republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-173.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 TITLE 11, 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO DANGEROUS ANIMALS AND ANIMAL WELFARE LAWS.	This bill further consolidates animal welfare law enforcement roles and responsibilities under Title 16. The Office of Animal Welfare enforces all animal control and animal cruelty laws of this state. Upon the transfer of such responsibilities to the Office of Animal Welfare, officers were given greater enforcement authority than previously assigned under the Delaware State Constable Board. As such, animal welfare officers were removed from the Board’s oversight and the additional laws enforced previously as constables need to be added to the section of the code that defines officer authority, specifically when enforcing animal fighting laws and laws pertaining to dangerous animals. Other laws, like the dog control law, needed to be brought up to date with current Office of Animal Welfare authority. Additionally, the bill updates the Dangerous Dog Law to allow for more thorough investigation prior to civil filings, adds code provisions concerning dogs that repeatedly attack or threaten to attack people and animals in the community, creates steps for ensuring compliance to court rulings, and establishes a deadline for filing appeals after dangerous dog (with euthanasia) rulings.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	HB 173	Delaware HB 173 (149)	bill		enacted	Earl G. Jaques Jr. Margaret Rose Henry	1	11	3	2017-06-06	2017-07-21	openstates	ocd-bill/70887be7-c435-4398-b62f-6b400de161da	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25879	b421618f1db69099a169892d046f78d6a5c0f3a1e36ea3c6dff72c018b53e803	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 173 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11, 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO DANGEROUS ANIMALS AND ANIMAL WELFARE LAWS.

This bill further consolidates animal welfare law enforcement roles and responsibilities under Title 16. The Office of Animal Welfare enforces all animal control and animal cruelty laws of this state. Upon the transfer of such responsibilities to the Office of Animal Welfare, officers were given greater enforcement authority than previously assigned under the Delaware State Constable Board. As such, animal welfare officers were removed from the Board’s oversight and the additional laws enforced previously as constables need to be added to the section of the code that defines officer authority, specifically when enforcing animal fighting laws and laws pertaining to dangerous animals. Other laws, like the dog control law, needed to be brought up to date with current Office of Animal Welfare authority. Additionally, the bill updates the Dangerous Dog Law to allow for more thorough investigation prior to civil filings, adds code provisions concerning dogs that repeatedly attack or threaten to attack people and animals in the community, creates steps for ensuring compliance to court rulings, and establishes a deadline for filing appeals after dangerous dog (with euthanasia) rulings.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 40–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 13–5 (pass) · upper
• SM — 40–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Earl G. Jaques Jr. — primary (person)
• Margaret Rose Henry — primary (person)
• David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
• John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
• Robert Marshall — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-06-06 Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 173, and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-06-14 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 9 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-06-22 Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-06-22 Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2017-06-22 Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 NOT VOTING passage
• 2017-06-23 Assigned to Health, Children & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-06-30 Reported Out of Committee (Health, Children & Social Services) in Senate with 3 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-07-01 Amendment SA 1 to HS 1 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 4 ABSENT amendment-passage
• 2017-07-01 Passed By Senate. Votes: 13 YES 5 NO 3 ABSENT passage
• 2017-07-01 Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT passage
• 2017-07-21 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/70887be7-c435-4398-b62f-6b400de161da. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).