Senate Bill 57, which would establish safe consumption sites for opiates in major California cities, will be heard in January of next year.
"While we’re disappointed in the delay, we’re committed to moving the bill forward in January," wrote Sen. Scott Weiner of San Francisco, who wrote the bill, via Twitter Tuesday morning.
"While I’m extremely disappointed that we are experiencing another delay in passing this life-saving legislation – which has passed both the Senate and Assembly twice in different forms over the past five years – I continue to be optimistic that we’ll pass SB 57 and get it signed into law," said Weiner in a statement.
According to Weiner, San Francisco and other California cities are experiencing record overdose deaths. Safe consumption sites are a proven strategy to save lives and help people get into recovery.
The bill is delayed because the state government is in the first year of a two-year legislative session, and bills can be heard during either year.
Weiner is confident that the bill will get passed next year, which was recently amended to include Los Angeles as one of the candidates for safe consumption sites after the city council asked to be included. The bill will work as a pilot of this type of program in San Francisco, Oakland, the City of Los Angeles, and Los Angeles County.
While waiting for January, Weiner said he’ll be focusing on using a recently allocated $4.2 million from the state budget to fund a meth sobering center in San Francisco, along with authoring multiple other addiction treatment and mental health bills.
Related
