15% City/County Fund Share
Where do these monies live?
This share is distributed directly to 247 cities and counties.[1]
What can this share be spent on?
With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on the uses described Exhibit A (“Core Strategies”) and Exhibit B (“Approved Uses”) of Florida’s Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement.[3] Combined, Exhibits A and B are identical to the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E, which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.[4]
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
Localities decide autonomously (but must report plans and expenditures to the Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement). Decisionmakers for the counties and municipalities will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on Approved Purposes.[5] Counties and municipalities may also enter written agreements to pool their funds or assign their funds to another locality.[6]
The Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement created within the Florida Department of Children and Families is tasked with advising both the state and local governments on their opioid settlement spend.[7]
Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Florida does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the funds from its local share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.
Can I see how this share has been spent?
Yes (public reporting required). View the Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement’s annual reports on the Florida Opioid Settlements Portal. The state agencies, counties, municipalities, and managing entities that receive settlement funds are required to report planned and actual expenditures to the Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement,[8] who must then publish an annual expenditure report on its website.[9]
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
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. B.4(a) (“directly” to cities and counties, with amounts designated for municipalities with populations less than 10,000 redirected to their counties). See also 2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 (“Funds are disbursed directly to 247 cities and counties, and do not flow through the Department. … The funds are paid out to subdivisions annually in September by the Opioid Administrator”). ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Secs. B.1 (“all Opioid Funds shall be utilized for Approved Purposes” excepting administrative costs, attorneys’ fees, and Medicaid claw-back costs), A.1 (defining “Approved Purposes”). See also Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Secs. B.7 (“Municipalities and Counties may take no more than a 5% administrative fee from any funds that they receive or control from the City/County Fund”), B.12 (describing attorneys’ fee “Expense Fund” created out of “City/County” share). ↑
Florida’s definition of “Approved Purposes” notably includes “strategies, programming and services used to … decrease the oversupply of licit and illicit opioids.” Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. A.1. This language, which differs from the national settlement agreements, potentially allows for greater law enforcement uses of funds from this share. ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. B.4(a). See also 2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 (“Funds are disbursed directly to 247 cities and counties, and do not flow through the Department. Cities and counties determine how funds are expended in accordance with the permissible uses outlined in the Statewide Response Agreement provided by the Office of the Attorney General”). ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. B.4(e) (“The comingling Municipalities shall provide a copy of that agreement to the State and any settlement administer to ensure that monies are directed consistent with such agreement. The County or Municipality receiving any such Opioid Funds shall assume the responsibility for reporting how such Opioid Funds were utilized under this Agreement”). ↑
Fla Stat. Sec. 397.355(4)(a). ↑
Fla Stat. Secs. 397.355(4)(e) (“By June 30 of each year, each county, municipality, managing entity, or state agency that receives settlement funds from an opioid settlement shall provide information to the council related to how it intends to use settlement funds and how it intends to collect data regarding its use of funds”), (f) (“By August 31 of each year, each county, municipality, managing entity, or state agency that receives settlement funds from an opioid settlement must provide information to the council related to its expenditure of settlement funds and the results obtained from those expenditures”). See also Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Secs. B.6(h)-(i). See also 2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 (“The Department has provided forms to allow for cities and counties to begin reporting expenditures of city/county funds. The first data reported by cities and counties will be included in the next annual report”). ↑
Fla Stat. Secs. 397.355(4)(i) (“By each December 1, the council shall provide and publish an annual report. The report shall contain information on how settlement moneys were spent the previous fiscal year by the state, each of the managing entities, and each of the counties and municipalities. The report shall also contain recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature, and local governments for how moneys should be prioritized and spent in the coming fiscal year to respond to the opioid epidemic”), (j). ↑
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