---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 AND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DOGS."
description: "This Act simplifies and in some cases increases the civil penalties for violations of laws related to dogs that run at large, dogs that bite a human being or domestic animal while running at large, and dogs that are designated as dangerous or potentially dangerous. It also expands the requirements for keeping or maintaining a dangerous or potentially dangerous dog to include provisions related to licensing, vaccination, microchipping, and leashing."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "SB 269"
citation: "Delaware SB 269 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "Bryan Townsend", "David L. Wilson", "Edward S. Osienski", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "Nicole Poore", "William Bush"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 13
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2024-05-16"
last_action: "2024-08-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3c2ac6b6-68b6-49bc-aff8-faf0250041e4"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=141420"
source_hash: "18e8c9eaf8fab5eeaeef835d7248f7f9ee5319bb6f04c965de533e5e65dad833"
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 SB 269 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 AND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DOGS.

This Act simplifies and in some cases increases the civil penalties for violations of laws related to dogs that run at large, dogs that bite a human being or domestic animal while running at large, and dogs that are designated as dangerous or potentially dangerous. It also expands the requirements for keeping or maintaining a dangerous or potentially dangerous dog to include provisions related to licensing, vaccination, microchipping, and leashing.

## 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=141420&legislationTypeId=6&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SS1forSB269)
2. **HA 1 to HA 1 to SS 1 for SB 269** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141702&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)
3. **HA 1 to SS 1 for SB 269** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=141502&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **41–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- William Bush — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-05-16** was introduced and adopted in lieu of SB 269 `introduction`
- **2024-05-21** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-05-22** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-06** Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-06-12** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 2 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-06-20** Amendment HA 2 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-06-30** Amendment HA 1 to HA 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-06-30** Amendment HA 1 to HA 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-06-30** Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-06-30** Amendment HA 2 to SS 1 - Stricken in House
- **2024-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES `passage`
- **2024-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-08-29** 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/3c2ac6b6-68b6-49bc-aff8-faf0250041e4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).