30-40% Sliding Regional Fund Share
Where do these monies live?
This share is distributed directly to its 20 qualified counties and the five managing entities of Florida’s 47 non-qualified counties:[1]
The 20 qualified counties are Brevard, Broward, Collier, Escambia, Hillsborough, Duval, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Miami-Dade, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, St. Lucie, and Volusia.[2] These counties, which receive their monies directly, meet all the following criteria:[3]
Have a population of 300,000 or greater[4]
Is a member of or operates an opioid task force[5]
Had an abatement plan as of December 31, 2021[6]
“[P]rovide[d] or contract[ed] with others to provide substance abuse prevention, recovery, and treatment services” as of December 31, 2021[7]
Have entered into an interlocal agreement with municipalities representing a majority of the county’s population[8]
Non-qualified counties do not receive their monies directly. Five of the state’s seven behavioral health “managing entities,” created by state law to coordinate behavioral health services throughout the state,[9] receive monies to fund services in the 47 non-qualifying counties, as part of each managing entity’s contract with the Department of Children and Families.[10]
Note: The exact percentage size of this share depends on the year. It begins with 39.95% in 2022 and decreases to 29.75% from 2037 onward.[11]
What can this share be spent on?
With limited exceptions,[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement guides, qualified counties and managing entities decide.
The 20 qualified counties who receive their monies directly ultimately decide specific expenditures for themselves, according to the terms of their interlocal agreements.[15] See, e.g., interlocal agreements from Pinellas County and Volusia County.
Shares belonging to the remaining 47 non-qualifying counties are paid through the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to the counties’ five managing entities, who must each “ensure that there are services in every County.”[16]
The Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement created within DCF is tasked with advising both the state and local governments on their opioid settlement spend.[17]
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 regional 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. State agencies, counties, municipalities, and managing entities in receipt of settlement funds are required to report planned and actual expenditures to the Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement,[18] who must then publish an annual expenditure report on its website.[19]
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, Secs. A.3, A.16, B.4(b)(ii)-(iii); Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(4). See also 2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 (see “Utilization of the Regional Funds (Fiscal Year 2022-2023) by qualified counties” and “Utilization of the Regional Funds by non-qualified counties”). Prior to distribution, this share is held in the regional subfund of the state’s Opioid Settlement Clearing Trust Fund. Fla Stat. Secs. 17.42(1)-(3)(a). ↑
2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Secs. A.16, B.4(b)(ii) ; Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(4). See also 2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 (“The Regional Funds for the qualified counties do not flow through the Department or the Managing Entities”). ↑
Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(4)(a) (“Has a population of at least 300,000 according to the United States Census Bureau population estimates as of July 1, 2019, released March 2020, or the United States Decennial Census of 2020, released August and September 2021”); Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. A.16. ↑
Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(4)(b) (“Has an opioid task force of which the county is a member or operates in connection with its municipalities or others on a local or regional basis. As used in this paragraph, the term ‘task force’ includes any department, committee, commission, or bureau established by the county to collect information related to substance abuse disorders in the county and provide that information to the county, along with recommendations on responding to the opioid epidemic, so long as the department, committee, commission, or bureau allows municipalities and others to participate in whatever process is undertaken”); Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. A.16 (defining “qualified count” and explaining the meaning of “operate” with respect to an opioid task force for the purpose of being a qualified county). ↑
Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(4)(c) (“As of December 31, 2021, has an abatement plan that has been adopted or is being used to respond to the opioid epidemic”); Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. A.16. ↑
Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(4)(d); Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. A.16. ↑
Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(4)(e) (“Enters or has entered into an interlocal written agreement with a majority of the municipalities located within the county’s boundaries. As used in this paragraph, the term “majority” means more than 50 percent of the population of the municipalities located within the boundaries of a county. For purposes of calculating a majority, individuals living in unincorporated portions of a county may not be counted”); Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. A.16. ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. A.3 (defining “Managing Entities’ as “the corporations selected by and under contract with the Florida Department of Children and Families or its successor (‘DCF’) to manage the daily operational delivery of behavioral health services through a coordinated system of care”). See also 2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 (“A Managing Entity is a corporation, created pursuant to section 394.9082, Florida Statutes, under contract with the Department, to plan and manage the daily operational delivery of behavioral health services through a coordinated system of care. There are seven Managing Entities throughout the state”). ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Secs. A.3, B.4(b)(iii). See also 2023 Annual Report. Florida Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement. December 1, 2023. Accessed August 19, 2024 (“The General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 allocated $33,897,266 to the Department for five Managing Entities to fund services in the 47 non-qualified counties. These funds were amended into five Managing Entity contracts as of September 2023”). ↑
Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(3)(a)(1)-(5) (describing regional subfund sliding scale of 47% from 2022-2027, 41% from 2028-2030, 40% from 2031-2033, 39% from 2034-2036, and 37% from 2037 onward, with these being a percentage of the 85% of Florida’s total opioid settlement funds that are held in the Opioid Settlement Clearing Trust Fund). ↑
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.4 (“Funds due the federal government, if any … will be subtracted from only the State and Regional Funds”), B.7 (“The State may take no more than a 5% administrative fee from the State Fund and any Regional Fund that it administers for counties that are not Qualified Counties. Each Qualified County may take no more than a 5% administrative fee from its share of the Regional Funds”). ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Secs. A.1, B.1, B.4(b)(ii)-(iii). See also Fla Stat. Sec. 17.42(6). ↑
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(b)(ii). ↑
Florida Opioid Allocation and Statewide Response Agreement, Sec. B.4(b)(iii) (“To the greatest extent practicable, the Managing Entities shall endeavor to expend monies in each County or for citizens of a County in the amount of the share that a County would have received if it were a Qualified County”). ↑
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). ↑
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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