BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center	S.B. 867
	By: West
	Health & Human Services
	5/24/2023
	Enrolled

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

S.B. 867 adds institutions of higher education (as defined in Section 481.134, Health and Safety Code) to the list of institutions and individuals likely to be in a position to respond to an opioid overdose, and thus allowed to be provided opioid antagonists by the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission as part of the opioid antagonist program.

 

There is ample reason to make certain that institutions of higher education are properly enshrined in this statute for the purpose of ensuring those institutions may receive distributions of opioid antagonists.

 

According to the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (a part of the United States Department of Education), college students are at high risk for substance abuse. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, more than eleven thousand full-time college students use cocaine every day, with nearly 5,000 college students using heroin each day. Heroin and cocaine are two drugs most likely to be diluted with fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

As many fentanyl overdoses are accidental, adding institutions of higher education to the list of institutions and individuals that can receive distributions of opioid antagonists under the opioid antagonist program will help save lives. If institutions of higher education are allowed to receive opioid antagonists, they can distribute those to dormitories and other parts of their institutions where students may be most likely to overdose.

 

S.B. 867 amends current law relating to the recipients of opioid antagonists under the opioid antagonist program.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

SECTION 1. Amends Section 461A.059(c), Health and Safety Code, to authorize the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to provide opioid antagonists under the opioid antagonist program to certain entities, including institutions of higher education as defined by Section 481.134 (Drug-Free Zones).

 

SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2023.