Bill Text: NY S00055 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the overdose prevention and recovery act; directs that at least twenty percent of funds from the opioid stewardship fund shall be invested in recovery services and supports; requires an annual report to the legislature regarding funds distributed from the opioid stewardship fund; makes the opioid stewardship fund permanent.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S00055 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-S00055-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 55 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. FERNANDEZ, HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered print- ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to the opioid stewardship fund; and to amend part NN of chapter 57 of the laws of 2018, amending the public health law and the state finance law relat- ing to enacting the opioid stewardship act, in relation to the effec- tiveness thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "overdose prevention and recovery act". 3 § 2. Subdivisions 4 and 5 of section 97-aaaaa of the state finance 4 law, as added by section 3 of part NN of chapter 57 of the laws of 2018, 5 are amended and a new subdivision 8 is added to read as follows: 6 4. Moneys of the opioid stewardship fund, when allocated, shall be 7 available, subject to the approval of the director of the budget, to 8 support programs operated by the New York state office of [alcoholism] 9 addiction services and [substance abuse services] supports or the 10 department of health or agencies certified, authorized, approved or 11 otherwise funded by the New York state office of [alcoholism] addiction 12 services and [substance abuse services] supports or the department of 13 health to provide opioid treatment, recovery and prevention and educa- 14 tion services; and to provide support for the prescription monitoring 15 program registry as established pursuant to section thirty-three hundred 16 forty-three-a of the public health law, provided, however, that at least 17 twenty percent of funds shall be invested in recovery services and 18 supports and at least twenty percent of funds shall be allocated to the 19 department of health to be used for harm reduction services including 20 but not limited to syringe service programs and drug user health hubs. 21 Provided, further, that moneys of the fund shall be used to supplement 22 and not supplant or replace any other funds, including federal or state 23 funding, which would otherwise have been expended for substance use 24 disorder prevention, treatment, recovery or harm reduction services or EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00369-01-5S. 55 2 1 programs, and general operation funds or baseline funding shall not be 2 reduced due to monies expended from the fund. 3 5. At the request of the budget director, the state comptroller shall 4 transfer moneys to support the costs of opioid treatment, recovery, 5 prevention, education services, harm reduction services, and other 6 related programs, from the opioid stewardship fund to any other fund of 7 the state to support this purpose. 8 8. (a) On or before November first of each year, beginning one year 9 after the effective date of this subdivision, the commissioner of the 10 office of addiction services and supports in conjunction with the 11 commissioner of health shall provide a written report to the governor, 12 temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the 13 senate finance committee, chair of the assembly ways and means commit- 14 tee, chair of the senate alcoholism and substance use disorders commit- 15 tee, and chair of the assembly alcoholism and drug abuse committee. 16 (b) Such report shall be presented as a consolidated dashboard and be 17 made publicly available on the office of addiction services and 18 supports' and the department of health's websites. Such report shall, to 19 the extent practicable after making all diligent efforts to obtain such 20 information, include the following: 21 (i) the baseline funding for any entity that receives funding from the 22 opioid stewardship fund, prior to the receipt of such funds; and 23 (ii) how funds deposited in the opioid stewardship fund have been 24 utilized in the preceding calendar year, including but not limited to: 25 (A) the amount of money disbursed from the fund and the award process 26 used for such disbursement, if applicable; 27 (B) the names of the recipients, the amounts awarded to such recipient 28 and details about the purpose such funds were awarded for, including 29 what specific services and programs the funds were used on and what 30 populations such services or programs served; 31 (C) the main criteria utilized to determine the award, including how 32 the program or service assists to reduce the effects of substance use 33 disorders; 34 (D) an analysis of the effectiveness of the services and/or programs 35 that received opioid stewardship funding in their efforts to reduce the 36 effects of the overdose and substance use disorder epidemic. Such analy- 37 sis shall utilize evidence-based uniform metrics when reviewing the 38 effects the service and/or program had on prevention, harm reduction, 39 treatment, and recovery advancements; 40 (E) any relevant information provided by any state agency; and 41 (F) any other information the commissioner deems necessary to help 42 inform future appropriations and funding decisions, and ensure such 43 funding is not being used to supplant local, state, or federal funding. 44 § 3. Section 5 of part NN of chapter 57 of the laws of 2018, amending 45 the public health law and the state finance law relating to enacting the 46 opioid stewardship act, as amended by section 7 of part B of chapter 57 47 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read as follows: 48 § 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018 [and shall expire and be49deemed to be repealed on June 30, 2029], provided that, effective imme- 50 diately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation 51 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are 52 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date, 53 and, provided that this act shall only apply to the sale or distribution 54 of opioids in the state of New York on or before December 31, 2018. 55 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
