Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2017
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 115-83.
Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2017
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Controlled Substances Act to direct the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to register an emergency medical services (EMS) agency to administer controlled substances if the agency submits an application demonstrating that it is authorized to conduct such activity in the state in which the agency practices. The DEA may deny an application if it determines that the registration is inconsistent with the public interest.
An EMS agency may obtain a single registration in each state instead of a separate registration for each location.
A registered EMS agency may deliver, store, and receive controlled substances, subject to specified conditions.
An EMS professional of a registered EMS agency may administer controlled substances in schedules II, III, IV, or V outside the physical presence of a medical director if such administration is authorized under state law and pursuant to a standing or verbal order, subject to specified conditions.
The bill specifies that a hospital-based EMS agency (i.e., an EMS agency owned or operated by a hospital) may continue to administer controlled substances under the hospital's DEA registration.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on November 17, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on November 17, 2017: Became Public Law No: 115-83.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Richard Hudson (R-NC) introduced it on January 5, 2017, and 25 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 13 Democrats, 12 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HousePassed
- SenatePassed
- PresidentSigned into law