RHB/4/19
Sponsored by Madeline Schneider, Darby Wheeler of Brentwood High School
This legislation was filed in the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services category
Presented as part of the YIG Volunteer 2024 conference
| 1 | BE IT ENACTED BY THE TENNESSEE YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT |
| 2 | Section 1: Terms in this act will be defined as follows: |
| 3 | a) Bar: A place where the primary goods sold are drinks, especially alcoholic drinks. Note that this |
| 4 | definition does not include restaurants that also serve alcoholic beverages. There are 1,793 bars in |
| 5 | Tennessee as of January 9, 2024. |
| 6 | b) Public bar: A bar that doesn’t require membership and is open to the public during operating |
| 7 | hours. |
| 8 | c) Naloxone: Generic name for Narcan (4 mg dose), a one time use nasal spray that reverses the |
| 9 | effects of an opioid overdose in minutes, with a 3 year shelf life. |
| 10 | d) Overdose: An excessive and dangerous dose of a drug, often combined with nausea, seizures, |
| 11 | abdominal cramping, confusion, drowsiness, chest pain, dizziness, loss of balance, being |
| 12 | unresponsive but awake, etc. |
| 13 | e) Good Samaritan Law: An individual who, in good faith, provides emergency first aid and rescue |
| 14 | services at the scene of an accident, en route to a medical facility, or at a medical facility will not |
| 15 | be held legally responsible for acting or for failing to act. |
| 16 | f) Naloxone Exchange: An online pharmacy that mails Naloxone in most states, including |
| 17 | Tennessee. |
| 18 | g) Excise Tax: A 6.5% tax on net earnings. All persons, except those with nonprofit status or |
| 19 | otherwise exempt, are subject to the corporate excise tax on the net earnings from business |
| 20 | conducted in Tennessee for the fiscal year. |
| 21 | h) Net Earnings: The total revenue minus expenses, interest, and other taxes. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Section 2: Under current Tennessee law, there are no deductions given to bars that have any form |
| 24 | of Naloxone on their premises. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Section 3: When enacted, this act will create a voluntary Naloxone program that will allow for bars |
| 27 | to decrease their excise tax by 0.5%, with a maximum deduction of $1000 from the total excise |
| 28 | tax owed per fiscal year, if they chose to participate. The maximum deduction of $1000 would be |
| 29 | met by bars with net earnings of $200,000 or more per fiscal year. For example: if a business |
| 30 | originally paid a 6.5% excise tax on $200,000, they would owe $13,000; however, with our |
| 31 | proposal, the business would only pay a 6% excise tax which would equate to $12,000 owed. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Section 4: In order to participate in this program and receive the tax deduction, bars must have a |
| 34 | minimum of 4 doses or 16 mg of any form of a FDA approved Naloxone nasal spray available on |
| 35 | the premises at all times. After each Naloxone dosage is given or if the Naloxone expires, the bar |
| 36 | will have to replace the used Naloxone to meet the minimum of 4 doses or 16 mg; there will be a |
| 37 | one week window for obtaining a replacement of used or expired Naloxone. Once administered |
| 38 | |
| 39 | Section 5: Participation in the program also requires public bars to fill out an additional portion of |
| 40 | paperwork when filing taxes for the fiscal year, providing evidence (i.e. receipts) for the purchase |
| 41 | and upkeep of Naloxone, as well as stating their intent to participate in this deduction program. |
| 42 | |
| 43 | Section 6: The presence of Naloxone nasal spray will be verified by the Tennessee Department of |
| 44 | Health, which will send, at minimum, one health inspector per six month window. This will come at |
| 45 | no extra cost as the health inspector will add it to the list of things they already verify and check |
| 46 | for. If it is found the bar has been falsely reporting the presence of Naloxone, they will be fined |
| 47 | $1000 per inspection. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | Section 7: The Tennessee Department of Health requires a health report to be available at any |
| 50 | store open to the public upon request. The information about the availability of Naloxone will also |
| 51 | be found on the health score, though it will not factor into the score itself. Furthermore, |
| 52 | information regarding the availability of Naloxone in the bar must be displayed alongside other |
| 53 | already mandated drinking warnings whether or not the bar chooses to participate in the Naloxone |
| 54 | tax reduction program. |
| 55 | |
| 56 | Section 8: Two doses of a 4 mg Narcan nasal spray (8 mg total) can be purchased by individuals |
| 57 | or businesses at a minimum of $39 through the Naloxone exchange, without a prescription. |
| 58 | |
| 59 | Section 9: Additionally any aid provided or administered using Naloxone will be protected under |
| 60 | the Good Samaritan law. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | Section 10: This program will come at no direct cost to the state, as bars will be purchasing the |
| 63 | Naloxone if they desire to participate. Since Tennessee collects more than 7.33 billion dollars (on |
| 64 | the low end) in excise, sales, use, and franchise tax per fiscal year, the maximum possible |
| 65 | deduction in tax would equate to a total of 1.793 million or a .024% decrease of the total amount |
| 66 | the Tennessee government accumulates from excise tax. Though the actual number would be |
| 67 | considerably lower since not every bar will reach the maximum deduction for the excise tax under |
| 68 | this program. |
| 69 | |
| 70 | Section 11: All laws or parts of laws in conflict with this are hereby repealed. |
| 71 | |
| 72 | Section 12: This act shall take effect by January 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it. |
| 73 |