SENATE BILL: Drug Addiction Treatment Services (Passed)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

SENATE BILL

To mitigate the costs of drug addiction treatment services for community centers

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembed,

Section 1. Purpose

a) It is the purpose of this Act to provide emergency assistance to States, territories, Tribal nations, and local areas that are disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic and to make financial assistance available to States, territories, Tribal nations, local areas, and other public or private nonprofit entities to provide for the operation of more effective and cost efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals with substance use disorder, including with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and their families.

Section 2. Eligibility

a) A state or locality must be evidenced by an increase in the number of cases per capita, the rate or number of overdose deaths, or the severity or need for services to treat various substance use disorders

b) A state or locality will be eligible for a grant under the above conditions

Section 3. Planning

a) To be eligible for grants for this purpose, the chief elected official of the local area must designate a substance use disorder treatment council that shall be -

i. Representative of the population in question
ii. Composed of health care provider members, community-based health organizations, local public health agencies

Section 4. Funding

a) Funding shall be appropriated and earmarked, then directed to local council for distribution to community health centers

b) The funding amount shall be determined based on the number of deaths in the localities that are eligible and the severity of need

Sponsor: Spark
Senate Designation: SB28:12

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Sponsor Feedback and initial Debate period has commenced. Sponsor has 24 hours to commence advocacy, all other members have 48 hours to respond.

[Senator-elect Spark]

Sponsor Feedback and initial Debate period has commenced. Sponsor has 24 hours to commence advocacy, all other members have 48 hours to respond.

Thank you.

I would first like to start off by saying that too many Atlasians go without the necessary care to survive. It is time we show compassion to those individuals who suffer with addiction. It is truly a disease that can only be combated with the right resources. This legislation provides the necessary tools for local community centers to ensure that individuals can thrive. It's time the federal government step in to provide additional resources to combat this epidemic.

I yield.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Some concerns here.

1. There is a possibility of overlap or duplication with previous bills that needs to be reviewed.


2. The eligibility standard, does that imply that the minute a local has a decrease they lose the support offered here or am I reading that wrong?

[Senator-elect Spark]

Some concerns here.

1. There is a possibility of overlap or duplication with previous bills that needs to be reviewed.


2. The eligibility standard, does that imply that the minute a local has a decrease they lose the support offered here or am I reading that wrong?

I am open to discussion about any new provisions to be added or existing provisions to be modified from previous bills.

2. There has to be a clear need, but no it doesn't mean they lose support if it falls below that threshold. It is simply the criterion for how assistance will be offered. I suppose we could add a provision that allows for continued funding.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So I contacted Devout Centrist, and he responded back with some information but I don't feel comfortable reposting contents of a PM in this fashion, so I asked him to re post it in this thread.

Why is getting you guys to interact with each other so hard?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

really

[Former President tack50]

I mean, I am sure we have passed some other drug addiction treatment services bills in the past but I guess one more can't hurt

Though perhaps we could include an amendment to make sure that this doesn't overlap with any other similar services.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I mean, I am sure we have passed some other drug addiction treatment services bills in the past but I guess one more can't hurt

Though perhaps we could include an amendment to make sure that this doesn't overlap with any other similar services.

Devout listed some areas of overlap to correct in his PM, I will paraphrase them when I get home.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Basically Devout said that you need to eliminate references to opioid and make it more general because his previous law only dealt with the opioid situation and not overdoses in general or addiction in general.

[Former President tack50]

From a quick read I think the bill would be ok as it is. There is no funding attached nor is there a need to calculate anything (for the 2022 budget, I'd simply claim that there are no drug addicts in Atlasia and therefore funding for this bill would be 0$ ).

Similarly I don't see any references to opioid usage, so this is ok as it is. Though we might want to clarify that there must not be any overlap with services specifically tailored to treating opioid overdoses

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

From a quick read I think the bill would be ok as it is. There is no funding attached nor is there a need to calculate anything (for the 2022 budget, I'd simply claim that there are no drug addicts in Atlasia and therefore funding for this bill would be 0$ ).

What is the point in that case?

[Former President tack50]

From a quick read I think the bill would be ok as it is. There is no funding attached nor is there a need to calculate anything (for the 2022 budget, I'd simply claim that there are no drug addicts in Atlasia and therefore funding for this bill would be 0$ ).

What is the point in that case?

I do not understand the question?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

From a quick read I think the bill would be ok as it is. There is no funding attached nor is there a need to calculate anything (for the 2022 budget, I'd simply claim that there are no drug addicts in Atlasia and therefore funding for this bill would be 0$ ).

What is the point in that case?

I do not understand the question?

A program with no funding I mean.

[Former President tack50]

From a quick read I think the bill would be ok as it is. There is no funding attached nor is there a need to calculate anything (for the 2022 budget, I'd simply claim that there are no drug addicts in Atlasia and therefore funding for this bill would be 0$ ).

What is the point in that case?

I do not understand the question?

A program with no funding I mean.

Ah ok I got it now. Well it's basically a tradeoff when doing the budget, where I tend to favour having a wrong budget over no budget. The more bills you have to research and cost, the longer it takes to create a budget This goes doubly so when you can't rely on the Comptroller General like we've been unable to for a long time. So any bill you can cut, even if it is under very wrong reasons, is one less bill to cost.

You can also think of it if you want as creating a program, then immediately defunding it if you prefer to think of that approach.

Of course, if we want to give this a "fixed" sum of money, that is an amendment that can easily be done and would be easily doable (and easy to take into the budget when the time comes). Then the question becomes what is the appropiate amount of money to give to this.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What does the Sponsor think of a fixed amount?

[Senator-elect Spark]

What does the Sponsor think of a fixed amount?

Yes, I would be open to that.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Tack would you be interested in pursuing an amendment on the fixed cost issue?

[Former President tack50]

Tack would you be interested in pursuing an amendment on the fixed cost issue?

Sure, the hard part is knowing what numver to give it

[Blair]

Offering the amendment below; Naloxone is a drug that can help to treat over-doses. In RL several states are rolling them out via wall mounted boxes at libraries and community centres.

SENATE BILL

To mitigate the costs of drug addiction treatment services for community centers

Be it Enacted in Both Houses of Congress Assembed,

Section 1. Purpose

a) It is the purpose of this Act to provide emergency assistance to States, territories, Tribal nations, and local areas that are disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic and to make financial assistance available to States, territories, Tribal nations, local areas, and other public or private nonprofit entities to provide for the operation of more effective and cost efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals with substance use disorder, including with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and their families.

Section 2. Eligibility

a) A state or locality must be evidenced by an increase in the number of cases per capita, the rate or number of overdose deaths, or the severity or need for services to treat various substance use disorders

b) A state or locality will be eligible for a grant under the above conditions

Section 3. Planning

a) To be eligible for grants for this purpose, the chief elected official of the local area must designate a substance use disorder treatment council that shall be -

i. Representative of the population in question
ii. Composed of health care provider members, community-based health organizations, local public health agencies

Section 4. Funding

a) Funding shall be appropriated and earmarked, then directed to local council for distribution to community health centers

b) The funding amount shall be determined based on the number of deaths in the localities that are eligible and the severity of need

Section 5 (Naloxone)

1.) The drug Naloxone shall be available for free distribution to areas eligible under section 2. Additional training classes and materials shall be provided to areas receiving these supplies.

[Blair]

any feedback from the sponsor on if the amendment is friendly?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

any feedback from the sponsor on if the amendment is friendly?

I PMed Spark to move things along.

[Senator-elect Spark]

I concur with that amendment.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Senators have 24 hours to object.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The Amendment is adopted.