DALTON, Ga. — From updating state law on narcotics to regulating a controversial form of oil and gas drilling, local lawmakers got several bills passed out of the state House of Representatives. Now, they are waiting to see if their colleagues in the state Senate will also vote for those measures.

March 3 was Crossover Day in the Legislature, the last day a bill can be passed by one chamber and go on to the other.

Among the bills that passed before Crossover Day was House Bill 231, which Rep. Bruce Broadrick, R-Dalton, sponsored.

HB 231 aims to curb artificial opioids such as fentanyl, an opioid used to treat pain in cancer patients and to sedate large animals such as elephants.

It’s 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says that overdose deaths from artificial opioids including fentanyl rose 72.2 percent in 2015, the latest year for which data are available.

Under HB 231, if the state crime lab detects fentanyl or a fentanyl component in a drug it will automatically be placed on the state schedule of controlled substances, which regulates how they may be used.

Broadrick said the bill is a routine update of the state’s schedule of controlled drugs and should pass the Senate.

The House has also passed a bill that would establish state regulations governing fracking, a process that extracts oil or natural gas from underground rocks by injecting liquid at high pressure.

Some experts believe the Conasauga shale formation in northwest Georgia holds as much as 625 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Rep. John Meadows, R-Calhoun, says low natural gas prices mean that drillers aren’t likely to start developing the area in the near future. But he says the state needs to be prepared.

Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth, has already seen one bill that he supports pass both the House and Senate.

House Bill 216 would require local governments to provide insurance coverage for certain types of cancer to firefighters.

“That passed the Senate unanimously, and we are awaiting Gov. Nathan Deal’s signature,” he said.

House Bill 150, which Ridley co-sponsored, has passed the House and is waiting on action in the Senate. It would allow local governments to place holds on motor vehicle registration for drivers who use toll lanes without paying tolls and to request the Department of Revenue to withhold tax refunds to compensate those governments for unpaid tolls and fines.