10% State Share
Where do these monies live?
This share is held by the Colorado Attorney General and Colorado Department of Law (“the state”).[1]
What can this share be spent on?
In general, and with limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on forward-looking abatement uses consistent with the national settlement agreements’ (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E,[3] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
Opioid Crisis Recovery Funds Advisory Committee guides, State Attorney General decides. Colorado’s Attorney General and Department of Law, which are collectively referred to as the Colorado Attorney General's Office, ultimately decides specific expenditures for this share after consulting with the Opioid Crisis Recovery Funds Advisory Committee.[4]
According to the Colorado Attorney General’s office, this share is generally intended to fund programs with “state-wide impact.”[5] More specifically, monies from this share has been used to support the state’s Opioid Response Unit, to allocate funds for Colorado’s two federally recognized tribes,[6] and as grants for organizations and jails providing medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).[7] This share can also be directed toward expenditure reporting and regional planning.[8]
Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Colorado does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of opioid settlement funds from the 10% state share. This means that funds from the state share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.[9]
Can I see how this share has been spent?
Yes (public reporting required). Visit the Colorado Opioid Settlement Expenditures Dashboard. The state must annually report its expenditures from this share to the Colorado Opioid Abatement Council (COAC), and the COAC is required to publish this information on a dashboard.[10]
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
Colorado Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. A.1 (defining “Approved Purposes” to include “reasonable administrative costs associated with overseeing and administrating Opioid Funds” and “attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred in the course of the opioid litigation that are paid through the process discussed below”), D.2 (“The State will work to reduce administrative costs as much as practicable”). ↑
Colorado Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. A.1 (defining “Approved Purpose(s)” as “forward-looking strategies, programming, and services to abate the opioid epidemic as identified by the terms of any Settlement”), B.2(a) (requiring 10% state share be spent on “Approved Purposes”), B.4 (“All Opioid Funds, regardless of allocation, shall be used for Approved Purposes”), D.2 (“the State Share shall be used for Approved Purposes only”). Colorado’s Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding also provides that “Approved Purpose(s) shall mean those forward-looking strategies to abatement the opioid epidemic identified in Exhibit A or any supplemental forward-looking abatement strategies added to Exhibit A by the Abatement Council,” but this definition applies only “[i]f a Settlement is silent on Approved Purpose(s).” Colorado Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. A.1. All the national settlement agreements explicitly address approved purpose(s).See, e.g., Distributor Settlement Agreement, Sec. I.SS (“Exhibit E provides a non-exhaustive list of expenditures that qualify as being paid for Opioid Remediation. Qualifying expenditures may include reasonable related administrative expenses”). ↑
Colorado Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. D.2 (“The State maintains full discretion over distribution of the State Share anywhere within the State of Colorado”), A.14 (defining “the state” to mean “the State of Colorado acting through its Attorney General and the Colorado Department of Law”); Colo. Rev. Stat. Sec. 27-81-118(4) (requiring state attorney general to convene meeting(s) of the Advisory Committee “to seek input and recommendations from the committee on the proper expenditure of the funds receive [by the state]”). See also Opioid Crisis Recovery Funds Advisory Committee. Colorado Attorney General’s website. Accessed August 26, 2024 (the “Opioid Crisis Recovery Funds Advisory Committee … is tasked with advising and collaborating with the Department of Law on the use of any funds received by Colorado as a result of an opioid addiction-related settlement or damage award for which the use of the funds is not predetermined or committed by other orders”). ↑
State Share and Infrastructure Funds. Colorado Attorney General’s website. Accessed August 26, 2024 ↑
State Share and Infrastructure Funds. Colorado Attorney General’s website. Accessed August 26, 2024 ↑
See Combating the Opioid Crisis. Colorado Attorney General’s website. Accessed August 26, 2024 (describing Opioid Abatement Innovation Challenge grants to organizations, and a one-time grant to jails for MOUD programming). ↑
Id. ↑
This share is overseen by the Opioid Crisis Recovery Funds Advisory Committee and is not subject to the Colorado Opioid Abatement Council’s 2024 Recommendations and Guiding Principles for the Use & Management of Opioid Settlement Funds from COAC. June 13, 2024 (“Add to or expand effective programming rather than supplanting existing funds”). ↑
Colorado Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. D.3 (“the State shall provide all expenditure data, including administrative costs, from the State Share to the Abatement Council for purposes of maintaining transparency in accordance with Section (C)(4)(c)(i). The Abatement Council may require the State to provide additional outcome-related data in accordance with Section (C)(4)(c)(ii)”). The Colorado Opioid Abatement Council is also required to “develop a centralized dashboard or other repository for the publication of expenditure data from any Party or Regional Council that receives Opioid Funds” (i.e., the Colorado Opioid Settlement Expenditures Dashboard). Colorado Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. C.4.c(i). See also Expenditure Data Reporting Policy. Colorado Opioid Abatement Council. June 7, 2023. Accessed August 26, 2024. ↑
Last updated
