STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5059

with Assembly Floor Amendments

(Proposed by Assemblyman VERRELLI)

ADOPTED: NOVEMBER 25, 2019

     These floor amendments provide that local drug overdose fatality review teams will be established by the Local Advisory Committee on Alcohol Use Disorder and Drug Use Disorder in each county, rather than by the Commissioner of Health.

     The amendments provide that the Commissioner of Human Services is to make appropriate funding available to drug overdose fatality review teams to enable the teams to carry out their duties under the bill, including providing sufficient funding to allow the teams to hire necessary and appropriate personnel.

     The amendments remove a requirement that participants report certain information to the Department of Health (DOH), and instead provide that the DOH is to develop a uniform, standardized reporting process for drug overdose deaths, and forward certain information concerning each drug overdose death to the appropriate local drug overdose fatality review team, including certain personal details concerning the overdose victim and certain particulars concerning the circumstances of the overdose victim’s death.  Local drug overdose fatality review teams will also be provided access to certain health treatment records and government records concerning the overdose victim, if the victim’s next of kin or authorized representative consents to the team being provided access to this information.

     The amendments direct local drug overdose fatality review teams to review each report of a drug overdose death upon receipt of the report.

     The amendments direct State and local government agencies to share records and information concerning an overdose victim with a drug overdose fatality review team upon request, provided that the victim’s next of kin or authorized representative consents to disclosure of any information that may not be shared without consent, including confidential and personal identifying information.