2/3 Local Share
Where do these monies live?
Cities’ and counties’ combined 2/3 share is held by the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (ARORP),[1] a joint body formed in 2022 as a partnership between the Arkansas Municipal League (AML) and the Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC).[2] Funds from this share are ultimately distributed to ARORP grantees by an appointed settlement fund administrator.[3]
What can this share be spent on?
With limited exceptions,[4] funds from the 2/3 local share must be spent on “Approved Purposes” (as defined by the Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding) and consistently with applicable settlement agreements.[5] In practice, the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership uses the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E — which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies — to guide spending from this share.[6]
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
Advisory Board recommends, leadership of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership decides. Leadership of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership — ARORP’s director, AML’s executive director, and AAC’s executive director — ultimately decide specific expenditures for this share after consulting recommendations made by ARORP’s Advisory Board.[7]
The ARORP describes an application process that includes:
Applicants obtaining local approval from mayor(s) and county judge(s)
Application submission and an initial review by the ARORP team
Evaluation and approval by the ARORP Advisory Board
Evaluation and approval by the ARORP leadership team
There are multiple categories of funding opportunities,[8] including a “general proposal that allows flexibility for [applicants] to submit any project related to opioid prevention, treatment, and/or recovery.”[9]
Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?
Yes, supplantation is prohibited (in practice). The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (ARORP), which oversees the 2/3 local share, has explicitly cited to proposed supplantation uses of funds in its Denial Log as reasons for denying certain funding requests.[10] Additionally, ARORP states as one of its guiding principles that it “should seek to use limited funds to supplement and expand existing public and private abatement efforts and funding, rather than supplanting or duplicating existing abatement efforts and funding,”[11] and cities’ and counties’ distribution agreements state that applications for funding from ARORP “should address the guiding principles of the Partnership.”[12]
Can I see how this share has been spent?
Yes (neither public nor intrastate reporting required). The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership has published an online dashboard of funded projects that reports on projects’ titles, organizations, counties, funding amounts. It also includes links to projects’ progress and budget reports. ARORP maintains a publicly accessible log of project proposals denied funding.
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s Expenditure Report Tracker for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
What else should I know?
Not applicable.
Citations
See About Us. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed July 8, 2024 (“the QSF administrator (Ed Gentle) who will write checks to fund approved projects”). See also Order Establishing the Arkansas Opioids Qualified Settlement Fund, Appointing the Fund Administrator, and Appointing the Custodial Bank. June 10, 2022. Accessed July 8, 2024. ↑
Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. 2.3.1, 2.4.1 (reserving up to 27% of the cities and counties share “for the payment of attorneys’ fees and associated litigation expenses”), 1.1.20 (defining “Approved Purpose(s)” to include “payment of attorneys’ fees and associated litigation expenses”). But see Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. 2.3.6, 2.4.6 (providing that any residual amounts remaining after payments of attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses are returned to the Cities Opioid Settlement Fund and Counties Opioid Settlement Fund, respectively). ↑
Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. 1.1 (defining “Approved Purpose(s)” to mean 19 general categories of interventions along with attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses), 2.2 (“All Opioid Funds, regardless of allocation, shall be utilized in a manner consistent with the Approved Purposes, any settlement agreements, and all orders approving settlements”). Note that Arkansas’ MOU’s definition of “Approved Purposes” includes a broader allowance for law enforcement expenditures than Exhibit E. See Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. 1.1.14 (“Support law enforcement expenditures relating to the opioid epidemic”). ↑
FAQs for City and County Officials. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. Accessed July 8, 2024 (“The settlement funding can only be used for certain purposes. Exhibit E, found at www.arorp.org/funding-opportunities/, specifies exactly how settlement funds must be used. Thus, organizations who are seeking to create or expand a project in opioid prevention, treatment, or recovery can apply to ARORP for funding. The ARORP Advisory Board will use Exhibit E to evaluate each proposal that comes in”). ↑
As of August 14, 2024, available funding categories include General Funding, Overdose Response Team Funding, Naloxone Community Hero Project Funding, and Sentinel Project. See Funding Opportunities. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed August 14, 2024 ↑
General FAQs. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. March 2023. Accessed August 14, 2024 (“We want you to assess your community's needs and submit a proposal to address existing gaps in services”). See also General Proposal. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. March 2023. Accessed August 14, 2024 (requiring applicants to include sign-off from mayors and county judges). ↑
See ARORP Denial Log. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed July 8, 2024. ↑
Cities Distribution Agreement, Sec. 8; Counties Distribution Agreement, Sec. 8. See also FAQs from City and County Officials. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. March 2023. Accessed September 1, 2024 ("How will funding reach cities and counties?” “The ARORP Advisory Board will use Exhibit E to evaluate each proposal that comes in. The funding is meant to be startup money; the money is not meant to replace or supplant existing funding”); General FAQs. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. Accessed July 8, 2024 (“The money is not meant to replace or supplant existing funding”) (emphasis in original). ↑
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