Senate OKs bills targeting heroin and opioid addiction.
MADISON - Wisconsin would target heroin and opiate addiction by expanding treatment, hiring special agents and establishing a charter school for addicted teens, under legislation approved unanimously by the state Senate on Tuesday.
The bills now go to Gov. Scott Walker, who said he would sign them. Senators also voted to make cheese the official state dairy product and make it a longer and more complex process for state agencies to approve new regulations.
The measures focusing on heroin and opioid addiction enjoy bipartisan support but drew passionate debate from Democrats over whether they do enough to fight the problem. The number of total overdose deaths from opioids — which includes heroin and prescription opiates — outnumbers deaths from traffic crashes in Wisconsin.
Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette), a leader on fighting opioid addiction, put forward the special session bills that senators approved unanimously in all but one case:
Narcan. Special Session Assembly Bill 1 would protect trained school employees, school volunteers and residence hall directors from civil lawsuits if they administered Narcan or other anti-overdose drugs and called 911 as soon as possible. Diversion. Counties would get more than $2 million a year to treat people with drug or alcohol offenses instead of sending them to jail under Assembly Bill 2. Codeine. Prescriptions would be required in all cases to get codeine, opium and similar drugs under Assembly Bill 4. Now, those drugs can be acquired in limited instances without a prescription. School for recovering addicts.
A new charter school serving up to 15 high school students struggling with addiction would launch a four-year pilot program under Assembly Bill 6. Sen. Steve Nass (RWhitewater) voted against it, the lone no vote cast against any of the bills. Addiction specialists.
The state would give grants totaling $63,000 a year to hospitals that hire more doctors who specialize in addiction under Assembly Bill 7. Treatment centers. Two or three new regional treatment programs for opioid and methamphetamine addiction would be established under Assembly Bill 8 for $1 million a year. Addiction consultation.
A new program would provide doctors with expert guidance on treating addiction under Assembly Bill 9. The state would spend $500,000 a year on the program. Agents. The state Department of Justice would get $420,000 a year to hire special agents to investigate drug trafficking under Assembly Bill 10.
Mental health. The state would create a $200,000 a year program to provide training to teachers and schools on mental health under Assembly Bill 11.
The Senate also voted 19-14 to approve Senate Bill 15, which raises the bar for state agencies approving new rules. Since 2011, Walker and GOP lawmakers have given the governor more power over such rules, including a requirement that he sign off on a scope statement before new rules are written.
The latest bill would go further by allowing a co-chairman of the Legislature’s rules committee to request that agencies hold public hearings before submitting scope statements. In addition, under the bill, the state Department of Administration would also need to review the scope statement before it gets to Walker.
The proposal would require the full Legislature to sign off any administrative rule that would make the public pay more than $10 million to comply with it.
In addition, the bill would allow the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules to object indefinitely to proposed rules and not just temporarily. A committee cochairman could also contract with an outside group to analyze the compliance cost to the public of a new rule.
Senate Bill 148, which passed on a voice vote, would allow small, slow-moving delivery robots to use sidewalks and crosswalks so long as a remote operator is monitoring their movements.
Finally, senators also approved Assembly Bill 73 on a voice vote. The bill, which now goes to Walker, would make cheese the state’s official dairy product.