Delaware House Bill 263 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: Passed on September 15 2021 - 100% progression
Action: 2021-09-15 - Signed by Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

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.

An Act To Amend Title 3 And Title 16 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Pet Food Manufacturing Fees.

Rep. Kimberly Williams [D]

Sen. Jack Walsh [D]

Rep. Andria Bennett [D]

2021-06-30 - Senate - Senate Third Reading (Y: 21 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-06-30 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 33 N: 5 NV: 2 Abs: 1) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2021-09-15		Signed by Governor
2021-06-30		Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
2021-06-30		Suspension of Rules in Senate
2021-06-30		Passed By House. Votes: 33 YES 5 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT
2021-06-30		Suspension of Rules in House
2021-06-30		Introduced in House

Type	Source
Summary	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=79027
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=79027&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB263
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#52673
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#52701