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A bipartisan bill, mandating that fentanyl be added to standard hospital drug screenings when a patient is being diagnosed and treated for a suspected drug overdose, is headed for a floor vote in the Florida House following an emotional April 7 hearing in the Health and Human Services Committee.
House Bill 1195, unanimously passed 24-0, is known as Gage’s Law for Gage Austin Taylor, a 29-year-old Orlando resident who died in 2022 after taking fentanyl-laced drugs. It was initially heard March 27 in the Health Care Facilities and Systems Subcommittee, where it passed 16-0.
“Many hospitals already have this practice, so this bill would simply ensure that all patients in cases of suspected overdose or poisonings, receive the same standard of care,” bill sponsor Rep. Rita Harris, a Democrat who represents parts of Orlando, said as she introduced the bill to the Health and Human Services Committee.
The bill is also sponsored by Rep. Doug Bankson, a Republican who represents Winter Garden. He told the committee he'd heard about a mother named Megan LaDue whose 19-year-old son Wade died following a fentanyl overdose in 2023, and he "wanted to do something," at which point he realized Harris was already working on a bill. “I called her and said, Can we run this together?
“ The most frustrating issue is something that could have been prevented,” Bankson continued. “This can be prevented, and this bill will do just that. You can’t catch something you’re not looking for.”
Republican Reps. Jennifer Kincart Jonsson and Kevin M. Steele signed on as co-sponsors as did Democrat Reps. Robin Bartleman, Daryl Campbell, Joe Casello, Christine Hunschofsky and Anna V. Eskamani.
LaDue told the committee she traveled to the hearing to testify in person in support of the bill. She said when paramedics brought her son to a hospital, she begged the emergency room physician to test for fentanyl but was refused.
“ This bill is a chance to change that,” LaDue said, speaking at times through tears. “It would require hospitals and emergency departments to include fentanyl in urine toxicology screenings and confirm positive results. It would ensure that these records are documented and kept as part of the patient's medical history. This is not just a policy change, this is a life saving measure,” she said.
The bill would also help law enforcement prosecute drug dealers who use fentanyl to cut other recreational drugs to stretch the quantities and boost the high. Buyers are typically unaware the drugs they've purchased are adulterated. The Florida Sheriff’s Association and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office both supported the bill.
Lawmakers were deeply moved by LaDue’s story. Democrat Reps. Allison Tant, who represents Jefferson and Madison counties, and Marie Paule Woodson, who represents parts of Broward and Miami-Dade, both shared stories of friends and constituents reaching out to them because they lost children to fentanyl overdoses.
“I did not know so many parents were going through that,” Woodson acknowledged.
Rep. Dianne Hart, a Democrat representing Hillsborough County was the last to comment. Offering condolences to LaDue, Hart shared that she, too, had lost a child, not from fentanyl but from a “massive heart attack.”
“The pain is the same,” she said. She paused to compose herself while Woodson put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know so many people in my district that have lost their children to fentanyl. Every week, I’m writing letters, telling the parents, I’m so sorry for your loss. For them to go into a hospital and to find out that they have overdosed with fentanyl, and there’s something they could do could just save so much pain in my district.”
