SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 5446

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 12, 2019

      The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5446 (1R).

      This bill requires a coroner, medical examiner, or health care professional who examines an individual whose death was caused by opioid use to report the death and the type of opioid that was the cause of death, if that information is ascertainable, to the Department of Health (DOH) in a manner determined by the Commissioner of Health.

      The DOH will be required to publish, on its Internet website, the number of deaths caused by opioids and the type of opioid that was the cause of death, if that information is ascertainable, according to reports received by the DOH pursuant to the bill.

      As reported by the committee, Assembly Bill No. 5446 (1R) is identical to Senate Bill No. 3907, which was also reported by the committee on this date, with amendments.