[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 3, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Tyler's Law

  Mr. BANKS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a very 
important and potentially lifesaving bill that I have introduced called 
Tyler's Law. But before I talk about what this law and this bill would 
do, I want to tell you a little bit about who it is named after.
  Tyler Joseph Shamash was a bright, inquisitive, and compassionate boy 
from California. He was adventurous. He loved computers. He was 
interested in Bitcoin before most people had even heard of Bitcoin. He 
had a knack for building and fixing things. Tyler's mother Juli said 
that Tyler was ``like a little professor.''
  But in his early teens, Tyler started using marijuana and eventually 
became addicted to hard drugs. His family did what any family would 
do--they tried to help him with therapy programs and sober living 
facilities--but Tyler continued to struggle with addiction. At one 
point, he overdosed.
  On top of all of this, Tyler's family and doctors didn't know what 
the drugs that he was taking were or that they were laced with 
fentanyl.
  In October of 2018, Tyler was taken to the hospital from his sober 
living house with a suspected overdose. At the hospital, Tyler was 
administered a standard drug panel, which came back clean, so he was 
eventually discharged. Shortly thereafter, though, Tyler died of a 
fentanyl overdose. He was just 19 years old.
  When Tyler was still in the hospital, just hours before he passed, 
his mother Juli came to meet him there and asked the doctors if the 
drug test was really clean. She repeatedly asked if the drug panel 
tested for fentanyl. She was told yes, the drug panel did test for 
fentanyl because fentanyl is an opioid, is what she was told.
  Tragically, that is just not true. Many doctors are unaware that the 
standard drug panels that many emergency rooms administer don't detect 
fentanyl because fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. This is a well-known 
problem. The College of American Pathologists has highlighted it. The 
Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine has warned labs about 
it. The Emergency Nurses Association has been advocating for a 
solution. But the problem continues.
  Sadly, fentanyl overdoses are a common story, and a lot of families 
in my State, Mr. President, and I know in your State, too, know what it 
is like to have a loved one who has suffered from a fentanyl overdose.
  If Tyler's family and doctors who were treating him had known that 
Tyler was suffering from a fentanyl overdose, they could have given him 
a higher level of care. Perhaps things might have turned out a whole 
lot differently, though we can never know for sure.
  But one thing is clear: Tyler deserved to be tested. Thousands of 
Americans poisoned by fentanyl deserve to be tested so that they can 
receive the proper level of medical care.
  Since Tyler's tragic passing, his mother Juli, who joins us in the 
Gallery today, has been on a mission to make sure that other parents do 
not have to suffer the same unimaginable heartbreak that she did.
  I have had the pleasure to meet with Juli and so many other moms and 
dads who have been affected by this, and I can say that Juli has turned 
tragedy into action, and she is an inspiring woman. That is why I was 
honored to introduce Tyler's Law with my colleague Senator Padilla from 
California--truly a bipartisan effort--and it is why I was proud when 
the HELP Committee, of which I am a member, reported out Tyler's Law 
unanimously just a couple of weeks ago.
  Tyler's Law directs the Department of Health and Human Services to 
study whether hospital emergency departments should routinely test 
overdose patients for fentanyl. Based on the study's results, HHS will 
also issue guidance to hospitals about whether and how they should 
implement fentanyl testing in the emergency room.
  This is really simple and common sense.
  It is hard to overstate just how badly needed this law is.
  President Trump is aggressively going after the drug traffickers 
flooding our streets with deadly drugs, but the fentanyl epidemic is 
still taking far too many American lives. Synthetic opioids like 
fentanyl killed about 48,000 Americans in 2024, and it continues to 
kill thousands more each and every month.
  But we could save many of those lives if emergency rooms were better 
equipped to detect and treat fentanyl overdoses. That is why it is so 
important that HHS help hospitals adopt effective fentanyl testing.
  I am pleased to see that Tyler's Law has bipartisan support and that 
that support continues to grow. I look forward to bringing Tyler's Law 
to a vote on this floor--the Senate floor--soon so that we can begin to 
potentially save many, many lives.
  Tyler's life was cut short by fentanyl, but if we can pass Tyler's 
Law, if we can take this important step in making sure that those 
battling fentanyl or different drug addictions get the care and the 
testing that they need, then Tyler's everlasting legacy will be saving 
lives.
  And I am for that, Mr. President, and I know you are for that. And I 
hope that my colleagues will join me in supporting this bill when it 
comes to the Senate floor soon.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.

                          ____________________