Hb 217 - Needle Exchange Program

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Citation: Vol. 36 No. 1
• Publication year: 2019
• topic: Civil Rights,Contracts,Administrative Law,Criminal Law,Health Law,Public Sector Law

HB 217 - Needle Exchange Program

Alexandra L. Armbruster

Georgia State University College of Law, aarmbruster1@student.gsu.edu

J. Bryan Watford

Georgia State University College of Law, jwatford1@student.gsu.edu

[Page 27]

CRIMES AND OFFENSES

Controlled Substances: Amend Code Section 32 of Part 1 of Article 2 of Chapter 13 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Transactions in Drug Related Objects, so as to Provide that Employees and Agents of Syringe Services Programs Are Not Subject to Certain Offenses Relating to Hypodermic Syringes and Needles; Authorize the Department of Public Health to Promulgate Rules and Regulations; Provide for a Definition; Provide for Related Matters; Repeal Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes

Code Sections: O.C.G.A. § 16-13-32 (amended)

Bill Number: HB 217

Act Number: 25

Georgia Laws: 2019 Ga. Laws 25

Summary: The Act authorizes certain nonprofit organizations and hospitals to operate clean needle exchange programs. These programs allow individuals who inject drugs to exchange their needles for clean, unused needles. The purpose of these programs is to prevent the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C, and other infectious diseases associated with the repeated use and sharing of needles. The Act further authorizes the department of Public Health to regulate the registration of organizations that will participate in these programs and protects employees of those organizations from being charged with crimes or offenses associated with selling, lending, giving, or exchanging needles.

Effective Date : July 1, 2019

[Page 28]

History

Fifty-three thousand Georgians currently live with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).¹ Nationwide, forty-eight counties account for over 50% of new HIV transmissions, and four of those are in the State of Georgia: Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett.² Per commentators, multiple counties in Georgia are on the verge of a catastrophic HIV outbreak.³ Moreover, since 2010, the total report of Hepatitis C in Georgia adults aged 30-40 increased by 430%.⁴

This danger affects more than just drug users and the drug dependent population of Georgia.⁵ HIV and Hepatitis C can linger for weeks in a used needle.⁶ With this in mind, Representative Mark Newton (R-123rd) expressed concern during official Health and Human Services Committee floor discussions over the dangers posed by used needles left in parks and on playgrounds.⁷ Moreover, children and other park-goers are not the only group of innocents exposed to the risk of being stuck by one of these needles; one in three Georgia police officers will be stuck by a used needle over the course of their career.⁸

In response to similarly dire circumstances, twenty-eight states created approximately 320 needle exchange programs.⁹ After 200 people tested positive for HIV in an Indiana county in 2015, nearly 100 needle exchange clinics opened over four years.¹⁰ On July 1, 2019, the Act became effective, making Georgia one of the many

[Page 29]

states to implement a needle exchange program allowing drug users to exchange their used needles for clean ones at authorized clinics.¹¹

Prior Statute and Public Concern

Before the passage of House Bill (HB) 217, operating a needle exchange program was illegal under Georgia law. It was a criminal offense to sell, lend, give, exchange, or otherwise distribute to any person a needle or other drug related object.¹² According to Representative Houston Gaines (R-117th), however, Fulton County was not prosecuting those who participated in needle exchange programs for the drug dependent.¹³ While expressing gratitude for the community's support for these types of programs, Representative Gaines observed, "I generally don't like that [concept of saying] 'hey, we aren't [going to] enforce state law.' So, [Georgia was] already [establishing needle exchange programs], but it was not legal."¹⁴ The Act allows these programs to register and engage in harm reduction efforts in the open "instead of [doing it] behind the scenes."¹⁵

HB 217 went through the entire lawmaking process with little resistance. As Representative Gaines pointed out, "I don't know of any other bill that literally did not change a single word between introduction and final passage."¹⁶ Despite meeting little resistance from the General Assembly, there were some challenges with the public perception of HB 217 because addiction is such a complicated issue.¹⁷ Representative Gaines explained the difficulties of conveying the bill's importance and its life-saving and cost-saving benefits: "I think a lot of people don't understand this issue. They can put up a picture of someone doing drugs and say, 'Do you want needle exchanges in your neighborhood?' That's not helpful[.]"¹⁸

[Page 30]

Nevertheless, many states are moving in the direction of supporting needle exchange programs, and the overwhelming majority of the Georgia General Assembly believes establishing these programs is a positive step.¹⁹ In March 2019, President Donald Trump's administration announced its support of needle exchange programs in the hopes of reaching its goal of ending HIV transmission within a decade.²⁰ Acceptance of needle exchange programs has been widespread enough that the Georgia General Assembly was even poised to pass this exact legislation during the 2018 session.²¹ It passed unanimously in the Senate, only for the session to end before it could be sent to the Governor for signing.²² It then successfully became law after being reintroduced in the 2019 session as HB 217.²³

Bill Tracking of HB 217

Consideration and Passage by the House

Representative Gaines introduced and cosponsored HB 217 in the House.²⁴ The House read the bill for the first time on February 11, 2019.²⁵ The House read the bill for a second time on February 12, 2019, and then committed the bill to the Health and Human Services Committee on February 19, 2019.²⁶ The Health and Human Services Committee did not recommend or discuss any changes to the proposed language of the bill and recommended the bill to the House without any objection.²⁷ The House read the bill for the third time on February 25, 2019, and subsequently passed and adopted it without

[Page 31]

making any changes to the initial language.²⁸ The vote count was 166 to 3, with 7 not voting and 4 excused.²⁹

Consideration and Passage by the Senate

The Senate read the bill for the first time on February 26, 2019, and referred it to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee that same day.³⁰ The Committee unanimously reported the bill favorably with its original language, and the Senate adopted and passed the bill by a vote of 45 to 4 on March 25, 2019.³¹

The House then sent the bill to Governor Brian Kemp (R) on March 29, 2019, and Governor Kemp signed the bill on April 2, 2019.³² HB 217 became effective on July 1, 2019.³³

The Act

The Act amends Code section 16-13-32 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated by revising subsections (b) and (c) relating to transactions in drug related objects.³⁴ The overall purpose of the Act is to decriminalize certain offenses relating to hypodermic syringes and needles and to authorize the Department of Public Health to promulgate rules and regulations that will facilitate the creation of registered needle exchange programs in Georgia.³⁵

Section 1

Section 1 adds to subsections (b) and (c) of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated section 16-13-32. Subsection (b) describes unlawful acts relating to the exchange of hypodermic needles or syringes.³⁶ Until the passage of the bill, subsection (b) did not include

[Page 32]

any language about whether there were any exceptions to these offenses.³⁷ The Act revises subsection (b) by adding "Except as otherwise authorized in subsection (c) of this Code section."³⁸ The effect of adding this clause is to qualify the phrase "it shall be unlawful" so that the offensive acts listed in subsection (b) shall not be considered unlawful for the circumstances outlined in subsection (c).³⁹

Paragraph (c)(1) exposes "a person employed by or acting as an agent of a registered syringe service program" to liability for distributing needles to people in general.⁴⁰ Paragraph (c)(2), however, adds a limit to that liability exposure by explaining that such a person "shall be immune from civil and criminal liability arising from the possession, distribution, or exchange of hypodermic syringes or needles and related supplies as part of such syringe services program."⁴¹ Paragraph (c)(3) provides authorization to the Department of Public Health to promulgate rules and regulations for governing syringe services programs.⁴² Lastly, paragraph (c)(4) defines the term "syringe services program":

As used in this subsection, the term "syringe services program" means an organization which provides substance abuse and harm reduction counseling, education, and referral services for substance abuse disorder treatment;

...