Sec. 01.01.2018.30. Inter-Agency Heroin and Opioid Coordinating Council (Amends Executive Order 01.01.2017.01)

A. Establishment.There is a Governor’s Inter-Agency Heroin and Opioid Coordinating Council (the “Council”).

B. Membership.

(1) The Council is a subcabinet of the Governor and shall consist of the heads of the following State units or their designees and such other Executive Branch units as the Governor may designate:

(a) The Department of Health;

(b) The Department of State Police;

(c) The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services;

(d) The Department of Juvenile Services;

(e) The Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems;

(f) The Maryland State Department of Education; and

(G) The Maryland Emergency Management Agency.

(2) Staff members from the Offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, including the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention, will also be regular participants.

(3) Other State units may be asked to participate at the invitation of the Chair.

C. Duties.

(1) The State units listed in Paragraph B (1) (the “Agencies”) shall seek opportunities to share data with one another and with the Office of the Governor for the purpose of supporting public health and public safety responses to the heroin and opioid epidemic. The Agencies shall share the data in their possession relevant to the epidemic to the maximum extent permitted by law.

(2) The Council shall develop recommendations for policy, regulations, or legislation to facilitate improved sharing of public health and public safety information among State units.

(3) The Council shall update the Governor within 45 days of the date of this Executive Order, and biannually thereafter, on the Agencies’ efforts to address heroin and opioid education, treatment, interdiction, overdose, and recovery.

(4) On behalf of the Council, the Opioid Operational Command Center shall submit an annual report to the Governor and the public in the form of the Inter-Agency Heroin and Opioid Coordination Plan.

D. Procedures.

(1) The Lieutenant Governor shall chair the Council. The Chair shall:

(a) Oversee the implementation of this Executive Order and the work of the Council;

(b) Determine the Council’s agenda; and

(c) Identify additional support as needed.

(2) The Council shall meet on a quarterly basis, or more frequently if the members deem appropriate.

(3) In advance of each meeting of the Council, each of the Agencies shall provide updates to the Chair regarding its efforts to share public safety and public health information relating to the heroin and opioid epidemic.

(4) A majority of the Council members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business.

(5) The Council may adopt other procedures as necessary to ensure the orderly transaction of business.

E. Opioid Operational Command Center.

(1) To reflect the need for an ongoing heightened response framework to the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis, there is an Opioid Operational Command Center (the “Center”) within the Maryland Emergency Management Agency.

(2) The Center shall be managed by an Executive Director, who shall be primarily responsible for coordinating interagency activities in response to the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis throughout the State and shall be the State’s principal coordinator with local, regional, and federal counterpart organizations on issues related to the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis.

(3) The Executive Director is responsible for the daily operation and administration of the Center. The Executive Director shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor.

(4) The Center shall:

(a) Develop operational strategies to continue implementing the recommendations of the Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force authorized by Executive Order 01.01.2015.12;

(b) Continue to carry out Maryland’s centralized, coordinated response to the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis through the implementation of the Inter-Agency Heroin And Opioid Coordination Plan required by paragraph (C)(4);

(c) Collect, analyze, and facilitate the sharing of data relevant to the epidemic from state and local sources while maintaining the privacy and security of sensitive personal information;

(d) Develop memoranda of understanding among state and local agencies that provide for the sharing and collection of health and public safety information and data relating to the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl epidemic;

(e) Assist and support local agencies in the creation of Opioid Intervention Teams that will share such data;

(f) Coordinate the training of and provide resources for units of state and local government addressing the threat to the public health, security, and economic well-being of the State posed by the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis; and

(g) Provide staff to the council.

F. Opioid Intervention Teams.

(1) Prior to receiving funds from the Center, each county and the city of Baltimore (“Counties”) shall establish an Opioid Intervention Team. An Opioid Intervention Team shall include, but is not limited to, individuals with experience in:

(a) emergency management;

(b) Health;

(c) Law enforcement;

(d) Social Services;

(e) Education; and

(f) Private sector, non-profit, community, and faith based organizations.

(2) A county may designate multidisciplinary and multiagency drug overdose fatality review teams as established under Health-General Article §5-902, local addiction authorities as defined in Health-General Article §7.5-101, or local behavioral health authorities as defined in Health-General Article §7.5 101 as the Opioid Intervention Team.

(3) Opioid Intervention Teams will distribute any funds the center provides to local governments and units as provided for in the state budget.

G. Opioid Spending Plans.

(1) Each unit of state government subject to the supervision and direction of the Governor that spends funds to address the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis shall submit to the Center:

(a) By September 1 of each year, an annual spending plan for all funding used to address the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl overdose crisis;

(b) alterations to the plan that exceed $2 million; and

(c) Accounts of new spending of funds that exceed $2 million used to address the heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis.

(2) The Center shall provide advice and consent on each annual plan, alterations to the plan that exceed $2 million, and new spending of funds that exceed $2 million.

Effeective Date: December 12, 2018