Expanding Opportunities for Recovery Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9675 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9675

 To authorize the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance
  Use, acting through the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse
  Treatment, to award grants to States to expand access to clinically
    appropriate services for opioid abuse, dependence, or addiction.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 14, 2026

  Mr. Foster introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To authorize the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance
  Use, acting through the Director of the Center for Substance Abuse
  Treatment, to award grants to States to expand access to clinically
    appropriate services for opioid abuse, dependence, or addiction.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Expanding Opportunities for Recovery
Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. OPIOID ADDICTION TREATMENT.

    (a) In General.--The Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and
Substance Use, acting through the Director of the Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment (in this section referred to as the ``Assistant
Secretary'') shall award grants to States to expand access to
clinically appropriate services for opioid abuse, dependence, or
addiction.
    (b) Requirements.--As conditions on the receipt of a grant under
this section, a State shall agree to comply with the following:
            (1) The grant will be administered through the head of the
        State's primary agency responsible for programs and activities
        relating to the treatment of substance abuse.
            (2) The services through the grant will be evidence-based
        such as medication-assisted treatment for substance use
        disorder.
            (3) The services through the grant will be provided
        according to a physician or a clinician's recommendation to
        ensure that individuals receive the optimal level of substance
        use disorder treatment for the amount of time that is deemed
        medically necessary.
            (4) The services through the grant will be provided
        exclusively to individuals--
                    (A) who lack health insurance; or
                    (B) whose health insurance--
                            (i) does not cover such services; or
                            (ii) places other barriers on the receipt
                        of such services, such as--
                                    (I) limiting coverage of such
                                services to a certain period of time;
                                or
                                    (II) imposing nonquantitative
                                treatment limitations that are more
                                stringent than treatment limitations
                                imposed on other medical conditions
                                (such as a requirement to use less
                                expensive services, like outpatient
                                treatment, prior to more expensive, but
                                physician-recommended services, such as
                                inpatient or residential treatment).
            (5) The grant will not be used to pay or subsidize the cost
        of more than 60 consecutive days of opioid abuse, dependence,
        or addiction treatment in the case of any individual.
    (c) Permissible Provision of Medications.--In expanding access to
clinically appropriate services for opioid abuse, dependence, or
addiction through a grant under this section, a State may provide for
the use of medications, in conjunction with other treatment, so long as
the medications--
            (1) are lawfully marketed under the Federal Food, Drug, and
        Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.);
            (2) are clinically indicated to address the abuse,
        dependence, or addiction; and
            (3) are offered consistent with consumer choice.
    (d) Coordination.--The Assistant Secretary shall coordinate the
program under this section with the program for prevention and
treatment of, and provision of recovery support services for, substance
abuse under subpart II of part B of title XIX of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x-21 et seq.).
    (e) Evaluation; Dissemination of Information; Technical
Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--The Assistant Secretary shall--
                    (A) require States receiving a grant under this
                section to report appropriate outcome measures
                associated with use of the grant, including any--
                            (i) decreases in substance use;
                            (ii) changes in retention in care;
                            (iii) connections to the next appropriate
                        level of care;
                            (iv) decreases in involvement with criminal
                        justice activities; and
                            (v) other outcome data as appropriate;
                    (B) require States receiving a grant under this
                section to report data on individuals' length of time
                under clinically appropriate addiction treatment, and
                the use of medication-assisted treatment;
                    (C) evaluate the activities supported by grants
                under this section;
                    (D) submit to the Congress and the Secretary, and
                make publicly available on the internet site of the
                Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
                Administration, information about the results of such
                evaluation; and
                    (E) offer technical assistance to States receiving
                a grant under this section regarding activities funded
                through the grant.
            (2) Use of certain funds.--Of the funds appropriated to
        carry out this section for any fiscal year, 5 percent shall be
        available to carry out activities under this subsection.
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