HERO Act

Helping Educators Respond to Overdoses Act or the HERO Act

This bill establishes a grant program to provide schools with opioid overdose reversal drugs and requires reporting related to the distribution of such drugs.

First, the bill requires the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to award competitive grants to eligible entities for (1) purchasing approved opioid overdose reversal drugs; and (2) developing and implementing educational programming or resources to promote student and community knowledge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, drug-use prevention and intervention, and emergency responses to drug overdoses. Eligible entities include private elementary and secondary schools, local educational agencies (LEAs), charter schools that are LEAs, and consortia of LEAs.

Second, the bill requires a covered educational institution (i.e., a private school, LEA, or charter school that is an LEA) that receives federal funds to submit a description of any distribution of an opioid overdose reversal drug by such institution to the National Emergency Medical Services Information System and the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.