republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/hb-53.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 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SELLING OR POSSESSING FIREWORKS; EXCEPTIONS.	This bill allows ground-based and hand-held sparklers and certain other nonexplosive, nonairborne novelty items regulated by the federal government to be sold and used in the State. The bill does not legalize firecrackers, bottle rockets, aerials, or any other device that explodes or shoots into the air. The use of those items that may be sold only to persons 18 years of age and older is limited to July 4th and December 31st of each year and sales are limited to the 30 days prior to the allowable use day.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	HB 53	Delaware HB 53 (149)	bill		enacted	Dave G. Lawson Joseph E. Miro	1	15	3	2017-01-25	2018-05-10	openstates	ocd-bill/1c228842-1ff8-4a6a-86ba-9fea0a178045	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25424	995f0765778b3238e022dd4f56e2627c07e04f8f9d449a5835f3e762cfd7c4bc	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 53 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SELLING OR POSSESSING FIREWORKS; EXCEPTIONS.

This bill allows ground-based and hand-held sparklers and certain other nonexplosive, nonairborne novelty items regulated by the federal government to be sold and used in the State. The bill does not legalize firecrackers, bottle rockets, aerials, or any other device that explodes or shoots into the air. The use of those items that may be sold only to persons 18 years of age and older is limited to July 4th and December 31st of each year and sales are limited to the 30 days prior to the allowable use day.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 37–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 18–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 40–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Dave G. Lawson — primary (person)
• Joseph E. Miro — primary (person)
• Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
• Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
• Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
• David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
• Harvey R. Kenton — cosponsor (person)
• Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
• Jeff N. Spiegelman — cosponsor (person)
• Kevin S Hensley — cosponsor (person)
• Michael Ramone — cosponsor (person)
• Peter C. Schwartzkopf — cosponsor (person)
• Richard G. Collins — cosponsor (person)
• Ronald E. Gray — cosponsor (person)
• Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)
• Timothy D. Dukes — cosponsor (person)
• William R. Outten — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-01-25 Introduced and Assigned to Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2018-01-17 Amendment HA 2 to HB 53 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-01-17 Amendment HA 1 to HB 53 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-01-17 Reported Out of Committee (Public Safety & Homeland Security) in House with 1 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage
• 2018-01-25 Amendment HA 1 to HB 53 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2018-01-25 Amendment HA 2 to HB 53 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2018-01-25 Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT passage
• 2018-03-09 Assigned to Corrections & Public Safety Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2018-04-17 Reported Out of Committee (Corrections & Public Safety) in Senate with 2 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable committee-passage, committee-passage-unfavorable
• 2018-04-19 Amendment SA 1 to HB 53 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2018-05-02 Amendment SA 1 to HB 53 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT amendment-passage
• 2018-05-02 Amendment SA 2 to HB 53 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 16 YES 2 NO 3 ABSENT amendment-passage
• 2018-05-02 Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 3 ABSENT passage
• 2018-05-03 Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT passage
• 2018-05-10 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/1c228842-1ff8-4a6a-86ba-9fea0a178045. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).