Expands the purposes of the drug treatment and public education fund to include prevention and recovery programs; requires reporting to be made available on the office of addiction services and supports' website.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8637
IN SENATE
January 7, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. FERNANDEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to the New York state
drug treatment and public education fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 3 and 4 of section 99-jj of the state finance
2 law, as added by chapter 92 of the laws of 2021, are amended to read as
3 follows:
4 3. The moneys in such fund shall be expended to the commissioner of
5 the office of addiction services and supports and disbursed, in consul-
6 tation with the commissioner of the department of health, the office of
7 mental health, the office of cannabis management and the commissioner of
8 education for the following purposes:
9 (a) Reasonable costs incurred, subject to available appropriations, by
10 the office of addiction services and supports, to administer funds in
11 accordance with the allowable uses in paragraphs (b), (c), (d) and (e)
12 of this subdivision.
13 (b) To develop and implement a youth-focused public health education
14 and prevention campaign, including school-based prevention, early inter-
15 vention, and health care services and programs to reduce the risk of
16 [cannabis and other] substance use by school-aged children;
17 (c) To develop and implement a statewide public health campaign
18 focused on the health effects of cannabis and legal use, including an
19 ongoing education and prevention campaign that educates the general
20 public, including parents, consumers and retailers, on the legal use of
21 cannabis, the importance of preventing youth access, the importance of
22 safe storage and preventing secondhand cannabis smoke exposure, informa-
23 tion for pregnant or breastfeeding women, and the overconsumption of
24 edible cannabis products;
25 (d) To provide substance use disorder prevention, treatment
26 [programs], and recovery services for youth and adults, with an emphasis
27 on programs that are culturally and gender competent, trauma-informed,
28 [evidence-based and provide a continuum of care that includes]
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13837-07-5
S. 8637 2
1 evidence-informed, and provide care including, but not limited to, one
2 or more of the following: screening and assessment (substance use disor-
3 der as well as mental health), early intervention, active treatment,
4 family involvement, case management, drug user health services such as
5 overdose prevention[,] and prevention of communicable diseases related
6 to substance use, [relapse] reoccurrence management for substance use
7 and other co-occurring behavioral health disorders, vocational services,
8 literacy services, parenting classes, family therapy and counseling
9 services, medication-assisted treatments, psychiatric medication [and],
10 psychotherapy, and recovery services; and
11 (e) To evaluate the programs being funded to determine their effec-
12 tiveness.
13 4. On or before the first day of [February] December each year, the
14 commissioner of the office of addiction services and supports shall
15 provide a written report to the temporary president of the senate,
16 speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate finance committee, chair of
17 the assembly ways and means committee, chair of the senate committee on
18 alcoholism and [drug abuse] substance use disorders, chair of the assem-
19 bly alcoholism and drug abuse committee, the state comptroller and the
20 public. Such report shall also be presented as a consolidated dashboard
21 and be made publicly available on the website of the office of addiction
22 services and supports. Such report shall detail how the moneys of the
23 fund were utilized during the preceding calendar year, and shall
24 include:
25 (a) the amount of money [dispersed] disbursed from the fund and the
26 award process used for such disbursements, including the state agency
27 that disbursed the award;
28 (b) recipients of awards from the fund;
29 (c) the amount awarded to each recipient of an award from the fund;
30 (d) the start and end date of each award period from the fund;
31 (e) the purposes for which such awards were granted; [and
32 (e)] (f) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include
33 estimates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and
34 succeeding fiscal years, along with the actual results from the prior
35 fiscal year; and
36 (g) the amount of money remaining in the fund.
37 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
