Title: Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act
This bill expands the allowable uses of grant funds under the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program administered by the Department of Justice.
Specifically, the bill allows grants to be used for pilot programs for rural areas to implement community response programs that focus on alternatives to incarceration and reducing opioid overdose deaths.
The bill also requires at least 10% of grants under the program to be awarded to rural areas.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2796 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2796

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
provide for the eligibility of rural community response pilot programs 
for funding under the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 22 (legislative day, September 21), 2021

  Mr. Ossoff (for himself and Mr. Grassley) introduced the following 
    bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
provide for the eligibility of rural community response pilot programs 
for funding under the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program, and for 
                            other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Opioid Abuse Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF RURAL COMMUNITY RESPONSE PILOT PROGRAMS FOR 
              FUNDING UNDER THE COMPREHENSIVE OPIOID ABUSE GRANT 
              PROGRAM.

    Section 3021 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10701) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``and'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(H) a pilot program for rural areas to implement 
                community response programs that focus on presenting 
                alternatives to incarceration and reducing opioid 
                overdose deaths, as described in subsection (f).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Rural Pilot Program.--The pilot program described under this 
subsection shall make grants to rural areas to implement community 
response programs to reduce opioid overdose deaths. Grants issued under 
this subsection shall be jointly operated by units of local government, 
in collaboration with public safety and public health agencies or 
public safety, public health and behavioral health collaborations. A 
community response program under this subsection shall identify gaps in 
community prevention, treatment, and recovery services for individuals 
who encounter the criminal justice system and shall establish treatment 
protocols to address identified shortcomings. The Attorney General, 
through the Office of Justice Programs, shall increase the amount 
provided as a grant under this section for a pilot program by no more 
than five percent for each of the two years following certification by 
the Attorney General of the submission of data by the rural area on the 
prescribing of schedules II, III, and IV controlled substances to a 
prescription drug monitoring program, or any other centralized database 
administered by an authorized State agency, which includes tracking the 
dispensation of such substances, and providing for interoperability and 
data sharing with each other such program (including an electronic 
health records system) in each other State, and with any interstate 
entity that shares information between such programs.''.

SEC. 3. PROVISION REGARDING CERTAIN FUNDING LEVEL FOR RURAL 
              COMMUNITIES.

    Section 3024 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10704) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1) by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (2)(C) by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) provides that not less than 10 percent of grants 
        issued pursuant to this part shall be awarded to rural 
        areas.''.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

    Section 3025 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10705) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
            ``(9) The term `rural area' has the meaning given such term 
        in section 343(a)(13)(A) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
        Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(A)).''.
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