St. Louis Health and Human Development Committee Approves Opioid Funding, Reviews Code Blue – Oct. 22, 2026

The Health and Human Development Committee of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen met at 9:04 a.m. on October 22, 2026, with Chair Boyd presiding. Four members were present, constituting a quorum. The committee approved the October 1 committee minutes, heard testimony and advanced Board Bill 94 on opioid settlement funding, and received a detailed presentation and public testimony on Board Bill 91 to codify the Code Blue emergency shelter program. No agenda or minutes document was supplied with the transcript; this summary is based on the verbatim transcript.

Consent Calendar

• Minutes of the October 1, 2026 committee hearing were approved by roll-call vote with four ayes.

Public Comments & Testimony

• James Truth (founder of an organization focused on correctional institutions) raised concerns about both bills. He asked whether any opioid settlement funds under Board Bill 94 would address the needs of people who are incarcerated or recently released from St. Louis detention facilities. For Board Bill 91, he asked whether the Code Blue program would establish a direct referral process for individuals released from the city justice center and whether they would have a realistic way to reach emergency shelter during dangerous weather.
• Dr. LJ Punch (Eighth Ward resident and community health advocate) expressed strong support for Board Bill 91, praising sustained funding and the bill’s coverage of cold, heat, and disaster. She raised one concern: that Code Blue participation should not become a mechanism of surveillance or displacement for unhoused people, and urged protective language on that point.
• Chelsea Murda Vossmeyer (former legislative assistant to Alderwoman Sonier) spoke in support of Board Bill 91. She said shelter providers need permanent, predictable funding, cited point-in-time counts of more than 500 unsheltered people in 2025 and more than 1,700 in 2026, and noted the May 2025 tornado left more than 5,000 families homeless or housing insecure. She also said the city’s after-action review identified the lack of durable funding as a huge risk, argued that codifying Code Blue with dedicated marijuana-sales-tax revenue would prevent people freezing to death while funding arrives too late, and said the bill would stop encampment sweeps during a Code Blue except for imminent dangers.

Discussion Items

• Board Bill 94 – Opioid Settlement Funding: Chair Boyd introduced the bill. Craig Schmidt (Government Services Analyst, Department of Health) said a 2025 federal report estimated illegal opioids cost the United States $2.7 trillion in 2023, and that St. Louis recorded 407 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2023 and 198 in 2025, a 50% decrease, with 114 preliminary deaths through September 30 of the current year. Bo Richman (Behavioral Health Bureau Chief) described about $3.8 million in city opioid settlement appropriations and the proposed allocation of $953,898.95. He highlighted community partners Williams and Associates and Haven Recovery, including individual success stories in treatment and housing, and other uses such as $55,000 for EMS/Fire airway ventilation equipment and medication lock boxes for St. Louis Children’s Hospital (500 already supplied and 500 more to reach 1,000). He also noted that 26 organizations applied in response to a Notice of Funding Availability; Commissioner Warrior clarified that the NOFA total was $1.2 million, not $2 million.
• Board Bill 91 – Code Blue Codification: Alderwoman Sonier presented the bill. It would put Code Blue in city code, require activation at 32°F or colder using National Weather Service overnight forecasts from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., and make the shelter response permanent. Code Blue would run November 1 through March 31, with required operation December 1 through March 31, plus daytime warming sites from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and overnight shelter beds from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. The bill would establish four access-point quadrants, free transportation, at least one pet-friendly overnight shelter, and notification through official city channels. It would create a Code Blue fund paid from the city’s existing 3% recreational marijuana sales tax, capped at $5 million per year, beginning in fiscal year 2028, with a 7.5% administrative-cost cap and reimbursement requirements if disaster funds cover costs. Alderwoman Sonier noted that Code Blue is currently governed by Executive Order 93, last winter’s operation used $3.3 million in RAM settlement interest funds, and this year’s general budget includes $2 million for Code Blue. The fund could also be used for extreme heat, other severe weather, or declared disasters.
• Marijuana fund discussion: Asked about the funding source, Alderwoman Sonier said the marijuana tax fund currently holds about $1.76 million for the calendar year, after collecting about $469,000 in its first partial year and $1.5 million last year. She said she would provide an updated figure at the committee’s next hearing.

Key Outcomes

• The chair announced that Board Bill 94 had passed the committee; Alderwoman Keys, Alderwoman Sonier, and Alderwoman Cox-Anthony added themselves as co-sponsors.
• Board Bill 91 was discussed but not voted on; a further committee hearing was scheduled for the next Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. in the Kennedy Room to continue discussion and community input.
• The committee adjourned after the presentations and testimony.