Rep. David Rouzer
Washington, D.C. – This week, with the support of Congressman David Rouzer, the House of Representatives passed a total of 18 bills seeking to address and combat the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation. The bills were passed with strong bipartisan support.
“Opioid abuse has become a growing problem for Southeastern North Carolina and a significant challenge for our law enforcement officers, local health departments and communities,” said Rep. David Rouzer. “Unfortunately, no community is immune to this epidemic. I’m pleased the House took action this week to help prevent and address this growing threat, ensure our nation’s drug laws are strengthened and provide law enforcement officers with additional resources to address this problem.”
The following bills were passed, with Congressman Rouzer’s support:
· H.R. 4063 – Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act
· H.R. 4985 – Kingpin Designation Improvement Act of 2016
· S. 32 – Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015
· H.R. 5048 – Good Samaritan Assessment Act of 2016
· H.R. 5052 – OPEN Act
· H.R. 4843 – Infant Plan of Safe Care Improvement Act
· H.R. 4978 – NAS Healthy Babies Act
· H.R. 3680 – Co-Prescribing to Reduce Overdoses Act of 2016
· H.R. 3691 – Improving Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women Act of 2016
· H.R. 1818 – Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2016
· H.R. 4969 – John Thomas Decker Act of 2016
· H.R. 4586 – Lali’s Law
· H.R. 4599 – Reducing Unused Medications Act of 2016
· H.R. 4976 – Opioid Review Modernization Act of 2016
· H.R. 4982 – Examining Opioid Treatment Infrastructure Act of 2016
· H.R. 4981 – Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Expansion and Modernization Act
· H.R. 4641 – To provide for the establishment of an inter-agency task force to review, modify, and update best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication, and other purposes
· H.R. 5046 – Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016
The bills were combined into a single legislative package and voted on as a rule to amend the Senate-passed opioid legislation, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The next step will be to vote to go to formal conference committee with the Senate to finalize the package and get it signed into law.
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