January 2020 Legislative Update
The 2020 Legislative Session began on Wednesday, Jan. 8, and a number of bills addressing opioid and substance use are on the docket. Because these bill are relevant to the work of Consortium members and others in the prevention and treatment fields, the Consortium will offer monthly updates on the progress of the bills.
Remember, the Legislature can move fast, as bills can be amended and hearings rescheduled. The best way to keep up if you want to follow the progress of a bill or the hearing schedule is to use the General Assembly’s web page for tracking bills. Enter the bill number into the search field or use keywords such as “opioids” or “substance use” and use the filters to sort the results. You also can use the bill tracker used by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Last year, the Legislative Study Committee on Opioids and Other Substance Use Disorders drafted five bills, all of which have been introduced. Click here for information about the Committee and official summary of the bills.
These bills include:
Prevention of Substance Use Disorders
Assigned to the House Health & Insurance Committee
Harm Reduction for Substance Use Disorders
Assigned to the House Health & Insurance Committee
Substance Use Disorder Treatment in the Criminal Justice System
Assigned to the House Public Health Care and Human Services Committee and Appropriations
Treatment of Substance Use Disorders
Assigned to Senate Health and Human Services Committee
Scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, 1:30 p.m., Old Supreme Court
Substance Use Disorder Recovery
Assigned to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee
Scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, 1:30 p.m., Old Supreme Court
If you anticipate testifying on behalf of these bills and would like information on what to expect, submit the following form and identify the bill(s) for which you might provide testimony. You can check the statuses of the bills here.
To access stakeholder input collected last summer, visit: http://www.corxconsortium.org/legislature/ or reach out to leg@corxconsortium.org for any questions. You can also follow us on Twitter at @corxconsortium.
We look forward to partnering with you in this 2020 year.