Fentanyl and endangered children
What they say
His campaign says he championed legislation to create criminal penalties when children are harmed by fentanyl exposure, and that it passed the Senate with bipartisan votes four years running.
“legislation to create criminal penalties when children are harmed by fentanyl exposure (passed the Senate bipartisanly four years running)”
What the record shows ·
Two bills carried it. Senate Bill 5010, with Senator Lynda Wilson as prime sponsor and him fourth of fifteen sponsors, passed the Senate 47 to 0 on March 1, 2023 and 48 to 1 on January 24, 2024. Senate Bill 5071, with him as prime sponsor and Democratic Senator Manka Dhingra second, passed 42 to 7 on February 5, 2025 and 40 to 9 on January 21, 2026; Senator Dhingra voted Yea all four times. Each year the House referred it to committee and it went no further.
Limit: Exact on Senate passage, on the four years, and on votes from both parties. Neither bill became law, which the campaign acknowledges in saying these causes struggled for traction in the House; the 2023 bill did get a House committee hearing on March 14, 2023. The bills extend an existing crime, endangerment with a controlled substance, to fentanyl and synthetic opioids. On the first bill he was a cosponsor rather than its author.