and legal marriage in Delaware. This Act does not legalize the performance of marriages between first cousins within the State of Delaware. U.S. Immigration Services only recognizes marriages for immigrating couples as “valid” if the marriage is valid both where the marriage was performed and in the state where the couple is currently living or planning to live. Couples planning to settle in Delaware have been advised by federal officials to move to neighboring states that recognize marriages between first cousins as legal, leading to loss of economic activity to the state and unnecessary financial hardships for families seeking legal reunification. This substitute bill makes a technical correction and removes subsections of the Code that are unchanged.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Defeated By House. Votes: 12 YES 23 NO 1 NOT VOTING 5 ABSENT

  2. Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 1 Favorable, 9 On Its Merits

  3. Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 8, and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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3 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 59 not signed on · 23 voted No

Sponsors (3)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (59)

59 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 59 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

SM

Failed 12 Yea · 23 Nay · 6 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 121004
Republican 01301
Unaffiliated 0001
Total 122306
% of votes cast 29%56%0%15%
How each member voted (41)
Member Party Vote
Stell Parker Selby — Not Voting
Claire Snyder-Hall Democratic Nay
Cyndie Romer Democratic Nay
DeShanna U Neal Democratic Yea
Debra Heffernan Democratic Not Voting
Edward S. Osienski Democratic Nay
Eric Morrison Democratic Yea
Frank Burns Democratic Yea
Franklin D. Cooke Democratic Nay
Josue O Ortega Democratic Yea
Kamela T Smith Democratic Yea
Kendra Johnson Democratic Yea
Kerri Evelyn Harris Democratic Nay
Kimberly Williams Democratic Nay
Krista Griffith Democratic Nay
Larry Lambert Democratic Yea
Madinah Wilson-Anton Democratic Yea
Mara Gorman Democratic Yea
Melanie Ross Levin Democratic Yea
Melissa Minor-Brown Democratic Nay
Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha Democratic Not Voting
Sean M. Lynn Democratic Yea
Sherae'a Moore Democratic Not Voting
Sophie Phillips Democratic Yea
Stephanie T. Bolden Democratic Not Voting
William Bush Democratic Nay
William J. Carson Democratic Nay
Bryan W. Shupe Republican Nay
Charles S Postles Jr. Republican Nay
Daniel B. Short Republican Nay
Jeff Hilovsky Republican Nay
Jeffrey N. Spiegelman Republican Nay
Jesse R. Vanderwende Republican Nay
Kevin S Hensley Republican Nay
Lyndon D. Yearick Republican Nay
Michael F. Smith Republican Nay
Richard G. Collins Republican Nay
Ronald E. Gray Republican Nay
Shannon Morris Republican Nay
Timothy D. Dukes Republican Nay
Valerie Jones Giltner Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

Subjects

immigration civil-rights
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does HB 8 do?
This Act amends Delaware’s marriage laws to recognize a valid marriage between first cousins obtained or recognized outside of Delaware (either in another state or territory of the United States or foreign country) as a valid and legal marriage in Delaware. This Act does not legalize the performance of marriages between first cousins within the State of Delaware. U.S. Immigration Services only recognizes marriages for immigrating couples as “valid” if the marriage is valid both where the marriage was performed and in the state where the couple is currently living or planning to live. Couples planning to settle in Delaware have been advised by federal officials to move to neighboring states that recognize marriages between first cousins as legal, leading to loss of economic activity to the state and unnecessary financial hardships for families seeking legal reunification. This substitute bill makes a technical correction and removes subsections of the Code that are unchanged.
Who sponsors HB 8?
HB 8 is sponsored by Laura V. Sturgeon (Democratic), Madinah Wilson-Anton (Democratic), and Sarah McBride.
What is the current status of HB 8?
This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced March 06, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
Where can I track HB 8?
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Last checked for changes about 2 months ago · updated continuously

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