Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Suffolk County), a member of the Homeland Security Committee, issued the following statement after his legislation, H.R. 8663, the bipartisan Detection Equipment and Technology Evaluation to Counter the Threat of (DETECT) Fentanyl and Xylazine Act passed the House of Representatives. It was the 6th bill that LaLota passed out of the House— tied for the 3rd most of any of the 74 freshmen members of the House of Representatives.
“The House has just passed the DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act, a vital step toward addressing the deadly opioid crisis sweeping our nation. This bipartisan legislation will empower law enforcement with cutting-edge technology to detect and stop the flow of lethal substances like fentanyl and xylazine before they reach our streets,” said LaLota. With over 107,000 overdose deaths last year alone, this bill is a critical measure in saving lives and protecting communities across America. I am deeply grateful to my colleagues in the House for recognizing the urgency of this crisis and swiftly passing this critical legislation and I urge the Senate to do the same.”
To read the full text of the DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act, click HERE.
To watch LaLota’s remarks before the bill’s passage, click HERE.
Background:
In June, LaLota introduced H.R. 8663, the bipartisan Detection Equipment and Technology Evaluation to Counter the Threat of (DETECT) Fentanyl and Xylazine Act, which was then passed by the House Committee on Homeland Security the following week.
The DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act would:
- Create a new statutory responsibility for the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) at the Department of Homeland Security to carry out research, development, testing, evaluation, and cost-benefit analysis to improve the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of drug detection equipment and reference libraries used by Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies;
- Establish three focus areas with flexibility to adopt other focuses in the future: (1) Portable detection equipment that requires minimal handling of sample; (2) Equipment that can separate complex mixtures with low concentrations of drugs and high concentrations of cutting agents into parts to enable detection; and (3) Technologies that use AI and machine learning to predict whether a substance is a controlled substance analog (e.g., a fentanyl analog) or other new psychoactive substance not yet included in a reference library;
- Require S&T to follow the recommendations, guidelines, and best practices set out in the federal government’s Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework; and
- Direct S&T to look to the DEA’s State and Territory Report on Enduring and Emerging Threats in establishing priorities.
This legislation is endorsed by the National Association of Police Organizations, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Sergeants Benevolent Association of the NYPD, the National Border Patrol Council, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition, Shatterproof, the National HIDTA Directors Association, and the National Association of Counties.