On Monday afternoon, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that puts new restrictions on opioid prescriptions and requires doctors to file the prescriptions electronically.

The new law is part of the state’s efforts to begin addressing the issue of opioid abuse. Gov. Reynolds signed the bill at Dubuque Medical Center, which treats opioid abuse. 

The law states that after a doctor fills out a prescription electronically, they also need to report the prescription to the state’s monitoring system.

The Iowa Department of Public Health said preliminary data showed there were 309 opioid related deaths in the state last year, including 98 deaths associated with heroin.

In recent years, the number of deaths associated with the abuse of opioid has increased. Some experts say this is mainly due to excessive prescribing by doctors.

Prior to the signing on Monday, the bill received unified support in both chambers of the Legislature. Shannon Lundgren, a Republican representative from District 57,, is the floor manager of the bill.

The new law also will send an annual report to health care providers showing how many drugs they have prescribed and how they compare with other health care providers.

In order to encourage people to report excessive use of opioid, the law provides a “good samaritan” clause to prevent people from prosecution if they report other people’s overdose behaviors.

Medical experts gave a warning to Iowa that it must be careful to avoid the increase of heroin and other illegal drug use, because other states consider this to be an unintended consequence of restricting opioid medication.