republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/150/sb-246.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY AND OBLIGATIONS OF HEALTH-CARE PROVIDERS FOR NON-ACUTE PATIENTS.	Presently, a legal process does not exist for a Delaware hospital to seek the appointment of a guardian for a non-acute patient who has been a patient at the hospital for an extended period, after having been abandoned by family. This bill authorizes a hospital to petition for a court-appointed guardian for such a patient after providing two notices to the patient, the patient's surrogate, or the patient's family if there is no surrogate, of the need to seek a guardian for the patient.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	150	SB 246	Delaware SB 246 (150)	bill		enacted	Nicole Poore Raymond Seigfried	1	7	2	2020-06-16	2020-08-06	openstates	ocd-bill/ba554b9f-ef9d-4f49-8271-1bbb05bb627b	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=48141	4a623e3dbaf210f735a7b48b6a7dab4057d0afd35a414d7d50d67b67d68e1947	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 246 (150) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY AND OBLIGATIONS OF HEALTH-CARE PROVIDERS FOR NON-ACUTE PATIENTS.

Presently, a legal process does not exist for a Delaware hospital to seek the appointment of a guardian for a non-acute patient who has been a patient at the hospital for an extended period, after having been abandoned by family. This bill authorizes a hospital to petition for a court-appointed guardian for such a patient after providing two notices to the patient, the patient's surrogate, or the patient's family if there is no surrogate, of the need to seek a guardian for the patient.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• 2/3 — 41–0 (pass) · lower
• 2/3 — 21–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Nicole Poore — primary (person)
• Raymond Seigfried — primary (person)
• Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
• David B. McBride — cosponsor (person)
• David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
• Franklin D. Cooke — cosponsor (person)
• John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
• Melissa Minor-Brown — cosponsor (person)
• Michael F. Smith — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
• S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — cosponsor (person)
• William J. Carson — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2020-06-16 Introduced and Laid on Table in Senate introduction
• 2020-06-23 Suspension of Rules in Senate
• 2020-06-23 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES passage
• 2020-06-23 Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2020-06-25 Suspension of Rules in House
• 2020-06-25 Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES passage
• 2020-08-06 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/ba554b9f-ef9d-4f49-8271-1bbb05bb627b. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).