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Utah committee advances HB 295 after sponsor adds treatment requirement to Good Samaritan defense
Summary
The Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee unanimously adopted the first substitute to HB 295 and voted to send the Overdose Amendments (HB 295) to the House floor; the substitute makes enrollment in treatment a precondition for an affirmative defense and excludes clear dealer-level possession from that protection.
Representative Moss urged the committee to advance the first substitute to HB 295, describing the measure as an update to Utah’s Good Samaritan framework first enacted in 2014 and aimed at saving lives while steering people into treatment.
The substitute removes an automatic dismissal on first contact and instead makes an affirmative defense available to the person experiencing the overdose if they show proof that they have enrolled in a treatment program and are given reasonable time to complete it, Representative Moss said. Moss also said the bill excludes persons whose possession appears at a dealer level (more…
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