BILL NUMBER: AB 2145CHAPTERED BILL TEXT CHAPTER 545 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 18, 2010 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ammiano FEBRUARY 18, 2010 An act to amend Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code, relating to drug overdose treatment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2145, Ammiano. Drug overdose treatment: liability. Existing law authorizes a physician and surgeon to prescribe, dispense, or administer prescription drugs, including prescription-controlled substances, to an addict under his or her treatment, as specified. Existing law prohibits, except in the regular practice of his or her profession, any person from knowingly prescribing, administering, dispensing, or furnishing a controlled substance to or for any person who is not under his or her treatment for a pathology or condition other than an addiction to a controlled substance, except as specified. Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2011, and only in specified counties, a licensed health care provider, who is already permitted pursuant to existing law to prescribe an opioid antagonist, as defined, if acting with reasonable care, to prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist in conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program, as defined, without being subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution. Existing law requires a local health jurisdiction that operates or registers an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program to collect prescribed data and report it to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary by January 1, 2010. This bill would instead require that this report be made by January 1, 2015, and would also extend the repeal date of these provisions to January 1, 2016. The bill would authorize a person who is not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid antagonist in an emergency without fee if the person has received specified training information and believes in good faith that the other person is experiencing a drug overdose. The bill would prohibit that person, as a result of his or her acts or omissions, from being liable for any violation of any professional licensing statute, or subject to any criminal prosecution arising from or related to the unauthorized practice of medicine or the possession of an opioid antagonist. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code is amended to read: 1714.22. (a) For purposes of this section: (1) "Opioid antagonist" means naloxone hydrochloride that is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of a drug overdose. (2) "Opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program" or "program" means any program operated by a local health jurisdiction or that is registered by a local health jurisdiction to train individuals to prevent, recognize, and respond to an opiate overdose, and that provides, at a minimum, training in all of the following: (A) The causes of an opiate overdose. (B) Mouth to mouth resuscitation. (C) How to contact appropriate emergency medical services. (D) How to administer an opioid antagonist. (b) A licensed health care provider who is permitted by law to prescribe an opioid antagonist may, if acting with reasonable care, prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist in conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program, without being subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution. This immunity shall apply to the licensed health care provider even when the opioid antagonist is administered by and to someone other than the person to whom it is prescribed. (c) A person who is not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid antagonist may administer an opioid antagonist in an emergency without fee if the person has received the training information specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and believes in good faith that the other person is experiencing a drug overdose. The person shall not, as a result of his or her acts or omissions, be liable for any violation of any professional licensing statute, or subject to any criminal prosecution arising from or related to the unauthorized practice of medicine or the possession of an opioid antagonist. (d) Each local health jurisdiction that operates or registers an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program shall, by January 1, 2015, collect, and report to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary, all of the following data on programs within the jurisdiction: (1) Number of training programs operating in the local health jurisdiction. (2) Number of individuals who have received a prescription for, and training to administer, an opioid antagonist. (3) Number of opioid antagonist doses prescribed. (4) Number of opioid antagonist doses administered. (5) Number of individuals who received opioid antagonist injections who were properly revived. (6) Number of individuals who received opioid antagonist injections who were not revived. (7) Number of adverse events associated with an opioid antagonist dose that was distributed as part of an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program, including a description of the adverse events. (e) This section shall apply only to the Counties of Alameda, Fresno, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. (f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends that date.