VOTE:NO – Passed, Signed into law by Gov. Kotek 4-1-2024
Status (overview) of bill:https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2024R1/Measures/Overview/HB4002
Committee assigned to bill:https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023I1/Committees/JACSR/2024-01-23-13-00/MeetingMaterials
This bill is a result of House leadership writing behind closed doors and presenting it as a product of the Joint Interim Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response. This is only the start of keeping the public at arm’s length. HB 4002 will be introduced as a placeholder. Once law makers finalize the wording, the actual legislation will be amended into the bill in a Work Session where the public is not permitted to testify. If procedure is followed the public may have one chance when it goes through Ways and Means to approve funding. The proposal is a Band-Aid that does nothing to reduce the cause or provide more safety for the public at-large.
They want to build residential facilities to treat people, give police the ability to arrest people for possession and have programs to help people get off drugs, from offering medication in jails to sobering centers and clinics. They want dealers to face tougher penalties when they sell drugs in parks or within 500 feet of homeless shelters and drug addiction treatment centers, and they want to reinstate penalties for drug possession. Read more here. However, it’s only a $100 Class C Misdemeanor, which rarely is paid and not effective.
The summaries reflect the policy goals articulated by the proposed amendment and anticipated of the amendment.
1. Prohibits health providers from imposing prior authorization or other utilization review for drugs used to treat substance use disorders, or discrimination against individuals with substance use disorders. Allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense emergency refills of medications used to treat opioid use disorder.
2. Require the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission to conduct a study of barriers to youth access substance use disorder treatment, medication assisted treatment interventions in emergency departments, and substance used disorder treatment provider credentialing.
3. Establish certified community behavioral health clinic program in Oregon Health Authority.
4. Possession with Intent to Deliver: In Oregon, a person commits the crime of delivery of a controlled substance if the person engages in the “actual, constructive, or attempted transfer” of that substance. A 1988 Oregon Court of Appeals case, State v. Boyd, established the rule that possession of drugs coupled with evidence of the intent to sell them, was sufficient to prove “attempted delivery” under ORS 475.005. In 2021 the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned State v. Boyd by holding that evidence of possession with intent to sell, alone, was insufficient to establish the crime of delivery of a controlled substance. The amendment expands the definition of “deliver” or “delivery” to include the possession of a controlled substance with intent to transfer to another person to
encompass possession of drugs coupled with evidence of intent to sell them in the crime of delivery of a controlled substance.
5. Establish a class C misdemeanor for possession of a controlled substance. Define “deflection program” as a behavioral health screening and case worker intervention for substance use disorder as established by this legislation and the Criminal Justice Commission by rule and may be used as defense.
6. Requires any enforcement of delivery of controlled substances and possession of controlled substances, including officer-initiated stops and prosecution, be reported to the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) to track any racial or demographic disparities.
7. Established the IMPACTS Grant Program within the CJC. This program is designed to address the shortage of comprehensive community supports and services for individuals with mental health or substance use disorders, leading to their involvement with the criminal justice system, hospitalizations and institutional placements. LC language intends to increase the IMPACTS program funding to support the expansion of (1) deflection programs, (2) mobile crisis units, (3) mobile MAT programs, (4) MAT in jails, and (5) case management and peer support for homeless individuals living with SUD.
8. ORS 430.399 allows for a police officer to transport a visibly intoxicated person to a treatment or sobering center. Current statute allows for a director of a treatment facility to hold an individual for up to 48 hours. As requested, the LC language intends to extend the treatment center holds to up to 72 hours.
Measure 110 should be repealed in its entirety. It had been a complete failure. The open borders have increased the flow of illegal drugs 10 fold and killed thousands of Americans
VOTE NO!