Working Together for a Safer California

The fentanyl crisis, retail theft and community-based crimes are impacting every corner of the Golden State. The California State Senate is taking a comprehensive approach on these issues, from evidence-based ways to address the fentanyl crisis through treatment and prevention, to combating retail theft through crime prevention and enhanced tools for law enforcement. This is one of the most important things we can do to support Californians and our communities, and protect and enhance our quality of life. With this package, we are

Working Together for a Safer California.

AN EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH TO FENTANYL

Increasing Access to Treatment

SB 1319 (Wahab): Expedites approval of projects that expand the continuum of substance use disorder rehab facilities.
SB 1320 (Wahab): Requires health plans to develop a mechanism to reimburse providers who provide primary care and behavioral health integrated services.
SB 1385 (Roth): Supports navigators in hospital emergency departments and in the criminal justice system to ensure patients and justice-involved individuals are connected to evidence- based treatment for opioid use disorder and to ongoing treatment services. *Would include corresponding budget action to ensure navigators receive support training.
SB 1442 (Ochoa Bogh & Skinner): Empowers CalRX to supply California with vital United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approved testing and health assessment equipment, which will help increase access to affordable fentanyl testing strips for diagnostics purposes.
SB 1468 (Ochoa Bogh & Roth): Educates and encourages providers to make use of the new federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) rule to allow practitioners to dispense a three-day supply of narcotic medication to start detoxification treatment or maintenance treatment for people who use opioids.
SB 909 (Umberg): Addresses physician shortages in underserved areas by eliminating the cap on the Steven M. Thompson loan repayment program for physicians who agree to provide direct patient care in an underserved area for 36 months.

Enhancing Substance Use Disorder-Related Services within the Criminal Justice system

SB 910 (Umberg): Establishes statewide standards used by collaborative courts to improve programming, drug testing, and medication-assisted treatment for individuals moving through the criminal justice system.
SB 950 (Skinner): Expands the number of re-entry hubs to provide more warm hand-offs and treatment options to individuals returning home from the criminal justice system. *Would include corresponding budget action to align state reimbursement models with federal rules to maximize funding potential.

Increasing Awareness and Prevention

SB 908 (Cortese): Requires the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to spread awareness of the increase in opioid overdoses and develop guidelines to protect and prevent fentanyl-related deaths of children zero to five.

Preventing Fentanyl Trafficking of Xylazine

SB 1502 (Ashby): Prevents illicit use and trafficking of Xylazine (aka “tranq”), an animal tranquilizer with no approved human use that is increasingly being found in the illicit drug supply and has been linked to rising overdose deaths nationwide.

COMBATING RETAIL THEFT & COMMUNITY-BASED CRIME

Deterring repeat offenders and cracking down on sophisticated large-scale professional thieves

SB 1416 (Newman): Increases penalties on professional organized retail theft in particularly significant large-scale resale schemes.

Strengthening tools for law enforcement to make arrests and prosecute brazen criminal activity

SB 905 (Wiener): Removes the locked door loophole for automotive property thefts.
SB 982 (Wahab): Cements the work California has done on organized crime by making the law on organized retail theft permanent.
SB 1242 (Min): Requires courts to impose higher penalties on criminals who create fires in order to engage in retail theft. The higher penalties do not impact Proposition 47.