Mandatory overdose reporting bill filed in Florida House

A bill codifying statewide standards for the reporting of drug overdoses was filed in the Florida House Tuesday, a response to the opioid epidemic.

House Bill 249, filed by Southwest Florida Republican Bob Rommel, requires certain people to report overdoses to authorities in their respective counties.

Failure to report is not an option, according to the bill, which offers “immunity” to those who report overdoses in good faith.

Overdoses, claims Rommel in the bill language, present a “crisis” with impacts on the financial, health care, and public safety spheres.

This crisis is exacerbated by a lack of “central databases” and “quick data collection,” the bill maintains.

With an eye toward crisis abatement, a section in Florida Statute would be created by this legislation.

“Mandatory reporting of controlled substance overdoses,” also known as Section 893.22, would mandate the following.

Health care workers who treat or “attend” an overdose treatment would be required to report the incident within 24 hours.

The sheriff, or a delegated party such as the medical examiner, would be tasked with compiling and organizing these reports.

The reports would contain usable demographic data, such as the age of the overdose victim, the location of the event, and the suspected intoxicant and quantity thereof.

These reports would be compiled and reported semiannually to the Statewide Drug Policy Advisory Council. On the county level, they would have to be retained for five years.

Failure to report by omission would constitute a second degree misdemeanor; a willful refusal to report would constitute a first degree misdemeanor.