Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in cooperation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, to convene a Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force to develop and study best practices for pain management and prescription of pain medication.
The Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is extended through FY2020. The Government Accountability Office must evaluate the effectiveness of this program in reducing prescription drug abuse and any corresponding increase or decrease in the use of heroin.
This bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program through FY2020.
HHS must advance education and awareness of the risk of abuse of prescription opioids (drugs with effects similar to opium).
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in coordination with HHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ), must establish a national drug awareness campaign that emphasizes the similarities between heroin and prescription opioids and increases awareness of the dangerous effects of mixing fentanyl (a prescription opioid painkiller) with heroin.
DOJ, in coordination with HHS and ONDCP, may make grants to state, local, or tribal governments to create demonstration programs to allow first responders to prevent opioid overdose death by administering an opioid overdose reversal drug (e.g., naloxone). Priority must be given to entities in states that provide civil liability protection for first responders administering a drug to counteract opioid overdoses.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on April 29, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on April 29, 2015: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
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?
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) introduced it on April 29, 2015, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
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.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 29, 2015, 4152 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4152 days ago, on April 29, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers