KLS Keeping Law Simple Legislation in plain English

Straight-ahead summaries built from the official bill text. We keep the source links front and center and leave the decision up to you.

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SS1FORSB161 • 2025

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.

Passed Legislature

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

Sponsor
Last action
2026-04-30
Official status
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 TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.

What This Bill Does

  • AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.
  • This Act revises Delaware law governing behavioral health treatment provider organizations by establishing a comprehensive statutory framework governing licensing, oversight, enforcement, client rights, provider duties, incident reporting, and investigations relating to behavioral health treatment services.
  • The Act consolidates and modernizes statutory provisions governing behavioral health treatment oversight and clarifies the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health's authority to license programs, investigate incidents, and enforce compliance with this chapter.
  • This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No.

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

No action history is stored for this bill yet.

Official Summary Text

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.
This Act revises Delaware law governing behavioral health treatment provider organizations by establishing a comprehensive statutory framework governing licensing, oversight, enforcement, client rights, provider duties, incident reporting, and investigations relating to behavioral health treatment services. The Act consolidates and modernizes statutory provisions governing behavioral health treatment oversight and clarifies the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health's authority to license programs, investigate incidents, and enforce compliance with this chapter.

This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 161 by doing all of the following:

(1) Expands the definition of the protection and advocacy system to reference all applicable federal protection and advocacy statutes.
(2) Revises the client rights provisions by reorganizing and clarifying the rights framework, adding rights related to discharge planning and continuing care, clarifying the standard f