WHEREAS, in accordance with Section 49-20-201, the state participates in the Public Employees' Benefit and Insurance Program (PEHP);WHEREAS, Utah has experienced significant harm from the opioid epidemic, with thousands of Utahns suffering from opioid addiction and hundreds dying from opioid-related overdoses annually;WHEREAS, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines recommending that non-opioid therapies be considered as first-line treatments for chronic pain;WHEREAS, many health insurance plans impose utilization barriers to accessing non-opioid pain medications through:1. higher copayments and coinsurance rates compared to opioid medications;2. prior authorization requirements that delay or prevent access to non-opioid alternatives;3. quantity limits that restrict the supply of non-opioid medications; and4. formulary placement that designates non-opioid options as non-preferred or specialty drugs;WHEREAS, some health insurance plans do not apply these same requirements to opioid drugs; andWHEREAS, these coverage disparities create perverse incentives that encourage the use of opioid medications over safer non-opioid alternatives:NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein, beginning with the 2027 plan year, directs PEHP for state employees:1. to include in PEHP's drug formulary at least one clinically appropriate non-opioid prescription drug as an alternative for each opioid prescription drug; 2. not to place cost sharing, prior authorization, step therapy, or other utilization review requirements on a covered non-opioid prescription drug that are more restrictive than the requirements placed on a covered opioid prescription drug; and3. to implement this resolution within an appropriation of $150,000 and to request an additional appropriation if the cost for complying with this resolution were to exceed $150,000.