Bill Commons

DE SB 339

enacted

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES.

Delaware · 2025-2026 Regular Session (153rd General Assembly) · upper

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Quick answers

Did DE SB 339 pass?

Yes. DE SB 339 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-08-31): Signed by Governor

What is DE SB 339 about?

This Act makes a technical correction to the optional special powers form in the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act in Title 16. Currently, the existing language in the form implies any number of days can be written in to the advance directive when designating a maximum length of time for a mental health care related admission. However, under § 2518(e) of Title 16, an agent or default surrogate may not consent to voluntary admission of an individual to a facility for mental health treatment for longer than 72 hours. This Act removes the open-ended language in the form, so that a voluntary admission to a mental health facility by an agent may not exceed 72 hours.

Who sponsors DE SB 339?

Marie Pinkney, Ray Seigfried are the primary sponsors of DE SB 339.

Description

This Act makes a technical correction to the optional special powers form in the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act in Title 16. Currently, the existing language in the form implies any number of days can be written in to the advance directive when designating a maximum length of time for a mental health care related admission. However, under § 2518(e) of Title 16, an agent or default surrogate may not consent to voluntary admission of an individual to a facility for mental health treatment for longer than 72 hours. This Act removes the open-ended language in the form, so that a voluntary admission to a mental health facility by an agent may not exceed 72 hours.

Introduced
2026-05-28
Latest action
2026-08-31 — Signed by Governor
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Marie Pinkneyprimary
  • Ray Seigfriedprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-08-31

    Signed by Governor

    executive-signature

  2. 2026-06-30

    Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES

    passage

  3. 2026-06-17

    Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 11 On Its Merits

    committee-passage

  4. 2026-06-11

    Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House

    introduction,referral-committee

  5. 2026-06-11

    Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT

    passage

  6. 2026-06-10

    Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  7. 2026-05-28

    Introduced and Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate

    introduction,referral-committee

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • SM

    2026-06-11 · pass · 20-0

    Member-level votes (21)
    • Darius J. Brown: other
    • Eric Buckson: yes
    • Daniel Cruce: yes
    • Stephanie L. Hansen: yes
    • Gerald W. Hocker: yes
    • Kyra L. Hoffner: yes
    • Russell Huxtable: yes
    • Dave G. Lawson: yes
    • S. Elizabeth Lockman: yes
    • Spiros Mantzavinos: yes
    • Trey Paradee: yes
    • Brian Pettyjohn: yes
    • Marie Pinkney: yes
    • Nicole Poore: yes
    • Bryant L. Richardson: yes
    • Ray Seigfried: yes
    • David P. Sokola: yes
    • Laura V. Sturgeon: yes
    • Bryan Townsend: yes
    • John "Jack" Walsh: yes
    • David L. Wilson: yes

  • SM

    2026-06-30 · pass · 41-0

    Member-level votes (41)
    • Alonna Berry: yes
    • Stephanie T. Bolden: yes
    • Frank Burns: yes
    • William Bush: yes
    • William J. Carson: yes
    • Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha: yes
    • Richard G. Collins: yes
    • Franklin D. Cooke: yes
    • Daniel B. Short: yes
    • Timothy D. Dukes: yes
    • Mara Gorman: yes
    • Ronald E. Gray: yes
    • Krista Griffith: yes
    • Kerri Evelyn Harris: yes
    • Debra Heffernan: yes
    • Kevin S Hensley: yes
    • Jeff Hilovsky: yes
    • Valerie Jones Giltner: yes
    • Kendra Johnson: yes
    • Kimberly Williams: yes
    • Kamela T Smith: yes
    • Larry Lambert: yes
    • Sean M. Lynn: yes
    • Michael F. Smith: yes
    • Melissa Minor-Brown: yes
    • Shannon Morris: yes
    • Eric Morrison: yes
    • DeShanna U Neal: yes
    • Josue O Ortega: yes
    • Edward S. Osienski: yes
    • Sophie Phillips: yes
    • Charles S Postles Jr.: yes
    • Cyndie Romer: yes
    • Melanie Ross Levin: yes
    • Sherae'a Moore: yes
    • Bryan W. Shupe: yes
    • Claire Snyder-Hall: yes
    • Jeffrey N. Spiegelman: yes
    • Jesse R. Vanderwende: yes
    • Madinah Wilson-Anton: yes
    • Lyndon D. Yearick: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=143401

Attribution

Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-09-03T00:07:28.248386Z

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