Connecticut’s 15% local share is distributed directly to its municipalities.[1]
This share must be spent on abatement uses described in the national settlement agreements’ (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E, which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.[2]
Localities decide autonomously (but must report expenditures to Connecticut Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee). Decisionmakers for the municipalities will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on Exhibit E uses.[3] See, e.g., New Haven (reporting city’s uses of direct shares on grants to community health centers), New London (reporting on mayor’s intent to ask city’s council to establish a dedicated fund).
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Connecticut does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of opioid settlement funds from its municipalities share. This means that local governments’ opioid settlement funds may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.
Yes (public reporting required). View annual municipal settlement proceeds reports on the Connecticut Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee’s (OSAC) website. Municipalities that directly receive settlement funds must submit an annual expenditure report to the OSAC,[4] and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services must publish these reports on its website.[5]
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s Expenditure Report Tracker for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
Not applicable.
Letter to State Legislative Leaders “Re: Opioid Distributors/Johnson & Johnson Settlement.” Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut. August 3, 2021 (“The proceeds of the settlement will be distributed as follows: 85% will be distributed to the state and 15% to municipalities who sign on to the settlement agreements. (The 85% distributed to the state consists of 70% for prospective abatement efforts only, and the remaining 15% is intended for abatement generally)”). ↑
Letter to Chief Executive Officers and Counsel for Litigating Municipalities “Re: Settlement Agreement with Pharmaceutical Distributors and Johnson & Johnson: Guidance for Municipalities.” Cara Passaro, Chief Counsel to the Attorney General and Director of Legislative Affairs. July 21, 2021 (“How are the funds to be used by municipalities? Funds are to be used exclusively for opioid abatement purposes, including, but not limited to, expanding access to opioid use disorder prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery options”). See also 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”). ↑
Attorney General Tong Announces Arrival of $13.5 Million to Connecticut from $26 Billion Opioid Distributor Settlement. Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut press release. October 26, 2022. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“Fifteen percent of the settlement funds are going directly to cities and towns, with the remaining 85 percent going to the state”). See also Kevin Maloney. With CCM’s assistance, Connecticut towns and cities will receive at least $300 million in funding from national settlement on opioid costs. Connecticut Conference of Municipalities press release. No publication date available. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“we are grateful that towns and cities will receive the maximum payments – at least $300 million over the next 18 years … In October, CCM’s Board of Directors formed the Special Committee on Opioids Settlement to offer guidance to towns and cities on the receipt and dissemination of funds through the National Opioids Settlement”). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674c(e). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674d(j)(4) (“The department shall create and maintain an Internet web site where the committee shall publish … reports received from municipalities pursuant to subsection (e) of section 17a-674c”). ↑
The Opioid Settlement Fund holds 85% of Connecticut’s opioid settlement funds.[1]
With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on abatement uses consistent with the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E, which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.[3]
Subcommittees and stakeholders recommend, Connecticut Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (OSAC) decides, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services administers and oversees. The Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee,[4] which ultimately decides specific expenditures for this share,[5] consults recommendations from several stakeholders and subcommittees — including Yale’s Connecticut Opioid REsponse (CORE) Initiative[6] — before approving allocations of the Opioid Settlement Fund.[7] The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHA) then disburses funds and oversees their uses.[8]
Yes, supplantation is prohibited. State law explicitly states that the Opioid Settlement Fund’s expenditures “shall be supplemental to, and shall not supplant or take the place of, any other funds … that would otherwise have been expended for such purposes.”[9] Connecticut goes a step further by requiring the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management to submit a letter each year to the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee verifying that funds appropriated from the Opioid Settlement Fund in that fiscal year’s budget for “substance use disorder abatement infrastructure, programs, services, supports, and resources for prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction” are not less than the funds appropriated and allocated from the previous fiscal year’s budget for those purposes.[10]
Yes (public reporting required). You can view “Approved Funding Recommendation” documents on the Connecticut Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee’s website. The Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee is also required to submit an annual report to the Connecticut General Assembly that summarizes its activities and expenditures from the Opioid Settlement Fund share,[11] and the Commissioner of Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services is required to publish the report on the department’s website.[12]
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s Expenditure Report Tracker for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
Not applicable.
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674c(a)-(b). See also Letter to State Legislative Leaders “Re: Opioid Distributors/Johnson & Johnson Settlement.” Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut. August 3, 2021 (“The proceeds of the settlement will be distributed as follows: 85% will be distributed to the state and 15% to municipalities who sign on to the settlement agreements. (The 85% distributed to the state consists of 70% for prospective abatement efforts only, and the remaining 15% is intended for abatement generally)”). ↑
See, e.g., Conn. Gen. Stat. Secs. 17a-674c(f)(8) (describing allowable administrative expenses and attorneys’ fees uses), (g)(2) (describing costs “to refund to the federal government a portion of the proceeds”). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674c(f) (“Moneys in the fund shall be spent only for the following substance use disorder abatement purposes, in accordance with the controlling judgment, consent decree or settlement, as confirmed by the Attorney General's review of such judgment, consent decree or settlement and upon the approval of the committee and the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management”). Although Connecticut state law enumerates its own list of allowable abatement purposes, these are understood to function as a summary of the national settlement agreements’ “Exhibit E,” which “provides a non-exhaustive list of expenditures that qualify as being paid for Opioid Remediation. Qualifying expenditures may include reasonable related administrative expenses.” Distributor Settlement Agreement I.SS. See also Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee’s website, which links to Exhibit E as its “List of Opioid Remediation Uses.” ↑
The Committee is co-chaired by DMHAS and a municipal representative. Bylaws Article II Sec. 3. ↑
After the state Attorney General has confirmed that the use “is in accordance with the controlling judgment, consent decree or settlement” and approval from the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674c(f). ↑
Julie Parry. Amid Opioid Overdose Crisis, Yale Program in Addiction Medicine Advises State on Drug Company Settlement Spending. Yale School of Medicine website. April 30, 2024. Accessed August 12, 2024 (“faculty and staff from the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine of the Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health, comprising the Connecticut Opioid REsponse (CORE) Initiative, recently released a 66-page report outlining evidence-based funding priorities to advise the Connecticut Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (OSAC) on distribution of opioid settlement funds”). See also Introduction and Approval of Opioid Remediation Recommendations. Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee. July 11, 2023. Accessed August 12, 2024 (describing CORE report as just one type of stakeholder input). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674d(f)(1)-(3). More specifically, the OSAC’s Referral Subcommittee summarizes input from stakeholders and reviews recommendations with the Connecticut Alcohol and Drug Policy Council (ADPC). The ADPC submits prioritized recommendations to the OSAC’s Research/Data Subcommittee, who determines if the recommendation is an evidence-based or promising practice, and if evaluation is needed. If the recommendation is an evidence-based or promising practice, the OSAC Finance/Compliance Subcommittee determines whether the recommendation is an allowable use. If so, the recommendation is reported to the full OSAC, who votes on the recommendation. If approved by the OSAC, the recommendation goes to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) for approval. After approval from both OSAC and OPM, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services contracts with the provider (the state attorney general’s office reviews contract language). See Introduction and Approval of Opioid Remediation Recommendations. Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee. July 11, 2023. Accessed August 12, 2024. See also Andrew Brown. CT OKs $8M in opioid settlement money for a range of services. CT Mirror. May 14, 2024. Accessed August 12, 2024 (“Any proposal for how the money should be used has to go through a multi-step process before it can be approved by the full advisory committee. And even then, the committee has shown reluctance to dole out the money too quickly”). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674c(g)(5) (“fund disbursements shall be made by the commissioner upon approval of the committee. The commissioner shall not make or refuse to make any disbursement allowable under this subsection without the approval of the committee. The commissioner shall adhere to the committee’s decisions regarding disbursement of moneys from the fund, provided such disbursement is a permissible expenditure under this section. The commissioner’s role in the distribution of moneys after the distribution has been approved by the committee and after the review and approval required under subsection (f) of this section shall be ministerial and shall not be discretionary”). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. § 17a-674c(g)(6) (“Moneys expended from the fund … shall be supplemental to, and shall not supplant or take the place of, any other funds, including, but not limited to, insurance benefits or local, state or federal funding, that would otherwise have been expended for such purposes”). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674c(g)(6). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674f(a). ↑
Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 17a-674f(b). ↑
Here are the entities that ultimately decide how each of Connecticut’s opioid settlement shares are spent:
85% Opioid Settlement Fund share: Connecticut Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee
15% local share: local officials for municipalities