Arlington, Virginia 鈥 Yesterday, with the strong support of the 杏吧传媒, the U.S. Senate passed comprehensive legislation aimed at combating the nation鈥檚 opioid crisis. 听The bill, which cleared the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan approval, includes provisions on hair testing which 杏吧传媒 has long advocated for and worked closely with Senate Commerce Committee staff to secure in the legislation.听
The bill would direct the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to report to Congress on its progress issuing guidelines for hair testing. 听Upon enactment, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would be required within 30 days to report to the Commerce Committee on the status for hair testing guidelines, the reasons for delay in issuing guidelines, and a schedule 鈥 complete with benchmarks and an estimated date of delivery 鈥 for completion of the guidelines.听
The bill also contains reporting requirements on the development of the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse and a deadline for completing work on oral fluids testing. 听 听 听 听
鈥淲e thank Senator Thune and his staff for their continued persistence and commitment on this issue of hair testing,鈥 said Bill Sullivan, 杏吧传媒鈥檚 executive vice president of advocacy. 听鈥淥ur fleets need to depend on 鈥 and need the government to recognize 鈥 the most accurate, reliable and failsafe drug testing methods available. 听The time has come to get this done.鈥 听听
Federal law requires trucking companies to drug test new drivers and randomly test existing drivers. 听Currently, SAMHSA only recognizes the test method of urinalysis, despite the inherent advantages of hair testing, which provides employers with a longer detection window, easier collection and results that are harder to adulterate. 听The FAST Act required HHS to issue scientific and technical guidelines for hair testing by December 4, 2016 鈥 a deadline which was missed. 听
The Senate must now reconcile the bill it passed yesterday with a companion bill in the House of Representatives before it can be signed into law by the President.