Public health: substance use disorder.

Assembly Member Elhawary frames a sweeping reorientation of California’s approach to overdose response and substance use disorders, tying lifeline access to a broader set of actors while reshaping licensing and prevention programs to align with a health-focused framework. The centerpiece is to permit possession and distribution of opioid antagonists by a wider circle of people at risk or in a position to assist someone experiencing an overdose, and to provide liability protections for those who administer the antidote in good faith, with liability protections also extending to health care providers acting with reasonable care for related injuries or damages.

The measure also reorganizes how recovery and treatment facilities are licensed and operated. It requires a combined application process for entities seeking licensure to provide alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment services together with incidental medical services, with a target deadline of January 1, 2027. It prohibits admission agreements that condition care on abstinence or sobriety and directs licensees to prioritize maintaining some connection to treatment following relapse. Incidental medical services would be defined and regulated to occur on facility premises under physician supervision, with requirements around an admission process, monitoring, and documentation, and with the department authorized to implement related provisions through guidance before regulations are in place.

Funding and program scope are adjusted to emphasize prevention and broad-based services. The bill modifies the drug program fund requirements to allocate a minimum share to primary prevention programs in schools and the community, including activities aligned with evidence-based practices. It revises the definition of a “drug- or alcohol-related program” to cover any program designed to assist persons with substance use disorders, removing the explicit enforcement-focused component and repealing the prior “no lawful use” messaging requirement for funded activities. It also relocates and renames a division of the Health and Safety Code to Division 10.7, titled Substance Use Disorder Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Programs, and updates definitions to reflect broader program scope and organizational structure.

In its findings and policy framing, the bill’s authors underscore the safety and accessibility profile of naloxone and present substance use disorder as a health-focused issue that warrants medically informed, community-based prevention and treatment efforts. The measure envisions a timeline for implementing the combined licensure pathway and related regulatory changes, with broader implementation supported by emergency regulations or department guidance as regulations are developed, and an emphasis on sustaining treatment connections even after relapse. The proposal implications span providers, first responders, schools and community organizations, and county and local agencies responsible for program funding and administration.