80% Local Share

Where do these monies live?

The best available evidence indicates that this share is distributed to each of the state’s 64 parishes according to Exhibit B of Louisiana's Memorandum of Understanding.[1] There are three types of parishes,[2] all of which receive their distributions directly from and report to the Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force (Task Force) and the Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation (OAAC).[3]

What can this share be spent on?

With limited exceptions,[4] all parishes must spend their shares on the forward-looking uses described in Exhibit A of Louisiana’s Memorandum of Understanding and prioritize treatment for people with opioid use disorder (OUD) not covered by Medicaid or private insurance.[5]

Louisiana’s Exhibit A differs from the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E by explicitly prioritizing abstinence-based treatment, prosecutorial diversion programs, and more general opioid-related law enforcement expenditures.[6]

Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?

Parishes decide autonomously (but must report to the Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation). Decisionmakers for the state’s 64 parishes will ultimately decides specific expenditures for themselves, but they must report their expenditures to the Task Force and OAAC to receive their funds.[7]

The Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force was created in 2021 to advise the state Attorney General, parishes, and municipalities on settlement spending priorities.[8] Subsequent agreements have delegated the Task Force’s program administration duties to the Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation (OAAC),[9] which acts as the “conduit” for distributions of funds to parishes and sheriffs.[10]

Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?

No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Louisiana does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that counties, cities, and towns may spend their shares ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.

Can I see how this share has been spent?

Up to each locality (no public reporting required, only intrastate). Opioid settlement expenditures are not officially published in a centralized location for this share. Though parishes are required to report expenditures to the state,[11] these reports are not publicly accessible.[12]

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

1. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. C.1(a) (allocating 80% to “local governments” other than Sheriffs), C.1(c)-(e) (providing for calculation of and payments to parishes), A.2 (defining “local government(s)” to mean, in part, “all parishes [and] incorporated municipalities”), A.12 (defining parish). See also Informational Webinar, Slide 15 (“Key Provision of CEA”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“All 64 parishes receive direct distribution of $$$”). ↑

2. These are “Qualified Parishes,” “Lead Parishes,” and “Other Parishes.” Qualified Parishes (i.e., East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, and Orleans) are parishes with populations of at least 300,000 individuals. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. A.11. “Lead Parishes” are the parishes designated in Exhibit B of Louisiana’s opioid settlement Memorandum of Understanding. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. C.1(e). “Other Parishes” include the remaining 52 non-qualified, non-lead parishes. Id. ↑

3. Informational Webinar, Slide 15 (“Key Provision of CEA”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“All 64 parishes receive direct distribution of $$$” and “report directly to Taskforce/OAAC”); Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.7 (describing Parishes’ reporting requirements to the Task Force). As originally drafted, Louisiana’s MOU provided direct payments only to Qualified Parishes and Lead Parishes, requiring Lead Parishes to distribute funds to and report on behalf of the Non-Qualified (Non-Lead) Parishes. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. C.1(d)-(e). See also Informational Webinar, Slide 11 (“The ‘MOU’ Problem”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“Lead parishes would become answerable for other parish’s expenditures”). It was later recognized that this structure reflected “a disparity between the true intent of the MOU and the language of the MOU relating to the distribution of the Louisiana Opioid Settlement Proceeds” and that “the Task Force recognizes that all parishes identified in the MOU are entitled to receive Proceeds directly.” Cooperative Endeavor Agreement Between the Opioid Abatement Corporation and a Qualified Parish (Orleans Parish), Recitals. Accessed August 13, 2024. In an August 2023 informational webinar, the Task Force and OAAC described the use of Cooperative Endeavor Agreements (CEAs) as a “solution” to this “MOU problem.” See Informational Webinar, slides 11-16. Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (describing use of CEAs to enable all parishes to receive their monies from and report directly to the Task Force and OAAC). For an example of a CEA, see, e.g., Jefferson Parish, Orleans Parish. See also Agenda of St. Martin Parish Council, Sec. 9 (“SUMMARY NO. 042-RS). June 6, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“A Resolution authorizing … to execute a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with the Louisiana Opioid Abatement Taskforce and/or Opioid Abatement Corporation, all relative to the receipt of the Parish’s allotment under the Memorandum of Understanding which serves as the basis of a settlement”). See also President’s Report – May 16, 2023 (“Opioid Settlement Update”). St. Martin Parish website. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“the Taskforce approved the distribution of the allotments identified in Exhibit B to each Parish, Sheriff, and qualified Parish contingent upon the Lead Parishes’ written concurrence. … On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, the Taskforce’s executive counsel, Loren Lampert, and I had a conference with the Lead Parishes together with representatives of the Louisiana Police Jury Association including the Executive Director, Guy Cormier. Every “Lead Parish” concurred that EACH parish should indeed receive its allotment DIRECTLY”). ↑

4. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. C.1(g) (capping administrative costs at 3%), D.5 (capping local governments’ attorneys’ fees at 7.5% for the Distributor and Janssen settlements). See also Informational Webinar, Slide 10 (“Funding Allocation under MOU”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“Funds reserved (3% admin, 7.5% litigation fees)”). ↑

5. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. C.1(d)-(e) (requiring Qualified Parishes and “all other Parishes” to spend their shares on Approved Purposes), A.6 (defining “Approved Purposes” to mean “evidence-based forward-looking strategies, programming and services used to (i) provide treatment for citizens of the state of Louisiana affected by substance use disorders, (ii) provide support for citizens of the State of Louisiana in recovery from addiction who are under the care of Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration ‘SAMHSA’ qualified and appropriately licensed health care providers, (iii) target treatment of citizens of the State of Louisiana who are not covered by Medicaid or not covered by private insurance for addictive services. See Exhibit A”). ↑

6. Compare Exhibit A of Louisiana’s MOU with Exhibit E of the national settlement agreements. ↑

7. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.7 (describing parishes’ reporting requirements to the “State” and “Taskforce”); Informational Webinar, Slide 15 (“Key Provision of CEA”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“All 64 parishes receive direct distribution of $$$”, “All 64 parishes report directly to Taskforce/OAAC,” “$$$ Conditioned upon reporting”). ↑

8. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B (requiring its creation and describing its membership, meetings, and reporting duties) (dated October 21, 2021). See also Informational Webinar, Slide 7 (“Opioid Memorandum of Understanding”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“[c]reates the Louisiana Opioid Abatement Taskforce to advise the state and local governments”). ↑

9. See Informational Webinar, Slides 8-9 (“Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force” and “Opioid Abatement Administration Corp.”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024. ↑

10. See Informational Webinar, Slides 8-9 (“Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force” and “Opioid Abatement Administration Corp.”). Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force and Louisiana Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation. August 3, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“If the Taskforce received funding directly, it would be state money”; this “necessitates the [creation of the] Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation (OAAC) as the distribution conduit to parishes and sheriffs” to allow “[f]unds [to] retain their private character until distributed”). The Task Force and OAAC are in some contexts described to be the same entity. See, e.g., Resolution No. 141337. Jefferson Parish. March 1, 2023. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“the Opioid Abatement Administration Corporation, a non-profit corporation of the State of Louisiana, referred to as the ‘Task Force…’”). ↑

11. Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.7. ↑

12. Louisiana’s MOU requires the State and Task Force to annually “publish a report detailing for the preceding time-period (1) the amount of the State Share received, (2) the allocation of any awards approved (listing the recipient, the amount awarded, the program to be funded, and disbursement terms), and (3) the amounts disbursed for approved allocations.” Louisiana State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.8. It is unclear what the “State Share” is referencing and where these reports will be published. ↑