---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CARE CONNECTION."
description: "This Act allows law-enforcement officers to share an individual's identifying information with the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (\"DSAMH\") if the officer suspects the individual is suffering from an overdose or a mental health crisis, allowing DSAMH to connect the individual with behavioral health treatment services."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "150"
identifier: "SB 161"
citation: "Delaware SB 161 (150)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Anthony Delcollo", "Krista Griffith", "Ruth Briggs King", "Stephanie L. Hansen"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-06-18"
last_action: "2019-08-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/40696a75-7ea3-4d35-a473-eebdcfee615c"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=47725"
source_hash: "90152d70ba6941758d0b32cbda782bc53efb778adf8c884f02326c28b5becb36"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware SB 161 (150) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CARE CONNECTION.

This Act allows law-enforcement officers to share an individual's identifying information with the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health ("DSAMH") if the officer suspects the individual is suffering from an overdose or a mental health crisis, allowing DSAMH to connect the individual with behavioral health treatment services.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=47725&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SB161)

## Votes

- SM — **20–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Anthony Delcollo — primary (person)
- Krista Griffith — primary (person)
- Ruth Briggs King — primary (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — primary (person)
- Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
- Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
- Kendra Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Michael F. Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
- Quinton Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Ronald E. Gray — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-06-18** Introduced and Assigned to Elections, Govt. & Community Affairs Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-19** Reported Out of Committee (Elections, Govt. & Community Affairs) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-20** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2019-06-21** Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-27** Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2019-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2019-08-13** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/40696a75-7ea3-4d35-a473-eebdcfee615c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).