<BillNo> <Sponsor>
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 100
By Faison
HJR0100
001467
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A RESOLUTION relative to overdose reversal initiatives.
WHEREAS, this General Assembly recognizes and applauds the public and private
overdose reversal initiatives currently in place; and
WHEREAS, this General Assembly acknowledges that the treatment of addiction is a
complex policy issue that demands more resources across the board to create a more effective
continuum of care; and
WHEREAS, in the interim, saving lives should be an urgent and top priority for the State
of Tennessee; and
WHEREAS, this General Assembly recognizes that recent encouraging, but modest,
decreases in the overdose death rate in Tennessee suggest that greater availability and
awareness of overdose reversal medications, such as Narcan, could accelerate a decrease in
the number of lives lost to overdose; and
WHEREAS, Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 9-4-1301, establishes the opioid
abatement fund to support opioid abatement, treatment, and remediation programs and services
from proceeds received from the statewide opioid settlement agreement entered into with
various pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies, such proceeds to be disbursed at the
direction of the Tennessee opioid abatement council; and
WHEREAS, Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 33-11-103, requires the Tennessee
opioid abatement council to disburse thirty-five percent (35%) of these proceeds to counties that
"join the settlement" in accordance with data measuring the impact of the opioid crisis at the
county level; and
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WHEREAS, the Tennessee opioid abatement council is further required to disburse the
remaining sixty-five percent (65%) of such proceeds for statewide, regional, or local opioid
abatement and remediation purposes through a competitive grant application process; now,
therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED
FOURTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE
CONCURRING, that this General Assembly respectfully urges the Tennessee opioid abatement
council and each county that has joined the settlement to allocate a minimum of twenty-five
percent (25%) of expenditures approved from the opioid abatement fund pursuant to Tennessee
Code Annotated, Section 33-11-103, to specific initiatives that save lives via the distribution and
promotion of overdose reversal medications until such time as the overdose death rate in
Tennessee has been reduced by a minimum of twenty-five percent (25%).
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to
the Tennessee opioid abatement council, which shall ensure that additional copies be
distributed to each participating county.