// EFFECTIVE UNTIL MAY 31, 2021 PER CHAPTER 464 OF 2015 //

(a)    There is a Joint Committee on Behavioral Health and Opioid Use Disorders.

(b)    (1)    The Committee consists of 10 members.

(2)    Of the 10 members:

(i)    5 shall be members of the Senate, appointed by the President of the Senate; and

(ii)    5 shall be members of the House of Delegates, appointed by the Speaker of the House.

(c)    The members of the Committee serve at the pleasure of the presiding officer who appointed them.

(d)    The President and the Speaker jointly shall appoint a Senator and a Delegate to serve as cochairs.

(e)    The Committee shall have oversight over:

(1)    the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program;

(2)    State and local programs to treat and reduce behavioral health disorders; and

(3)    State and local programs to treat and reduce opioid use disorders.

(f)    The purposes of the Committee are to:

(1)    review the final report of the Governor’s Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force;

(2)    review and monitor the activities of the Governor’s Inter–Agency Heroin and Opioid Coordinating Council;

(3)    monitor the effectiveness of programs, policies, and practices, including:

(i)    the State’s behavioral health system;

(ii)    the State Overdose Prevention Plan;

(iii)    local overdose prevention plans;

(iv)    strategic planning practices to reduce prescription drug abuse in the State;

(v)    efforts to enhance overdose response statutory laws, regulations, and training;

(vi)    local overdose fatality review teams; and

(vii)    efforts to expand use of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program by the Maryland Department of Health as a public health tool for monitoring and responding to prescribing patterns across the State;

(4)    review the extent to which health insurance carriers in the State are complying with federal and State mental health and addiction parity laws; and

(5)    identify areas of concern and, as appropriate, recommend corrective measures to the Governor and the General Assembly.