Senate, House Leaders Establish 'Parameters' for Special Session

Legislative leaders have laid out their plan to combat the substance abuse epidemic as part of the Special Session on Nov. 18, 2015, according to a press statement.

During the Special Session, the House will introduce a Special Session House Concurrent Resolution which, if passed, will go into effect immediately to establish a joint Substance Abuse Task Force.

The Task Force will be made up of 26 House and Senate members representing a wide range of committees and will fully vet and debate a specific set of issues including:

• Updating penalties for fentanyl distribution to be consistent with penalties for heroin
• Requiring insurance companies to adhere to same substance abuse treatment evaluation criteria; removing prior authorization requirements
• Updating prescription drug monitoring program technology, increase statewide usage
• Expanding Drug Courts
• Increasing law enforcement prevention and interdiction measures
• Increasing prescriber educational standards

A final report will be presented on January 6, 2016, which will serve as the basis for filing legislation.

“During the Special Session, we will introduce a Substance Abuse Task Force that will be charged with carefully addressing each of the major issues surrounding the heroin and opioid epidemic,” said Senate President Chuck Morse, R-Salem. “We look forward to working with both our House and Senate colleagues in a way that allows us to lead on addressing these issues, while also ensuring that we appropriately review them to best serve the State of New Hampshire.”

House Speaker Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, added that the task force will allow leaders the proper time to work on creating legislation to combat the crisi.

“It will allow legislative action to be taken in an open and transparent process in order to vet all proposals,“ he said. “House and Senate members have continuously heard from local leaders related to how this crisis is affecting their communities. We know that a process without their input could result in less effective results and create more problems. We believe this is the most effective way to come up with a solution which benefits the citizens of New Hampshire.”

Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, agreed.

“The joint Substance Abuse Task Force will provide the foundation for the Legislature to take an effective approach to curbing the substance abuse epidemic by allowing a comprehensive, inclusive, and transparent deliberative process,” he said in a statement. “House and Senate members will properly vet and debate proposals, listen to input from experts and community members, while ensuring that by seeking a solution to one crisis, we are not inadvertently creating another crisis.”

Newly installed House Majority Leader Richard Hinch, R-Merrimack, called the task force proposal the best approach to reach solutions to the problems.

“These are complex issues with huge consequences,” he said. “By assembling this group of legislators who are experts in their respective policy areas, and putting together a process by which they work with external stakeholders, we believe we have a better chance of not just having good legislation, but having the best legislation we can, given what we know at this time. This is an evolving issue that the legislature is prepared to deal with throughout the coming months. This Task Force will be on the front lines of the legislative process, and their work will help our state respond in a swift, but measured manner.”

However, Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, issued a counter press statement, saying there was no need to wait for a report from the task force. 

“People are dying nearly every day in New Hampshire from the heroin and opioid epidemic, and we all need to work together on a comprehensive approach to strengthen our efforts to combat this crisis and save lives,” she noted. “With the special session, this urgent issue is receiving the full and swift attention necessary to quickly give patients, providers, parents and law enforcement better tools in the fight against substance abuse, and I thank legislative leadership for their commitment to getting an expedited bill to my desk early next year, as I originally called for. There is broad bipartisan consensus on many of the steps we need to take to strengthen our comprehensive approach to the heroin and opioid epidemic and help save lives, many of which are reflected in both the goals of the legislative task force and the legislation that I have proposed. The legislature’s proposal is an important step in the right direction, but we know that there is much more that should be part of our comprehensive approach that is not enumerated in the resolution to establish the task force. There is no reason to wait to take these common-sense steps, and I will continue pushing for and working with the legislature and stakeholders from all sectors on a comprehensive, bipartisan package that supports law enforcement, improves prevention, treatment, and recovery, and strengthens our efforts to help save lives and combat the most pressing public health and safety challenge facing our state.”