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---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 3 AND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PET FOOD MANUFACTURING FEES."
description: "This bill seeks to address overpopulation of cats and dogs in our state by creating an additional revenue stream for the State Spay/Neuter Program, to relieve some of the funding burden on animal welfare organizations in the state that are involved in reducing the free-roaming cat population, and provide more funding to meet the needs of low-income residents to spay/neuter their pets. First, it increases the fee only on manufactured cat and dog food over 3 years to $100 per each product per brand, which is in line with many other states. The existing $23 fee currently goes into the General Fund; this legislation will add $2 to the amount going to the General Fund. From the balance of the registration fee, funds are allotted to the Department of Agriculture to cover the cost of creating a program that adapts the registrations to distinguish between the types of feed and to cover the cost of maintaining that system. The remaining funds are distributed to the State Spay/Neuter Fund which provides for a statewide spay/neuter program for free-roaming animals and income-eligible pet owners and allows for qualified non-profit organizations to participate in the Program. The bill also removes the limitation on positions for the Spay/Neuter Program and allows Program to be funded from the Spay/Neuter Fund. This bill is identical in substance to Senate Bill No. 185, as amended by Senate Amendment No. 1, except that this bill provides that pet foods manufactured by non-profits will continue to pay a $23 fee and not be subject to the increase applicable to other pet foods."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 263"
citation: "Delaware HB 263 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Andria L. Bennett", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "Kimberly Williams"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 6
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-06-30"
last_action: "2021-09-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3c427258-a42a-4161-a3b4-8833005b8595"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=79027"
source_hash: "14049e2d6dde091a4034aecd9e24a52e30b87bae6f88f0f24845c55dc20bfb03"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---
# Delaware HB 263 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 3 AND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PET FOOD MANUFACTURING FEES.
This bill seeks to address overpopulation of cats and dogs in our state by creating an additional revenue stream for the State Spay/Neuter Program, to relieve some of the funding burden on animal welfare organizations in the state that are involved in reducing the free-roaming cat population, and provide more funding to meet the needs of low-income residents to spay/neuter their pets. First, it increases the fee only on manufactured cat and dog food over 3 years to $100 per each product per brand, which is in line with many other states. The existing $23 fee currently goes into the General Fund; this legislation will add $2 to the amount going to the General Fund. From the balance of the registration fee, funds are allotted to the Department of Agriculture to cover the cost of creating a program that adapts the registrations to distinguish between the types of feed and to cover the cost of maintaining that system. The remaining funds are distributed to the State Spay/Neuter Fund which provides for a statewide spay/neuter program for free-roaming animals and income-eligible pet owners and allows for qualified non-profit organizations to participate in the Program. The bill also removes the limitation on positions for the Spay/Neuter Program and allows Program to be funded from the Spay/Neuter Fund. This bill is identical in substance to Senate Bill No. 185, as amended by Senate Amendment No. 1, except that this bill provides that pet foods manufactured by non-profits will continue to pay a $23 fee and not be subject to the increase applicable to other pet foods.
## Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=79027&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB263)
## Votes
- SM — **335** (pass) · lower
- SM — **210** (pass) · upper
## Sponsors
- Andria L. Bennett — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- Kimberly Williams — primary (person)
## Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
- **2021-06-30** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2021-06-30** Suspension of Rules in House
- **2021-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 33 YES 5 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2021-06-30** Suspension of Rules in Senate
- **2021-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2021-09-15** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
## Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3c427258-a42a-4161-a3b4-8833005b8595`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).