republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-224.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 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNATTENDED MOTOR VEHICLES.	Car theft was the primary impetus behind state codes prohibiting a motor vehicle owner to leave a car unattended with the keys in the ignition; a common habit to warm-up the vehicle during colder months. From 2013 to 2015, a total of 206 cars were stolen in Delaware due to the owner leaving the keys in the car while unattended; of these, 12 went unrecovered. Improved technology, such as remote starters, has instigated changes to these outdated statutes in several states. This Act excludes motor vehicles that are started by a remote starter or other similar device without a key in the ignition and that would be rendered inoperable without the key in the ignition or present within the vehicle.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	HB 224	Delaware HB 224 (149)	bill		enacted	John J. Viola John Walsh	1	5	2	2017-06-13	2017-08-30	openstates	ocd-bill/6f6fe56c-2b3e-4b6c-83aa-b13bb70a2c26	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25955	90cf44b2f1a2645e5bc6a0b5e15035596c8c958fbac6f8731566c51ce364d69d	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 224 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 21 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO UNATTENDED MOTOR VEHICLES.

Car theft was the primary impetus behind state codes prohibiting a motor vehicle owner to leave a car unattended with the keys in the ignition; a common habit to warm-up the vehicle during colder months. From 2013 to 2015, a total of 206 cars were stolen in Delaware due to the owner leaving the keys in the car while unattended; of these, 12 went unrecovered. Improved technology, such as remote starters, has instigated changes to these outdated statutes in several states. This Act excludes motor vehicles that are started by a remote starter or other similar device without a key in the ignition and that would be rendered inoperable without the key in the ignition or present within the vehicle.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 39–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 19–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• John J. Viola — primary (person)
• John Walsh — primary (person)
• Andria L. Bennett — cosponsor (person)
• Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
• Richard G. Collins — cosponsor (person)
• Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-06-13 Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-06-14 Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 9 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-06-28 Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT passage
• 2017-07-01 Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT passage
• 2017-08-30 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/6f6fe56c-2b3e-4b6c-83aa-b13bb70a2c26. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).