Safe Response Act
The Safe Response Act reauthorizes and broadens the first responder training program established under the Public Health Service Act. The bill shifts the program away from a sole focus on opioids toward training related to overdoses and responding to incidents involving opioids, heroin, and other drugs, including substances that are legally marketed. It also updates terminology to ensure tribal participation is properly recognized and increases funding for the program to support its expanded scope. The changes are retrofitted into Section 546 of the Public Health Service Act and would apply in the years 2026 through 2030 with a higher annual funding level than in the past. Introduced by Senators Baldwin, Hassan, and Capito, the Safe Response Act aims to strengthen and broaden federal support for first responders through expanded training materials and eligibility criteria, while increasing the available federal funding to sustain and grow the program.
Key Points
- 1Short title: The Act may be cited as the “Safe Response Act.”
- 2Scope expansion: Amends Section 546 to broaden the training program beyond opioids to include opioid, heroin, and other drugs; adds language (“otherwise legally marketed”) to cover broader product contexts.
- 3Tribal language: Corrects capitalization to read “Tribes and Tribal” in relevant provisions, ensuring inclusive treatment of tribal entities.
- 4Substantive text updates: Rewrites multiple subsections (a, c, d, f) to remove narrow opioid-only language and replace references with broader terms such as “other drug” and generic “overdose.”
- 5Funding increase: Replaces the previous $36,000,000 per year (applicable to fiscal years 2019–2023) with $57,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026–2030, signaling expanded support for the program.