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SB339 • 2025

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

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

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Last action
2026-06-30
Official status
Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

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

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

What This Bill Does

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

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-06-30 Delaware General Assembly

    Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES

  2. 2026-06-17 Delaware General Assembly

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

  3. 2026-06-11 Delaware General Assembly

    Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT

  4. 2026-06-11 Delaware General Assembly

    Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House

  5. 2026-06-10 Delaware General Assembly

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

  6. 2026-05-28 Delaware General Assembly

    Introduced and Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate

Official Summary Text

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