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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6696
January Session, 2023
AN ACT CONCERNING THE OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUND AND
PERSONAL OPIOID DRUG DEACTIVATION AND DISPOSAL
PRODUCTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2023) (a) For the purposes of this 1
section: 2
(1) "Dispense" has the same meaning as provided in section 21a-240 3
of the general statutes; 4
(2) "Opioid drug" has the same meaning as provided in section 20-5
14o of the general statutes; 6
(3) "Personal opioid drug deactivation and disposal product" means 7
a product that is designed for personal use and enables a patient to 8
permanently deactivate and destroy an opioid drug; 9
(4) "Pharmacist" has the same meaning as provided in section 21a-10
240 of the general statutes; and 11
(5) "Pharmacy" has the same meaning as provided in section 21a-240 12
of the general statutes. 13
(b) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, each 14
pharmacist who dispenses an opioid drug to a patient in this state shall 15
provide to the patient, at the time such pharmacist dispenses such 16 Substitute Bill No. 6696
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drug to such patient, a personal opioid drug deactivation and disposal 17
product. No pharmacy or pharmacist shall charge any fee to, or 18
impose any cost on, any patient for a personal opioid drug 19
deactivation and disposal product that a pharmacist provides to a 20
patient pursuant to this subdivision. 21
(2) Any pharmacy or pharmacist may seek reimbursement from the 22
Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee established pursuant to 23
section 17a-674d of the general statutes for documented expenses 24
incurred by such pharmacy or pharmacist in providing personal 25
opioid drug deactivation and disposal products to patients pursuant to 26
subdivision (1) of this subsection. No such pharmacy or pharmacist 27
shall be required to bear any documented expense for providing 28
personal opioid drug deactivation and disposal products to patients 29
pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection and, if there are 30
insufficient funds in the Opioid Settlement Fund established in section 31
17a-674c of the general statutes, as amended by this act, to cover such 32
documented expenses or such funds are otherwise unavailable, no 33
pharmacist shall be required to provide a personal opioid drug 34
deactivation and disposal product pursuant to subdivision (1) of this 35
subsection. 36
(c) The Commissioner of Consumer Protection may adopt 37
regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the 38
general statutes, to implement the provisions of this section. 39
Sec. 2. Subsection (e) of section 17a-674c of the general statutes is 40
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 41
1, 2023): 42
(e) Moneys in the fund shall be spent only for the following 43
substance use disorder abatement purposes, in accordance with the 44
controlling judgment, consent decree or settlement, as confirmed by 45
the Attorney General's review of such judgment, consent decree or 46
settlement and upon the approval of the committee and the Secretary 47
of the Office of Policy and Management: 48 Substitute Bill No. 6696
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(1) State-wide, regional or community substance use disorder needs 49
assessments to identify structural gaps and needs to inform 50
expenditures from the fund; 51
(2) Infrastructure required for evidence-based substance use 52
disorder prevention, treatment, recovery or harm reduction programs, 53
services and supports; 54
(3) Programs, services, supports and resources for evidence-based 55
substance use disorder prevention, treatment, recovery or harm 56
reduction; 57
(4) Evidence-informed substance use disorder prevention, 58
treatment, recovery or harm reduction pilot programs or 59
demonstration studies that are not evidence-based, but are approved 60
by the committee as an appropriate use of moneys for a limited period 61
of time as specified by the committee, provided the committee shall 62
assess whether the evidence supports funding such programs or 63
studies or whether it provides a basis for funding such programs or 64
studies with an expectation of creating an evidence base for such 65
programs and studies; 66
(5) Evaluation of effectiveness and outcomes reporting for substance 67
use disorder abatement infrastructure, programs, services, supports 68
and resources for which moneys from the fund have been disbursed, 69
including, but not limited to, impact on access to harm reduction 70
services or treatment for substance use disorders or reduction in drug-71
related mortality; 72
(6) One or more publicly available data interfaces managed by the 73
commissioner to aggregate, track and report data on (A) substance use 74
disorders, overdoses and drug-related harms, (B) spending 75
recommendations, plans and reports, and (C) outcomes of programs, 76
services, supports and resources for which moneys from the fund were 77
disbursed; 78
(7) Research on opioid abatement, including, but not limited to, 79 Substitute Bill No. 6696
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development of evidence-based treatment, barriers to treatment, 80
nonopioid treatment of chronic pain and harm reduction, supply-side 81
enforcement; 82
(8) Documented expenses incurred in administering and staffing the 83
fund and the committee, and expenses, including, but not limited to, 84
legal fees, incurred by the state or any municipality in securing 85
settlement proceeds, deposited in the fund as permitted by the 86
controlling judgment, consent decree or settlement; 87
(9) Documented expenses associated with managing, investing and 88
disbursing moneys in the fund; [and] 89
(10) Documented expenses, including legal fees, incurred by the 90
state or any municipality in securing settlement proceeds deposited in 91
the fund to the extent such expenses are not otherwise reimbursed 92
pursuant to a fee agreement provided for by the controlling judgment, 93
consent decree or settlement; and 94
(11) Documented expenses incurred by pharmacies and pharmacists 95
in providing personal opioid drug deactivation and disposal products 96
to patients pursuant to section 1 of this act. 97
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2023 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2023 17a-674c(e)
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1(b)(2), "dispense" was changed to "provide" for internal
consistency.
GL Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO