Senate BillFailedHealth and Safety
SB 548: California Overdose Death and Addiction Reduction Act of 2025.
What SB 548 does, verified February 3, 2026
The bill aims to reduce alcohol- and drug-related addiction deaths by 50% over a five-year period. The California Health and Human Services Agency must direct a task force to create a set of recommendations to support an implementation plan by January 1, 2028. The task force should include representatives from various entities, experts, and providers. The agency must adopt the recommendations and consider quality and performance measures to establish minimum standards for effective service delivery. The agency must also provide a report to the governor and legislature by July 1, 2033, detailing the progress made and the effectiveness of the recommendations.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
2In CommitteeCurrent
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. (2026-02-02)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions14 total · showing 5
| Feb. 02, 2026 | Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. |
| May. 23, 2025 | May 23 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. |
| May. 20, 2025 | Set for hearing May 23. |
| May. 19, 2025 | May 19 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file. |
| May. 09, 2025 | Set for hearing May 19. |
Latest bill textAmended version, May 5, 2025 · 713 words
| Amended IN Senate May 05, 2025 |
| Amended IN Senate March 24, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 548
| Introduced by Senator Reyes |
February 20, 2025 |
An act to add Section 1347 Division 10.3 (commencing with Section 11720) to the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 548, as amended, Reyes. California Overdose Death and Addiction Reduction Act of 2025.
Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, which includes departments charged with the administration of health, social, and other human services. Under existing law, the Legislature finds that state government has an affirmative role in alleviating problems related to the inappropriate use of alcoholic beverages and other drug use and that its major objective is protection of the public health and safety, particularly where problems related to inappropriate alcohol use and other drug use are likely to cause harm to individuals, families, and the community. The agency convened the Behavioral Health Task Force to inform its work on behavioral health issues across the state.
This bill, the California Overdose Death and Addiction Reduction Act of 2025, would require the California Health and Human Services Agency, on or before January 1, 2028, to direct the task force, or a successor group, to create a set of recommendations to support a five-year an implementation plan for reducing alcohol- and drug-related addiction deaths by 50% by 2031 and convene a state advisory group for the purposes of advising the agency on those recommendations. on or before 5 years from the date the task force provides the recommendations to the agency, but no later than January 1, 2033. The bill would require the advisory group to consist of authorize the task force to include additional members as deemed appropriate by the agency, including representatives from specified entities, including the State Department of Health Care Services, experts, and providers, among others. The bill would require the agency to adopt the recommendations provided by the advisory group task force and require the agency to consider specified information, including quality and performance measures to establish minimum standards for effective delivery of services.
The bill would require the agency agency, on or before July 1, 2033, to provide the Governor and the Legislature a report of the findings and recommendations related to the extent that the 2031 2033 goal was met and how effective the recommendations of the advisory group task force were, and recommendations for beyond 2031 2033 that will continue to reduce overdose deaths and addiction.
The bill would also make related findings and declarations.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
This act shall be known, and may be cited as, the California Overdose Death and Addiction Reduction Act of 2025.SEC. 2.
(a) The Legislature makes the following findings and declarations:(1) In 2023, approximately 12,710 more than 11,000 Californians died because of fentanyl and other overdose deaths — an increase of over 160 percent since 2017. deaths. California’s overdose death toll increased by 4 percent in 2023, while the number of deaths nationally declined for the first time in five years.
(2) Excessive alcohol use resulted in an additional death toll of almost 20,000.
(3)Over 1,100,000 individuals who presented at California emergency departments in 2021 were diagnosed with a substance use disorder; this is about one in seven visits.
(4)
(3)
Drug-related overdose deaths were the sixth leading acute cause of death with an age-adjusted death rate of(5)
(4)
New addiction medications and treatment strategies can dramatically reduce overdose deaths and reduce heavy drinking. Contingency management treatments strongly reduce stimulant use.(6)
(5)
Almost 30,000,000 Californians are enrolled in health plans regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care and have coverage that includes treatment for substance use disorder.(7)
(6)
Current measures for post-emergency department followup care report that only 28.6 percent of Medi-Cal members who visited an emergency department for an overdose or substance use disorder diagnosis received followup care after 30 days.Text of SB 548 as amended, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions