The Attorney General’s (AG) settlement with three opioid distributors was finalized this year and is set for first distributions. The more than $500 million settlement will be paid over a period of 17 years beginning this month. Local governments
that were eligible and signed on to the settlement will receive a total of $215 million, paid over the 17-year period, and the State will also receive $215 million to fund opioid remediation plus an additional $46 million.
The Healthcare Authority (HCA) and the Department of Health (DOH) provided a list of recommendations to the Governor’s Office in November on how to spend the State’s portion of the first payment from the settlement.
You can find their full proposal here.
Highlights include:
- $3.7 million for a public education campaign with a focus on synthetic drug supplies, including fentanyl, and accurate harm reduction messaging for communities, law enforcement, and others. The emphasis here is on directing funding
to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities that are disproportionately affected by overdose so they can develop culturally sensitive messaging and education for their communities about overdose and related topics. They propose an additional $2.6 million for school and community-based prevention programs like community and school-based services, community prevention and wellness initiative (CPWI), and community based (CBO) grants.
- Investment in harm reduction, including nearly $5.6 million for purchasing harm reduction supplies and $13.4 million to support and improve the operational capacity of community programs that specialize in harm reduction.
The money would provide for unmet operational resource needs and establish four new health engagement hubs. Health engagement hubs will critically impact the provision of services to reduce overdose mortality, increase access
to SUD treatment and recovery services and provide comprehensive health care and social services for people who use drugs.
- $3.7 million for opioid treatment program expansion with priority given to rural, frontier, tribes (fixed or mobile).
- Additional investments would include:
- $3 million for emergency department linkages to treatment and recovery supports;
- $1 million for legal systems training and support;
- $536,000 for Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) technical support for jails;
- $1 million for prescription opioid education;
- $1 million for professional continuing education regarding fentanyl;
- $1.6 million for workforce support;
- $2.6 million for housing support;
- $2.6 million for data, surveillance, and education;
- $5.3 million for Tribal & Urban Indian Organization Set Aside; and
- $2.6 million for state administrative funds.
These recommendations came out of an HCA and DOH process that utilized the workgroups for the State Opioid and Overdose Response Plan to look at the areas of need and how the state might spend the available funds from the distributor settlement in the coming biennium. It is important to note that these are not final numbers. These recommendations will go through the Governor’s Budget process and then be presented to the Legislature
for final decisions during the 2023 legislative budget session.
Want to learn more about the opioid settlement?
- The State has a public portal page with information about the opioid settlements and their process with
an FAQ and some other resources.
- More information on the settlement agreement and the distributions expected by each entity is available on the AG's website.
- AWC recently published an article with more details on how settlement funds can be used and the requirement to form regional Opioid Abatement Councils (OACs). You can read the article here. More information on the December settlement fund distribution is available here and here.