Assembly committee hears bill to expand Nevada substance-use response working group

Chair Brown May opened a hearing on Assembly Bill 19 on the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services and invited Attorney General Aaron Ford to present the bill expanding membership on Nevada's Substance Use Response Working Group, often called SURGE. Ford said the proposal would add representatives including a member of the general public, emergency response professionals, a representative of the Division of Child and Family Services, and the director of the Department of Indigent Defense Services, among others.

The bill would change the composition of SURGE, the working group created by the legislature in 2021 to recommend programs and advise on allocation of state and local funds to address substance misuse. "SURGE produces an annual report with recommendations on the allocation of these funds as well as policy and legislative recommendations," Ford said. He cited the statutory list of members in the transcript as "NRS 5 48.46" as the existing statute that details SURGE membership and said the working group voted to bring forward the proposed additions.

Why it matters: SURGE is an advisory body whose recommendations are used by agencies and grant programs in Nevada. Ford and Dr. Terry Kearns, SURGE's opioid coordinator, told the committee the group has influenced funding priorities, including factors used by the Fund for Resilient Nevada and the State Opioid Response grant process.

Ford said his office and SURGE members have focused substantial attention on opioids while also addressing methamphetamine and emerging drugs such as xylazine. He noted his office has secured $1.2 billion in settlements related to opioid litigation that will be distributed over the coming 20 years; SURGE provides recommendations but does not itself allocate those settlement funds. "The SURGE committee does not make determinations on how opioid funds are spent," Ford said.

Kearns described how SURGE conducts its work: the larger group is divided into three subcommittees (prevention and harm reduction, treatment and recovery, and response). Subcommittees draft recommendations, hear subject-matter experts, and forward recommendations to the full SURGE for a vote. Kearns said the group submits an annual report to the legislature and that some state grant processes give additional ranking priority to programs that match SURGE recommendations.

Committee members pressed for details. Assemblymember Hafen expressed concern that a larger panel could become inefficient; Ford and Kearns described the subcommittee structure and use of a contractor to help organize work and said they believe additional membership would be manageable and useful. Assemblymember Gonzales asked what SURGE has produced; Ford and Kearns pointed to the annual report, settlement-related planning, harm-reduction policy discussions and coordination with regional behavioral health policy boards.

Several witnesses offered testimony during the hearing. Paloma Guerrero of the Clark County Public Defender's Office testified in soft opposition, supporting the bill but requesting a conceptual amendment to specify representation from either the Clark County or Washoe County public defender's office because those offices serve Nevada's largest indigent populations. Cody Finney, speaking in a neutral position for the Division of Public and Behavioral Health, said the division (the single state agency that manages federal State Opioid Response funds) had proposed a conceptual amendment to add a division representative to increase coordination. Denise Bolanos, associate director at Return Strong, said the organization supported expansion but urged inclusion of defense, lived-experience and mental-health representation to make the panel more balanced and effective.

During public comment, Joseph Aglita, a recovery coach, urged that the committee consider multiple pathways of recovery and that courts offer alternatives to court-mandated programs that rely exclusively on a disease model of addiction. His remarks were submitted as individual public comment and were unrelated to a formal vote.

No formal motion or committee vote on Assembly Bill 19 was recorded during the hearing. Ford told the committee he would take requested amendments back to SURGE for consideration and return suggestions to the committee. Chair Brown May closed the bill hearing after questions and testimony.

The committee held no vote and took no formal action on the bill during this meeting; members were told the AG's office will relay SURGE's follow-up recommendations on proposed amendments to the committee.