It has been a busy week in Austin as lawmakers try to find ways to stem the fentanyl crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Families believe changes in the law can save lives, but there’s only a month left to get it done. The Legislative session ends on Memorial Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many North Texans have been involved in the progress some bills are making in the Capitol, including Carrollton Police Chief Roberto Arredondo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I have never come to the Capitol, to testify on anything,\u201d he said in front of lawmakers during a House committee hearing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Arredondo says he\u2019s doing it for the future of his city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’re fighting the good fight,\u201d he told NBC 5 on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He spoke this week in support of House Bill 1581<\/a>, which would increase felony offenses for drug dealers tied to overdoses or deaths. The bill\u2019s next step is to move off to the House floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I know they get it and they understand the struggles and our plight. I felt very good coming away from that committee meeting that they were going to act in our favor,\u201d said Arredondo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carrollton has seen nearly a dozen overdoses and three deaths among school children in a matter of months earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat’s frustrating about it is people know what it does. But the addiction to the opioid is so strong that they can’t fight it, as they should,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arredondo says this bill and ones like it can\u2019t pass soon enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe’re depending on them to give us the resources we need so that we can rid our great communities of this poison,\u201d he said. “We need to have stronger laws that will help us prosecute these manufacturers and dealers that are supplying our kids with this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Debbie Petersen of Carrollton also testified with the chief this week, sharing the loss of her adult son Matt last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “He stopped breathing within one minute and all of his dreams were crushed,\u201d she said. “I am hoping that Austin will step up and be the voice of my child, Matt Harvey, as well as the hundreds and thousands that have died due to fentanyl.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n With just weeks to go before the session ends, time is running out to address numerous fentanyl bills in Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We’re in crunch time right now. We’re needing bills to get through the House as well as the Senate on harm reduction and as well as prevention and education,\u201d said Stefanie Turner, founder of Texas Against Fentanyl<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turner lost her 19-year-old son, Tucker Roe, to an illicit Percocet pill that was bought from a peer on social media. After his passing, she immediately began sharing Tucker\u2019s story to help prevent others from suffering the deadly effects of this dangerous drug that is devastating our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She has also been busy this session connecting with other mothers and lawmakers, following the progress of the bills that can alter the fentanyl crisis. She\u2019s pushing for a bill that would require fentanyl education in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy son, the first time that he used, he did not know what fentanyl was and neither did I,\u201d said Turner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another bill, House Bill 6, calls for prosecuting fentanyl deaths as murder<\/a>. Both the education bills and HB6 are making progress in the House and Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a key senate bill calling to legalize fentanyl detecting test strips is stalling. It led to protesters taking over parts of the Capitol on Thursday<\/a>, demanding more action before the session ends in a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don’t feel that it’s happening fast enough,\u201d said Turner. “We know fentanyl was a priority item and we’re still not making much headway through the Senate yet. So we need those bills to get on through.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has been a busy week in Austin as lawmakers try to find ways to stem the fentanyl crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1670,"featured_media":7764329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-04-29T01:35:38Z","apple_news_api_id":"65c274e9-9273-4ed3-b100-7eca1b229498","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-04-29T01:35:38Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AZcJ06ZJzTtOxAH7KGyKUmA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"syndicated_id":"","should_nationalize":false,"nbc_subtitle":"","nbc_first_published_date":"April 28, 2023","nbc_prevent_modified_update":false,"nbc_linkout_title":"","nbc_linkout_url":"","nbc_linkout_excerpt_link":"","nbc_primary_category_id":1098,"nbc_primary_tag_id":168,"nbc_alexa_brief":"","nbc_social_page_title":"","nbc_page_title":"Fentanyl Bills Move Forward in Texas Legislature","nbc_seo_description":"It has been a busy week in Austin as Texas lawmakers try to find ways to stem the fentanyl crisis.","nbc_social_description":"","nbc_national_headline":"","entities":"","lede_video_id":"1:8:3246758","lead_embed_url":"","featured_media_caption":"","nbc_canonical_market":"","nbc_canonical_url":"","nbc_hide_from_recirculation":"","nbc_hide_from_search":"","dark_mode":"","title_below":"","disable_copyright":"","copyright_override":"","nbc_syndication_category":"","nbc_national_collections":[],"nopreroll":false,"ninja_forms_form":"","sst_source_id":"","nbc_disable_legacy_embeds":false,"nbc_legacy_processEmbedsFirst":"","cnbc_logo":"","cnbc_linkout":"","nbc_feed_loader_prevent_updates":"","post_video_prompt":"","should_automatic_app_promotion":"1","should_automatic_app_ad":"1","nbc_checkout_experience_enabled":false,"should_linkout_to_syndication_parent":"","cnbc_data_hash":"","sponsor_image":0,"sponsor_url":"","rsn_disable_insider":false,"nbc_updated_post_date":"","feed_remote_id":"","feed_thumbnail_url":""},"categories":[1098,1145],"tags":[780355,3292,168],"nbc_push_tag":[],"sensitivity":[],"collection":[291211,1102,1147],"source":"","prepublish_checks":{"nbc\/require-category":{"status":"complete","message":"Article has categories.","data":null},"nbc\/require-tag":{"status":"complete","message":"Article has tags.","data":null},"nbc\/validate-lead-embed":{"status":"complete","message":"Lead Embed empty.","data":null},"nbc\/published-lead-video":{"status":"complete","message":"Article has published lead video.","data":null},"nbc\/page-slug":{"status":"complete","message":"Post is not a page.","data":null}},"apple_news_notices":[],"network_object_id":"1:8:3246817","post_brand":"NBC","rights":{"1:1":0,"1:2":0,"1:3":0,"1:4":0,"1:5":0,"1:6":0,"1:7":0,"1:8":1,"1:9":0,"1:10":0,"1:11":0,"1:12":0,"1:13":0,"1:14":0,"1:15":0,"1:16":0,"1:17":0,"1:18":0,"1:19":0,"1:20":0,"1:21":0,"1:22":0,"1:23":0,"1:24":0,"1:25":0,"1:26":0,"1:27":0,"1:28":0,"1:29":0,"1:30":0,"1:31":0,"1:32":0,"1:33":0,"1:34":0,"1:35":0,"1:36":0,"1:37":0,"1:38":0,"1:41":0,"1:42":0,"1:43":0,"1:44":0,"1:45":0,"1:46":0,"1:47":0,"1:48":0,"1:49":0,"1:50":0,"1:51":0},"syndication_rights":{"1:1":0,"1:2":0,"1:3":0,"1:4":0,"1:5":0,"1:6":0,"1:7":0,"1:8":1,"1:9":0,"1:10":0,"1:11":0,"1:12":0,"1:13":0,"1:14":0,"1:15":0,"1:16":0,"1:17":0,"1:18":0,"1:19":0,"1:20":0,"1:21":0,"1:22":0,"1:23":0,"1:24":0,"1:25":0,"1:26":0,"1:27":0,"1:28":0,"1:29":0,"1:30":0,"1:31":0,"1:32":0,"1:33":0,"1:34":0,"1:35":0,"1:36":0,"1:37":0,"1:38":0,"1:41":0,"1:42":0,"1:43":0,"1:44":0,"1:45":0,"1:46":0,"1:47":0,"1:48":0,"1:49":0,"1:50":0,"1:51":0},"syndication":{"nationalized":false,"syndicated":false,"syndicated_out":false,"linked":true,"id":"","site_id":""},"content_blocks":[{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n It has been a busy week in Austin as lawmakers try to find ways to stem the fentanyl crisis.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Families believe changes in the law can save lives, but there's only a month left to get it done. The Legislative session ends on Memorial Day.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Many North Texans have been involved in the progress some bills are making in the Capitol, including Carrollton Police Chief Roberto Arredondo.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \"I have never come to the Capitol, to testify on anything,\u201d he said in front of lawmakers during a House committee hearing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n But Arredondo says he\u2019s doing it for the future of his city.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \"We're fighting the good fight,\u201d he told NBC 5 on Friday.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n He spoke this week in support of House Bill 1581<\/a>, which would increase felony offenses for drug dealers tied to overdoses or deaths. The bill\u2019s next step is to move off to the House floor.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \"I know they get it and they understand the struggles and our plight. I felt very good coming away from that committee meeting that they were going to act in our favor,\u201d said Arredondo.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Carrollton has seen nearly a dozen overdoses and three deaths among school children in a matter of months earlier this year.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \u201cWhat's frustrating about it is people know what it does. But the addiction to the opioid is so strong that they can't fight it, as they should,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Arredondo says this bill and ones like it can\u2019t pass soon enough.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \u201cWe're depending on them to give us the resources we need so that we can rid our great communities of this poison,\u201d he said. \"We need to have stronger laws that will help us prosecute these manufacturers and dealers that are supplying our kids with this.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Debbie Petersen of Carrollton also testified with the chief this week, sharing the loss of her adult son Matt last year.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \"He stopped breathing within one minute and all of his dreams were crushed,\u201d she said. \"I am hoping that Austin will step up and be the voice of my child, Matt Harvey, as well as the hundreds and thousands that have died due to fentanyl.\"<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n With just weeks to go before the session ends, time is running out to address numerous fentanyl bills in Austin.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \"We're in crunch time right now. We're needing bills to get through the House as well as the Senate on harm reduction and as well as prevention and education,\u201d said Stefanie Turner, founder of Texas Against Fentanyl<\/a>.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Turner lost her 19-year-old son, Tucker Roe, to an illicit Percocet pill that was bought from a peer on social media. After his passing, she immediately began sharing Tucker\u2019s story to help prevent others from suffering the deadly effects of this dangerous drug that is devastating our communities.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n She has also been busy this session connecting with other mothers and lawmakers, following the progress of the bills that can alter the fentanyl crisis. She\u2019s pushing for a bill that would require fentanyl education in schools.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n \u201cMy son, the first time that he used, he did not know what fentanyl was and neither did I,\u201d said Turner.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n Another bill, House Bill 6, calls for prosecuting fentanyl deaths as murder<\/a>. Both the education bills and HB6 are making progress in the House and Senate.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/paragraph","attrs":[],"namespace":"core","rendered":"\n