---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REGULATIONS AND PROHIBITIONS CONCERNING GAME AND FISH."
description: "This Bill eliminates the prohibition against the mere possession of a body-gripping trap with a jaw spread in excess of 5 inches, while maintaining the prohibition against actually using one in Delaware. This modification is necessary because many licensed Delaware trappers legally trap in other states where such traps are legal and it also allows trap collectors to possess the larger traps while maintaining the prohibition against their actual use."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 329"
citation: "Delaware HB 329 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bruce C. Ennis", "William J. Carson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 5
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-03-01"
last_action: "2018-08-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8015fa31-a930-4acb-ba78-9c39ac205a78"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26332"
source_hash: "72851fbc344d9ec40d0997333ad3e1a26762472e957deecd91ca5899f5300f7e"
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 329 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO REGULATIONS AND PROHIBITIONS CONCERNING GAME AND FISH.

This Bill eliminates the prohibition against the mere possession of a body-gripping trap with a jaw spread in excess of 5 inches, while maintaining the prohibition against actually using one in Delaware. This modification is necessary because many licensed Delaware trappers legally trap in other states where such traps are legal and it also allows trap collectors to possess the larger traps while maintaining the prohibition against their actual use.

## 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=26332&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB329)

## Votes

- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **39–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bruce C. Ennis — primary (person)
- William J. Carson — primary (person)
- Brian J. Bushweller — cosponsor (person)
- Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald W. Hocker — cosponsor (person)
- Harvey R. Kenton — cosponsor (person)
- James Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Jeff N. Spiegelman — cosponsor (person)
- John L. Mitchell — cosponsor (person)
- Ronald E. Gray — cosponsor (person)
- Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-03-01** Introduced and Assigned to Natural Resources Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-03-28** Reported Out of Committee (Natural Resources) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-06-28** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 1 NO 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2018-08-10** 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/8015fa31-a930-4acb-ba78-9c39ac205a78`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).