---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNATTENDED MOTOR VEHICLES."
description: "Car theft was the primary impetus behind state codes prohibiting a motor vehicle owner to leave a car unattended with the keys in the ignition; a common habit to warm-up the vehicle during colder months. From 2013 to 2015, a total of 206 cars were stolen in Delaware due to the owner leaving the keys in the car while unattended; of these, 12 went unrecovered. Improved technology, such as remote starters, has instigated changes to these outdated statutes in several states. This Act excludes motor vehicles that are started by a remote starter or other similar device without a key in the ignition and that would be rendered inoperable without the key in the ignition or present within the vehicle."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 224"
citation: "Delaware HB 224 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John J. Viola", "John Walsh"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 5
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-06-13"
last_action: "2017-08-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6f6fe56c-2b3e-4b6c-83aa-b13bb70a2c26"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25955"
source_hash: "90cf44b2f1a2645e5bc6a0b5e15035596c8c958fbac6f8731566c51ce364d69d"
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 224 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNATTENDED MOTOR VEHICLES.

Car theft was the primary impetus behind state codes prohibiting a motor vehicle owner to leave a car unattended with the keys in the ignition; a common habit to warm-up the vehicle during colder months. From 2013 to 2015, a total of 206 cars were stolen in Delaware due to the owner leaving the keys in the car while unattended; of these, 12 went unrecovered. Improved technology, such as remote starters, has instigated changes to these outdated statutes in several states. This Act excludes motor vehicles that are started by a remote starter or other similar device without a key in the ignition and that would be rendered inoperable without the key in the ignition or present within the vehicle.

## 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=25955&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB224)

## Votes

- SM — **39–0** (pass) · lower
- SM — **19–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John J. Viola — primary (person)
- John Walsh — primary (person)
- Andria L. Bennett — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
- Richard G. Collins — cosponsor (person)
- Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-06-13** Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-14** Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-06-28** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-07-01** Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-08-30** 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/6f6fe56c-2b3e-4b6c-83aa-b13bb70a2c26`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).