HF 584 (LSB 1327YH (4) 91)

HOUSE FILE 584

BY  LOHSE

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the opioid settlement fund, establishing the opioid epidemic response advisory council, making appropriations, and including effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  123B.1  Opioid epidemic response advisory council.
   1.  a.  The opioid epidemic response advisory council is established to develop and implement a comprehensive and effective statewide effort to address the opioid addiction and overdose epidemic in Iowa. The council shall consist of the following members, appointed by the director of the department of health and human services, except as otherwise provided:
   (1)  One member appointed by the board of pharmacy.
   (2)  One member who is a physician and surgeon or osteopathic physician and surgeon appointed by the Iowa medical association.
   (3)  One member who represents an opioid treatment program, sober living program, or substance use disorder program.
   (4)  One member appointed by the Iowa association of addiction professionals who is a psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of addiction.
   (5)  One member appointed by the Iowa emergency medical services association who is serving with an ambulance service as an emergency medical care provider.
   (6)  One member who represents the Iowa courts who is a judge.
   (7)  One member appointed by the director of the office of drug control policy.
   (8)  One member who represents a local health department.
   (9)  The directors of the departments of health and human services and corrections, the attorney general, and the state public defender, or their designees, who shall serve as ex officio, nonvoting members.
   b.  The director of the department of health and human services shall coordinate the director’s appointments to provide, to the extent practicable, geographic, racial, and gender diversity.
   c.  The council shall annually elect a chair.
   d.  The chair shall convene the council at least quarterly, and the chair may convene the council at other times as necessary. The chair shall convene meetings at different locations in the state to provide geographic access and may conduct all meetings, other than one meeting per year, remotely by electronic means.
   e.  The department of health and human services shall provide staffing and administrative support to the council.
   f.  The director of the department of health and human services shall convene the first meeting of the council no later than September 1, 2025.
   g.  An advisory council member shall disclose to the council, refrain from participating in discussions, and abstain from voting on any matter before the council if the member has a conflict of interest. For the purposes of this paragraph, a conflict of interest is a financial association that has the potential to bias or have the appearance of biasing a council member’s decision related to council activities under this chapter.
   2.  The council shall focus on all of the following:
   a.  Primary prevention, secondary prevention, early intervention, and education, including public education and awareness for adults and youth, prescriber education, the development and sustainability of opioid overdose prevention and education programs, and the role of adult protective services in prevention and response.
   b.  Training on the treatment of opioid addiction, including the use of all approved opioid addiction medications, detoxification, relapse prevention, patient assessment, individual treatment planning, counseling, recovery supports, diversion control, local reporting, and other best practices.
   c.  The expansion and enhancement of a continuum of care for opioid-related substance use disorders, including primary prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery, and aftercare services.
   d.  Supporting efforts to prevent or reduce deaths from opioid overdoses or other opioid-related harms, including through increasing the availability or distribution of naloxone or other opioid antagonists for use by a family member, friend, caregiver, health care provider, employee of a substance abuse treatment facility, school employee, or other person who may be in a place to render aid to a person at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose.
   3.  The council shall do all of the following:
   a.  Review local, state, and federal initiatives and activities related to education, prevention, treatment, and services for individuals and families experiencing and affected by opioid use disorder.
   b.  Establish priorities to address the state’s opioid epidemic for the purposes of recommending initiatives to fund.
   c.  Recommend to the general assembly specific projects and initiatives to be funded. The council shall not recommend grants in excess of the balance of the opioid settlement fund.
   d.  Ensure that available funding is allocated to align with other local, state, and federal funding to achieve the greatest impact and ensure a coordinated state effort.
   e.  Consult with the directors of the departments of health and human services and management to develop measurable outcomes to determine the effectiveness of funds allocated.
   f.  Develop recommendations for an administrative and organizational framework for the allocation, on a sustainable and ongoing basis, of moneys deposited in the opioid settlement fund created pursuant to section 12.51 in order to address the opioid abuse and overdose epidemic in Iowa and the areas of focus specified in subsection 2.
   4.  The council, in consultation with the director of the department of health and human services, shall select from the projects awarded grants pursuant to section 123B.2, projects that include promising practices or theory-based activities for which the director of the department of health and human services shall conduct additional research and experimental evaluation. A project selected pursuant to this subsection must be administered to support the research and experimental evaluation, and the grantee must collect and report information that is needed to complete the research and experimental evaluation.
   5.  The council, in consultation with the directors of the departments of health and human services and public safety, shall establish goals related to addressing the opioid epidemic and determine a baseline against which progress shall be monitored and set measurable outcomes, including benchmarks. The goals established must include goals for prevention and public health, access to treatment, and multigenerational impacts. The council shall use existing measures and data collection systems to determine baseline data against which progress shall be measured. The council shall include the proposed goals, the measurable outcomes, and proposed benchmarks in the council’s initial report to the general assembly pursuant to section 123B.3, subsection 1.
    Sec. 2.  NEW SECTION.  123B.2  Opioid epidemic response grants.
   1.  The general assembly shall award grants of no more than five hundred thousand dollars from the opioid settlement fund created pursuant to section 12.51 to proposals selected by the advisory council that address the priorities identified in section 123B.1, subsection 2. No more than three percent of each grant awarded shall be used by a grantee for administration.
   2.  The chairperson of the opioid epidemic response advisory council shall submit a report of the grants awarded, and proposed to be awarded, for the upcoming fiscal year by the advisory council to the general assembly by December 1, 2026, and annually by December 1 thereafter.
    Sec. 3.  NEW SECTION.  123B.3  Opioid epidemic response advisory council —— reports.
   1.  The opioid epidemic response advisory council shall annually submit a report to the general assembly by January 31, regarding individual projects that received grants and the overall role of the project in addressing the opioid addiction and overdose epidemic in Iowa. The report shall describe the grantees and the activities implemented, along with measurable outcomes as determined by the council in consultation with the director of the department of health and human services. At a minimum, the report shall include information about the number of individuals who received information or treatment, the outcomes individuals achieved and demographic information about the individuals participating in the project; an assessment of the progress toward achieving statewide access to qualified providers and comprehensive treatment and recovery services; and an update on the evaluations implemented by the director of the department of health and human services for the promising practices and theory-based projects that receive funding.
   2.  The director of the department of health and human services, in consultation with the opioid epidemic response advisory council, shall report to the general assembly when an evaluation described in section 123B.1, subsection 4, is complete. The report shall include demographic information; outcome information for the individuals in the program; the results of the program in promoting recovery, employment, and family reunification; reducing involvement in the criminal justice system; and other relevant outcomes. The report shall include information about the ability of grant programs to be scaled to achieve statewide results.
   3.  The opioid epidemic response advisory council, in its annual report due by January 31, 2031, shall include recommendations on whether appropriations and grants pursuant to this chapter should be continued, adjusted, or discontinued, whether funding should be appropriated for other purposes related to opioid abuse prevention, and on the appropriate level of funding for existing and new uses.
    Sec. 4.  NEW SECTION.  123B.4  Standing appropriation.
   There is appropriated annually from the opioid settlement fund created pursuant to section 12.51 to the department of health and human services two hundred forty-nine thousand dollars for the provision of administrative services to the opioid epidemic response advisory council and for the administration of grants awarded pursuant to section 123B.2.
    Sec. 5.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to the opioid settlement fund and establishes the opioid epidemic response advisory council (advisory council).
   The bill instructs the advisory council to focus on matters relating to opioid addiction and overdoses, governmental responses to opioid addiction and overdoses, and providing metrics by which such responses can be measured. The bill provides specific membership requirements for the advisory council and requires the department of health and human services (department) to provide staffing and administrative support to the advisory council.
   The bill requires the advisory council to identify projects related to opioid addiction and overdoses that should be awarded grants from the opioid settlement fund and opioid settlement future fund. The general assembly shall then award grants to the projects that address the priorities identified in the bill. From among those projects awarded grants, the bill requires the advisory council to identify projects that include promising practices or theory-based activities for which the director of the department shall conduct additional research and experimental evaluation.
   The bill requires the chairperson of the advisory council to annually report to the general assembly regarding grants proposed by the advisory council and awarded by the general assembly and the advisory council and the director of the department of management to annually report to the general assembly regarding the efficacy of individual projects and the progress made with respect to the benchmarks established by the advisory council. The annual report due to be submitted by the advisory council by January 31, 2031, shall include the advisory council’s recommendations regarding the continuation of grants and appropriations from the opioid settlement fund.
   The bill appropriates $249,000 to the department annually from the opioid settlement fund for the provision of administrative services to the advisory council and for the administration of awarded grants.
   The bill takes effect upon enactment.