50% State Share
Where do these monies live?
The Iowa Abatement Fund holds 50% of the state’s opioid settlement funds.[1]
What can this share be spent on?
With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreements’ (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E[3] — which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies. Additionally, at least 75% of this share must be spent on Exhibit E Schedule A’s “core strategies.”[4]
State law specifically provides that Iowa Abatement Fund monies may be used to support the opioid antagonist medication fund,[5] which funds the purchase, maintenance, and replacement of opioid antagonist medications for first responders.[6]
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
State legislature decides. The Iowa state legislature ultimately decides specific expenditures for this share.[7]
Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Iowa does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the 50% state share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.
Can I see how this share has been spent?
No (neither public nor intrastate reporting required). Opioid settlement expenditures are not officially published in a centralized location for this share.
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s Expenditure Report Tracker for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
What else should I know?
Decisionmakers for both the state and local shares have been slow to spend: lawmakers have struggled for years to pass plans to spend the 50% state share,[8] and much of the 50% local share remained unspent in fiscal year 2023 as well.[9]
Citations
Iowa Opioid Allocation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.1 (“50% to the Iowa Abatement Fund”); Iowa Code Sec. 12.51(1) (“An opioid settlement fund is created in the office of the treasurer of state. … The state portion of any moneys paid to the state as a result of a national settlement of litigation with entities that manufactured, marketed, sold, distributed, dispensed, or promoted opioids, made in connection with claims arising from the manufacturing, marketing, selling, distributing, dispensing, or promoting of opioids, shall be deposited in the fund. This subsection does not apply to such moneys paid to the state that are earmarked for or otherwise required to be transferred or distributed to counties, cities, or other local governmental entities”). ↑
Iowa Opioid Allocation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.9 (“The Parties may use up to 2.5% of the Iowa Abatement Share and the LG Abatement Share for administrative costs for Opioid Related Expenditures”). ↑
Iowa Opioid Allocation Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. A.3 (defining “Opioid Related Expenditure” to mean the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E), B.8 (“Except as provided herein, 100% of the Iowa Abatement Share and the LG Abatement Share, regardless of allocation, shall be utilized only for Opioid Related Expenditures incurred after the Effective Date of this MOU”). See also Iowa Opioid Allocation Memorandum of Understanding, Exhibit 1 (incorporating the entirety of Exhibit E). ↑
Iowa Opioid Allocation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.8 (“The Parties agree that at least 75% of the Iowa Abatement Share and the LG Abatement Share shall be utilized for only the ‘Core Strategies’ listed in Schedule A of Exhibit 1 to this MOU,” i.e., Schedule A of the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E). Schedule A of Exhibit E provides 9 categories of opioid remediation interventions. See Exhibit E E-1 through E-3. ↑
Iowa Code Sec. 12.51(2) (“Moneys in the fund shall only be used pursuant to appropriations from the fund by the general assembly for purposes of abating the opioid crisis in this state, which may include but are not limited to the purposes specified in section 135.190A for moneys in the opioid antagonist medication fund”). ↑
Iowa Code Sec. 135.190A(2). ↑
Iowa Code Sec. 12.51(2) (“Moneys in the fund shall only be used pursuant to appropriations from the fund by the general assembly for purposes of abating the opioid crisis in this state, which may include but are not limited to the purposes specified in section 135.190A for moneys in the opioid antagonist medication fund”). See also the many, many news articles reporting on Iowa’s legislative gridlock as preventing expenditures of settlement funds, e.g., Caleb McCullough. Iowa’s opioid settlement funds unspent after legislators fail to agree. The Gazette. April 27, 2024. Accessed August 8, 2024 (“The central disagreement, lawmakers said, was over the need for an advisory council to administer the treatment funding. House lawmakers said that was an important piece of the proposal — to ensure oversight over how the funds are spent”); Opioid settlement failure will be costly. The Gazette. May 3, 2024. Accessed August 8, 2024 (“the advisory council concept became a point of contention between the Senate and House. The Senate took out the advisory council, but an agreement was not reached before adjournment. So Iowa continues to lack treatment beds and adequate programs addressing drug addiction. The money will remain unspent until lawmakers take another crack in January”); Gov. Reynolds announces $17.5 million investment in opioid prevention and recovery programs. Iowa Governor press release. May 16, 2024. Accessed August 8, 2024 (“’I’m disappointed that a bill to spend a portion of Iowa’s opioid settlement money never reached my desk this session. As a result, $47.5 million remain unused in the fund,’ said Governor Reynolds. ‘Since legislation was not passed, I’m leveraging federal funds to make this investment in the health and well-being of Iowans’”). ↑
Caleb McCullough. Iowa’s opioid settlement funds unspent after legislators fail to agree. The Gazette. April 27, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (“[F]or two years, lawmakers have not passed a plan to fund treatment and recovery operations,” and “[t]he central disagreement, lawmakers said, was over the need for an advisory council to administer the treatment funding”). ↑
Natalie Krebs. Iowa opioid settlement dollars are starting to come in, but most remain unspent. Iowa Public Radio. July 2, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (“Seventy-two of Iowa’s [99] counties didn’t spend a dime in fiscal year 2023, according to records from the Attorney General’s office”). ↑
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