RI House, Senate approve Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act

The legislation now heads to Governor Raimondo, who is expected to sign it into law Wednesday at a 2:30 p.m. ceremony at Anchor Recovery Community Center in Pawtucket.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island lawmakers in both the House and the Senate cast final votes Tuesday night to approve legislation to protect anyone who seeks medical help for someone experiencing an opioid overdose from criminal prosecution.

The House voted 71 to 0 to approve the Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Act of 2016; the Senate vote was 35:1, with Sen. Frank A. Ciccone, III, D-North Providence, casting the sole no-vote.

The legislation now heads to Governor Raimondo, who is expected to sign it into law Wednesday at a 2:30 p.m. ceremony at Anchor Recovery Community Center in Pawtucket.

The identical Senate and House bills reinstate a 2012 law that expired in July and expands the protections to cover crimes related to illegal drug possession and the operation of a "drug-involved premises." The legislation also extends the immunity to prevent potential probation or parole violators at the scene of an overdose from being returned to prison.

Final approval by both chambers comes nearly eight months after the 2012 law expired after state lawmakers, at odds over the scope of the law’s reauthorization, failed to reach an agreement before the 2015 session ended.

The legislation has been described as a compromise between the Rhode Island Medical Society and public-health advocates, who sought to expand immunity provisions, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, who previously objected to the limited immunity provisions in the law.

larditi@providencejournal.com/On Twitter: @LynnArditi