Sponsors (6)
The bill expands workplace access to life‑saving opioid overdose reversal medication and annual training across private and federal sites—likely preventing overdoses—while imposing costs, logistical burdens, and some legal/administrative complications for employers, agencies, and excluded groups like USPS employees.
Employees in both private workplaces and federal worksites (including visitors) will have greater on-site access to opioid overdose reversal medication and annual training, increasing the chance of timely life‑saving responses.
Employers receive nonbinding federal guidance that gives a clear model to acquire, store, and train staff on naloxone without imposing new federal penalties, making voluntary adoption simpler for workplaces that choose to follow it.
Federal agencies have a single OSHA-related 270‑day timeline to implement workplace naloxone availability and training, promoting uniform preparedness across federal sites.
Small businesses and federal agencies will face new costs to buy, store, replace naloxone and run annual training, increasing operating expenses and potentially raising taxpayer or business burdens.
Nonbinding federal guidance may create de facto expectations that smaller employers feel pressured to follow despite limited resources, effectively shifting costs or obligations onto them.
USPS employees and Postal Service workplaces are excluded from the guidance, leaving those federal employees without the same guaranteed workplace access to overdose reversal medication and training.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
OSHA must issue employer guidance on stocking overdose reversal medication and require federal agencies to stock the medication and provide annual employee training within 270 days.
Requires OSHA to issue nonbinding employer guidance within 270 days on acquiring and maintaining opioid overdose reversal medication and on annual employee training in its use. Separately, requires OSHA to issue regulations within 270 days that mandate every federal agency to acquire and maintain opioid overdose reversal medication and provide annual employee training, explicitly including the Veterans Health Administration. The bill treats private employers and federal agencies differently: private employers receive voluntary guidance, while federal agencies face a binding regulatory requirement to stock medication and train employees. The United States Postal Service is excluded from the employer guidance definition.
Introduced February 10, 2026 by Jeff Merkley · Last progress February 10, 2026