15% State Share
Where do these monies live?
This share is paid to Mississippi’s Attorney General, who deposits the funds into the state’s Opioid Settlement Fund created in 2024.[1]
What can this share be spent on?
This share must be spent “in accordance with the requirements of the opioid litigation settlements.”[2]
Monies in this share from the Distributor and Janssen settlements are not required to be spent on abatement.[3] This is because the state opted to satisfy these settlements’ minimum remediation spending by directing 70% of settlement funds to the creation of a new program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.[4]
For other settlement agreements (e.g., CVS, Walgreens, Walmart), at least a portion of monies in this share must be spent on abatement uses, as illustrated by their (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E. This is because these settlement agreements require a higher percentage of funds be spent on opioid remediation.[5]
A November 5, 2021 letter from the Mississippi Attorney General to Mississippi localities expressed an intent to spend a portion of this share on local governments’ attorneys’ fees,[6] but it is unclear whether such spending occurred.
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
State legislature decides. The Mississippi state legislature appropriates funds from the 15% state share.[7]
Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Mississippi does not prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the 15% 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?
Not applicable.
Citations
2024 MS House Bill 1705, Sec. 2(1) (“There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Opioid Settlement Fund. The fund shall consist of monies received by the Attorney General on behalf of the State of Mississippi from settlements of opioid litigation”). See also Mississippi State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. B.1(b) (“The State will receive 15% of all Opioid Funds paid to the State General Fund”), A.1 (defining “The State” to mean “the State of Mississippi acting through the Attorney General”). See also Violet Jira and Henry Larweh. Opioid Settlements Promise Mississippi a Windfall. What Happens Next?. KFF Health News and Mississippi Today. August 14, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (“Both the state government’s share and the abatement fund will be under the direct control of the state legislature, which will ultimately decide how that money gets spent. The legislature, through an appropriations act, has set up a special account for all of the funds it controls”). ↑
2024 MS House Bill 1705, Sec. 2(2). ↑
See, e.g., 2024 MS House Bill 1705, Sec. 2(2) (providing that “Monies in the fund shall be expended upon appropriation
by the Legislature in accordance with the requirements of the opioid litigation settlements”); Mississippi State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.1(b) (providing merely that the State, which the MOU defines as the AG, will receive 15%). Note that all Opioid Settlement Funds are deposited into the Attorney General Contingency Fund before being allocated into the respective shares. Mississippi State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. B.1. ↑
See Mississippi Attorney General’s November 5, 2021 letter to localities (“we worked with the University of Mississippi Medical Center to create a program that meets the opioid abatement requirements” that “the vast majority of the funds be used specifically for the treatment and abatement of opioids.” “This will free local governments up to use your funds as you see fit without a national fund administrator micromanaging their use”). ↑
See, e.g., CVS Settlement Agreement, Sec. V(B)(1) (minimum 95.5% opioid remediation spending); Walgreens Settlement Agreement, Sec. V(B)(1) (minimum 95% opioid remediation spending); Walmart Settlement Agreement, Sec. V(B)(1) (minimum 85% opioid remediation spending). ↑
Mississippi Attorney General’s November 5, 2021 letter to localities (“The national settlement proposed a split of funds due to each state as: 70% to an abatement fund, 15% to a State fund, 15% to a local government fund. … However, we also want to use a portion of the State fund to help local governments meet their contractual obligations to their attorneys who have helped to bring us to these settlements”). ↑
Mississippi State-Local Government Opioid Litigation Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. B.1(b) (“The State will receive 15% of all Opioid Funds paid to the State General Fund”), A.1 (defining “The State” to mean “the State of Mississippi acting through the Attorney General”); 2024 MS House Bill 1705, Sec. 2(2) (providing that “Monies in the fund shall be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature in accordance with the requirements of the opioid litigation settlements”). ↑
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