Fabio
74 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
74 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11, 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO DANGEROUS ANIMALS AND ANIMAL WELFARE LAWS."
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description: "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."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
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legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
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session: "149"
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identifier: "HB 173"
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citation: "Delaware HB 173 (149)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Earl G. Jaques Jr.", "Margaret Rose Henry"]
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version_count: 1
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action_count: 11
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vote_count: 3
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first_action: "2017-06-06"
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last_action: "2017-07-21"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/70887be7-c435-4398-b62f-6b400de161da"
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source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25879"
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source_hash: "b421618f1db69099a169892d046f78d6a5c0f3a1e36ea3c6dff72c018b53e803"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
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---
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# 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.
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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.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=25879&legislationTypeId=6&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HS1)
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## Votes
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- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower
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- SM — **13–5** (pass) · upper
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- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower
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## Sponsors
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- Earl G. Jaques Jr. — primary (person)
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- Margaret Rose Henry — primary (person)
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- David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
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- John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
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- Robert Marshall — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2017-06-06** Adopted in lieu of the original bill HB 173, and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2017-06-14** Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2017-06-22** Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
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- **2017-06-22** Amendment HA 1 to HS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
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- **2017-06-22** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 NOT VOTING `passage`
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- **2017-06-23** Assigned to Health, Children & Social Services Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2017-06-30** Reported Out of Committee (Health, Children & Social Services) in Senate with 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2017-07-01** Amendment SA 1 to HS 1 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 4 ABSENT `amendment-passage`
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- **2017-07-01** Passed By Senate. Votes: 13 YES 5 NO 3 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2017-07-01** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2017-07-21** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/70887be7-c435-4398-b62f-6b400de161da`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).
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