republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-13.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 11, 16, AND 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DOGS.	This bill provides Statewide consistency in the law that protects the public from dangerous dogs and clarifies that dogs may not be held potentially dangerous or dangerous for animal control enforcement or for purposes of criminal liability based solely on breed-specific criteria. Findings to deem a dog dangerous will be based on actions of the dog, or an individualized demonstration of vicious behavior. It also prohibits municipalities from enacting breed-specific ordinances or regulations. The bill deletes outdated references to the now-defunct Dog Control Panel and replaces them with reference to the Justice of the Peace Court procedure laid out in Chapter 30F of Title 16.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	HB 13	Delaware HB 13 (149)	bill		enacted	Charles Potter Jr. David P. Sokola	1	12	3	2016-12-15	2017-06-02	openstates	ocd-bill/b0ff26ff-5322-49f8-bd18-02d455ee2392	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25339	829b26a8f0ee39fa0df124f71e2241d8a2097134cf57931bb8a9c0be2ac21403	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 13 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 11, 16, AND 22 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DOGS.

This bill provides Statewide consistency in the law that protects the public from dangerous dogs and clarifies that dogs may not be held potentially dangerous or dangerous for animal control enforcement or for purposes of criminal liability based solely on breed-specific criteria. Findings to deem a dog dangerous will be based on actions of the dog, or an individualized demonstration of vicious behavior. It also prohibits municipalities from enacting breed-specific ordinances or regulations. The bill deletes outdated references to the now-defunct Dog Control Panel and replaces them with reference to the Justice of the Peace Court procedure laid out in Chapter 30F of Title 16.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• 2/3 — 25–12 (fail) · lower
• 2/3 — 30–10 (pass) · lower
• 2/3 — 16–4 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Charles Potter Jr. — primary (person)
• David P. Sokola — primary (person)
• Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
• Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
• Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2016-12-15 Introduced and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-03-15 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 9 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-03-21 Defeated By House. Votes: 25 YES 12 NO 1 NOT VOTING 3 ABSENT failure
• 2017-03-23 Restored in House
• 2017-03-23 Roll Call Rescinded in House
• 2017-03-23 Amendment HA 1 to HB 13 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-03-23 Amendment HA 1 to HB 13 - Defeated By House. Votes: 16 YES 24 NO 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-03-23 Passed By House. Votes: 30 YES 10 NO 1 ABSENT passage
• 2017-03-28 Assigned to Health, Children & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-04-26 Reported Out of Committee (Health, Children & Social Services) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-04-27 Passed By Senate. Votes: 16 YES 4 NO 1 ABSENT passage
• 2017-06-02 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b0ff26ff-5322-49f8-bd18-02d455ee2392. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).