SB 339 DE
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES.
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Summary
This act makes a technical correction to Delaware's advance health care directive form under the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act. The amendment clarifies that when an agent or surrogate consents to voluntary admission of a person to a mental health facility, the admission may not exceed 72 hours, consistent with existing state law. The change removes ambiguous language in the directive form that previously implied extended time periods could be specified for mental health admissions. The amendment aligns the form language with the statutory 72-hour limit already established for mental health treatment admissions.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill (from the OpenStates abstract — no full text available yet) — neutral, and may be imperfect.
Official abstract
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.
Sponsors (2)
- Ray Seigfried Democratic · primary
- Marie Pinkney Democratic · primary
Action history (6)
- May 28, 2026 Introduced and Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate · upper
- Jun 10, 2026 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Social Services) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits · upper
- Jun 11, 2026 Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT · upper
- Jun 11, 2026 Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House · lower
- Jun 17, 2026 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 11 On Its Merits · lower
- Jun 30, 2026 Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES · lower
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