II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2636 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a 

community action opioid response grant program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2018 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to establish a community action opioid response grant 

program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 The Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Action 

5 Opioid Response Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMUNITY ACTION 

7 OPIOID RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAM. 

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.—The 

9 Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 


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1 the Office of Community Services established under sec2 tion 678 of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 

3 U.S.C. 9912), shall, subject to the subsequent provisions 

4 of this section, establish a grant program to enable Com5 munity Action Agencies to respond to the needs of commu6 nities and low-income families and individuals in crisis re7 sulting from the opioid addiction epidemic. 

8 (b) GOALS.—The goals of the grant program under 

9 this section are to expand and support effective commu10 nity efforts to identify and respond to causes and con11 sequences of opioid misuse and addiction experienced by 

12 low-income individuals, families, and communities. 

13 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—Any Community Action Agency, 

14 as defined in subsection (i), is eligible to apply for a grant 

15 under this section by submitting an application in such 

16 form and manner as specified by the Secretary, in accord17 ance with subsection (g)(1). 

18 (d) ALLOWABLE USES OF FUNDS.—A grant awarded 

19 to a Community Action Agency under this section may 

20 be used to support one or more of the following activities, 

21 which may be conducted in coordination or partnership 

22 with other community organizations: 

23 (1) Enhanced public education to improve indi24 vidual and community awareness, with respect to 


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1 opioid misuse or addiction, including for children 

2 and youth. 

3 (2) Outreach and identification of individuals at 

4 risk of or experiencing opioid misuse or addiction, 

5 and referral of such individuals to appropriate treat6 ment, recovery, or other resources in the community. 

7 (3) Direct services to prevent, treat, or recover 

8 from opioid addiction. 

9 (4) Services to stabilize the education, employ10 ment, housing, transportation, or other needs of ad11 dicted or at-risk individuals and their family mem12 bers. 

13 (5) Services to address and mitigate the impact 

14 of opioid addiction on children in the household. 

15 (6) Support and assistance to children, and 

16 their caregivers, including grandparents and older 

17 relative caregivers of children, who are in foster care 

18 or at-risk of placement in foster care because of the 

19 opioid addiction of their parents. 

20 (7) Development of innovative community-based 

21 projects and services using a two-generation ap22 proach that responds to the needs of parents and 

23 children together who are at risk of or experiencing 

24 opioid misuse or addiction. 


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1 (8) Development of partnerships with entities 

2 such as local healthcare providers, substance abuse 

3 treatment organizations, schools, child welfare agen4 cies, social service organizations, drug-free commu5 nities, police departments, prosecutors, courts, pris6 ons, local governments, businesses, and religious in7 stitutions, in order to coordinate or expand resources 

8 available to addicted or at-risk individuals and their 

9 family members. 

10 (9) Training for agency personnel in issues re11 lated to opioid addiction, including early identifica12 tion of at-risk individuals and administration of 

13 overdose prevention medications. 

14 (e) GRANT FUNDING LIMITATIONS.— 

15 (1) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—A grant awarded 

16 under this section shall be in an amount that is not 

17 more than $1,000,000 per year and not less than 

18 $50,000 per year. 

19 (2) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this 

20 section shall be for not more than three years in du21 ration unless otherwise approved by the Secretary 

22 based on outcome data or extenuating circum23 stances. 

24 (f) REPORTING.—Each Community Action Agency 

25 receiving a grant under this section shall submit an annual 


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1 report to the Secretary detailing goals, interventions, out2 comes, and expenditures, with respect to the program of 

3 such agency that is funded by such grant, and make each 

4 such report so submitted by the Community Action Agen5 cy available on the public website of the Community Ac6 tion Agency. The Secretary shall make each such report 

7 public on the public website of the Department of Health 

8 and Human Services. For each year of the grant program 

9 under this section, the Secretary shall compile all of such 

10 reports so submitted to the Secretary for such year and 

11 submit to Congress the compilation with an annual sum12 mary. 

13 (g) EXPEDITED GRANT APPLICATION, REVIEW, AND

14 AWARD PROCESS.— 

15 (1) APPLICATION PROCESS AND CRITERIA.— 

16 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact17 ment of this section, the Secretary shall publish in 

18 the Federal Register the application process and cri19 teria for grants under this section. Such criteria 

20 shall require each application submitted for a grant 

21 under this section to include— 

22 (A) a description of the objectives of the 

23 program and activities to be funded by the 

24 grant and how the grant will be used to achieve 

25 these objectives, including specific activities and 


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1 services to be conducted, and specific popu2 lations or areas to be served; 

3 (B) a description of innovative approaches 

4 to be used and evidence of likely success; 

5 (C) a plan for measuring progress in 

6 achieving such objectives specified in subpara7 graph (A), including a strategy to collect data 

8 that can be used to measure the project’s effec9 tiveness; 

10 (D) identification of relevant community or 

11 other organizations with which the applicant 

12 will coordinate or partner and a description of 

13 the proposed coordination or partnership; 

14 (E) assurances satisfactory to the Sec15 retary that the applicant has conducted an as16 sessment of community needs related to opioid 

17 misuse and addiction among low-income individ18 uals and families, and that the proposed uses of 

19 the grant funds will address unmet needs iden20 tified by the assessment; 

21 (F) assurances satisfactory to the Sec22 retary that funds awarded through the grant 

23 will not supplant other programs or resources 

24 in the community with similar objectives; and 


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1 (G) assurances satisfactory to the Sec2 retary that evidence-based approaches will be 

3 used to the maximum extent practicable. 

4 (2) COMMUNITY ACTION OPIOID RESPONSE

5 GRANT APPLICATION REVIEW PANEL.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

7 after the date of the enactment of this section, 

8 the Secretary shall establish a Community Ac9 tion Opioid Response Grant Application Review 

10 Panel of not less than 15 individuals, including 

11 not more than 5 employees from the Depart12 ment of Health and Human Services and other 

13 Federal agencies, with expert knowledge of the 

14 opioid epidemic, drug treatment, community re15 sponses to poverty prevention, child protection, 

16 or post-recovery employment and training. 

17 (B) DUTIES.—Such review panel shall re18 view and evaluate applications for grants under 

19 this section and recommend to the Secretary 

20 which of such applications should be awarded a 

21 grant under this section. 

22 (C) GRANT SELECTION PRIORITIES.—In 

23 reviewing and recommending applications for a 

24 grant, such review panel shall consider and give 


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1 priority to applications that demonstrate one or 

2 more of the following: 

3 (i) Evidence of coordination and part4 nership with agencies or entities with expe5 rience or expertise in addressing opioid-re6 lated issues. 

7 (ii) Evidence of leveraging non-Fed8 eral funds or in-kind resources to extend 

9 the reach or duration (or both) of the pro10 gram proposed by the application. 

11 (iii) Quality of methodology proposed 

12 to monitor the outcomes of the program 

13 proposed by the application and effective14 ness in achieving goals of the program and 

15 mitigating the harmful health and socio16 economic impacts of opioid addiction. 

17 (iv) Evidence of capacity-building and 

18 strengthening of community responses to 

19 the opioid crisis. 

20 (v) Efforts to minimize the trauma 

21 and negative impact of foster care on chil22 dren of addicted individuals. 

23 (vi) Efforts to support grandparents 

24 and other older relative caregivers raising 


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1 children in their care who are impacted by 

2 opioid addiction. 

3 (vii) The applicant has a dem4 onstrated knowledge of opioid-related 

5 needs in the target community. 

6 (viii) Use of innovative or evidence7 based approaches to address unmet opioid8 related needs, including to promote self9 sufficiency and well-being for families with 

10 children impacted by opioid addiction. 

11 (ix) Use of innovative two-generation 

12 approaches that create opportunities for, 

13 and address the needs of, parents and chil14 dren together who are impacted by opioid 

15 addiction. 

16 (D) FUNDING.—The Secretary may use 

17 amounts appropriated to the Office of the Sec18 retary of Health and Human Services to pay 

19 for all expenses associated with the Community 

20 Action Opioid Response Grant Application Re21 view Panel. 

22 (3) TIMING FOR AWARDING GRANTS.—With re23 spect to a year for which amounts are appropriated 

24 to carry out this section pursuant to subsection (h), 

25 not later than 120 days after such amounts are 


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1 made available for such year, the Secretary shall 

2 award all such amounts for grants under this section 

3 for such year. 

4 (4) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—In making 

5 grants to carry out the program under this section, 

6 the Secretary shall take into consideration the geo7 graphic distribution of funding among States and 

8 the relative proportion of funding among rural and 

9 urban areas. 

10 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

12 appropriated for grants under this section 

13 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 

14 2022. 

15 (2) TRIBAL SET ASIDE.—Of the amount appro16 priated for a year pursuant to paragraph (1) to 

17 carry out this section, not more than 7 percent shall 

18 be designated for such year for grants to Indian 

19 tribes or tribal organizations that receive direct pay20 ments under section 677 of the Community Services 

21 Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9911). 

22 (i) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

23 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

24 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 


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1 (2) COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY.—The term 

2 ‘‘Community Action Agency’’ has the same meaning 

3 given the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ under section 

4 673(1)(A) of the Community Services Block Grant 

5 Act (42 U.S.C. 9902). 

Æ 


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