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Delaware · 153rd General Assembly (2025-2026) · Bill

HB 153: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ARREST AND DETENTION.

Enacted Official data

  1. Introduced
  2. In committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. Passed both chambers
  5. Enacted

Last official action: ·Record last updated:

Plain-language summary

HB 153 is a bill introduced in the Delaware House on May 1, 2025. According to its official title, it concerns: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ARREST AND DETENTION. Primary sponsor: Mara Gorman (Democratic), Marie Pinkney (Democratic). It lists 11 additional sponsors. Most recent recorded action (July 14, 2025): Signed by Governor.

Generated automatically from the official title, sponsor list, and status record only. It does not characterize the bill’s purpose or effects. How summaries are written

Official summary

Abstract published by the legislature (via Open States). Text as published by the legislature; reproduced verbatim.

This Act prohibits arrest or detention by any person who does not have explicit statutory authority to carry out an arrest or detention. The intent of this provision is to eliminate any doubt that a “citizen’s arrest” is not permitted in Delaware. Peace officers have statutory authority to make arrests, as do federal law enforcement agents and out-of-state police under some circumstances. There is also limited authority to detain a person suspected of shoplifting provided to a merchant, store supervisor, agent or employee of a merchant in § 840 of Title 11; to detain a person suspected of unlawful recording by a motion picture theater owner, supervisor, agent or employee under § 858 of Title 11; and to detain a person suspected of unlawful acts with a video lottery machine by a video lottery agent or any of its officers, employees or agents under § 1474 of Title 11. This Act also deletes two outdated provisions of Chapter 65 of Title 11 that reference the exercise of arrest by private detectives. At the present time, private investigators do not have authority to make arrests in Delaware.

Sponsors

Sponsors by party (alphabetical): Democratic 13

NameRolePartyChamberDistrict
Mara GormanPrimary sponsorDemocraticHouse23
Marie PinkneyPrimary sponsorDemocraticSenate13
Frank BurnsCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse21
Dan CruceCo-sponsorDemocraticSenate1
Larry LambertCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse7
Sean LynnCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse31
Eric MorrisonCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse27
DeShanna NealCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse13
Josue OrtegaCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse3
Sophie PhillipsCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse18
Cyndie RomerCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse25
Kam SmithCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse15
Claire Snyder-HallCo-sponsorDemocraticHouse14

“Support” is shown only as formal sponsorship recorded by the legislature. Roll-call votes are available on the official bill page.

Recent official actions

  1. Signed by Governor
  2. Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 4 NO
  3. Lifted From Table in Senate
  4. Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits
  5. Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate
  6. Passed By House. Votes: 24 YES 12 NO 5 ABSENT
  7. Amendment HA 1 to HB 153 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
  8. Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 4 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits
  9. Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

Sources

  1. Open States / Plural (data from the official legislature website)
  2. Official legislature source