SB 174 Delaware Senate · 153rd General Assembly (2025-2026)

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 AND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO AN ANIMAL ABUSE OFFENDER LIST.

Summary
This Act establishes an animal abuse offender list which will be maintained by the Office of Animal Welfare. The list will be available to the public on the Office of Animal Welfare’s website. The list will contain information regarding adult individuals who are convicted of an animal abuse offense to assist the public and animal agencies in identifying individuals who present a risk to animal welfare. This Act prohibits animal shelters from approving pet adoptions to individuals who are on the animal abuse offender list.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jun 2025
Committee Review
Jun 2025
Senate Passage
Jun 2025
House Passage
Jun 2025
Signed into Law
Aug 2025
Introduced Jun 5, 2025 Signed Aug 21, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SA 1 to SB 174 HA 2 to SB 174 · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was amended to remove 'offenses against law-enforcement animals' from the list of crimes requiring registration on the animal abuse offender list, while the previous version of the amendment would have added a new section allowing individuals to petition for removal from the list after a set period. This change narrows the scope of offenses subject to the registration requirement.
Scope change
The bill's scope was narrowed by excluding offenses against law-enforcement animals from the registration requirement.
SCOPE

Offenses against law-enforcement animals were removed from the list of crimes requiring registration on the animal abuse offender list.

REQUIREMENT

A new section establishing a petition process for removal from the animal abuse offender list was deleted.

Automatic removal from the list upon expungement of the underlying conviction was deleted.

Floor votes · House Jun 30, 2025

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
12
Key actions
8
Committee
2
Amendments
3
Aug 21, 2025
Signed into law
Signed by Governor
executive
Jun 30, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed By Senate. Votes: 15 YES 6 NO
upper
Jun 30, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed By House. Votes: 38 YES 1 NO 1 ABSENT 1 VACANT
lower
Jun 30, 2025
Lower · Passed
Amendment HA 2 to SB 174 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
lower
Jun 30, 2025
Introduced
Amendment HA 1 to SB 174 - Stricken in House
lower
Jun 18, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 13 On Its Merits
lower
Jun 12, 2025
Introduced
Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House
lower
Jun 12, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed By Senate. Votes: 15 YES 3 NO 1 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT
upper
Jun 12, 2025
Upper · Passed
Amendment SA 1 to SB 174 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 18 YES 1 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT
upper
Jun 11, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 3 Favorable, 1 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable
upper
Jun 5, 2025
Introduced
Introduced and Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate
upper
6 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors