HR3130-119

What This Bill Does

The FACTS Act builds a youth synthetic-opioid prevention package centered on schools and public health agencies. HHS, in consultation with the Education Department, must run a three-year competitive pilot awarding grants to up to 25 partnerships between education agencies or schools and health agencies, Tribal health organizations, or qualified substance-use nonprofits. Grants may fund classroom materials, professional development for teachers and classified school employees, workshops and multimedia campaigns for students and families, contracts with prevention nonprofits, peer-to-peer counseling, recovery programs, and other HHS-approved prevention activities. Priority goes to areas with higher youth illicit drug use, including fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, with geographic and Tribal, urban, suburban, and rural distribution. HHS may reserve up to 5 percent of appropriated funds for independent evaluation, technical assistance, best-practice sharing, and outreach to underserved rural and remote applicants. The bill creates an Interagency Task Force on Preventing Synthetic Opioid Misuse and Overdose Among Youth chaired by HHS and including Education, SAMHSA, ACF, CDC, elementary and secondary education officials, AHRQ, the Surgeon General, NIH mental health leadership, parents of youth who died from overdose, prevention nonprofits, and other representatives. It also adds naloxone to school-based health center support, requires Monitoring the Future and Youth Risk Behavior surveys to include synthetic-opioid questions beginning January 1, 2026, and requires CDC to evaluate the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System's effectiveness and reach.

Who Benefits and How

Secondary school students benefit from evidence-based fentanyl and synthetic-opioid prevention education, peer support, and recovery programming. Parents and families benefit from accessible workshops, outreach, and school-based information about youth overdose risks. Local education agencies and Bureau of Indian Education schools benefit from grant funding when they partner with qualified health agencies or nonprofits. School-based health centers benefit from naloxone-related support in responding to overdose risk. Public health researchers benefit from better federal survey and overdose-reporting data on youth synthetic-opioid misuse.

Who Bears the Burden and How

HHS program staff must run the pilot program, evaluate grants, reserve technical-assistance funds, and submit reports to Congress. Eligible school-health partnerships must submit need data, interagency agreements, culturally responsive plans, annual reports, and public web materials. Federal task force members must coordinate recommendations across HHS, Education, CDC, SAMHSA, AHRQ, NIH, ACF, and nonfederal representatives. CDC and NIDA survey administrators must revise youth drug-use data instruments beginning in 2026. Schools and health agencies must integrate new prevention activities with existing programs without supplanting other funds.

Key Provisions

• Creates a three-year HHS-Education synthetic opioid prevention grant pilot for up to 25 eligible partnerships.
• Authorizes grant uses for classroom materials, professional development, workshops, multimedia campaigns, nonprofit contracts, peer counseling, and recovery programs.
• Establishes an interagency youth synthetic-opioid prevention task force with federal officials, parents, nonprofits, and other representatives.
• Provides naloxone support for school-based health centers.
• Requires Monitoring the Future, Youth Risk Behavior, and CDC overdose-reporting work to include synthetic-opioid data.