85% Opioid Settlement Fund Share
Where do these monies live?
The Opioid Settlement Fund holds the state’s 85% share of opioid settlement funds,[1] plus any local share amounts redirected to the Fund by the local governments.[2] The legislature appropriates funds to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), up to a maximum of $8 million in a biennium (i.e., two fiscal years).[3]
What can this share be spent on?
With limited exceptions,[4] this share must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E,[5] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.
DHHS must spend at least 20% of the monies allocated to it from the Fund on opioid use and overdose prevention, including “best practices relating to fentanyl drug overdose” and “workforce development.”[6]
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee recommends, Department of Health and Human Services decides. The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) ultimately decides specific expenditures for this share after consulting the recommendations of the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee.[7]
In making its recommendations to DHHS, the Advisory Committee must receive input from localities and the public,[8] as well as consider “cultural practices and alternative best practice treatment methods.”[9] DHHS must develop a process to receive and evaluate the Committee’s spending recommendations,[10] and must implement or assist with the implementation of its spending decisions.[11]
Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?
No, supplantation is generally not prohibited. Like most states, North Dakota does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the 85% “Opioid Settlement Fund” share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources. However, the “Sample Grant Agreement” published as part of a recent state opioid settlement funding opportunity includes language prohibiting the “duplication of funding” and provides that a grantee should use awarded funds “as a payor of last resort.”[12]
Can I see how this share has been spent?
Yes (public reporting not required, only intrastate). DHHS has published a one-time summary of its Opioid Settlement Fund grant awards.[13] State law requires DHHS to annually report Opioid Settlement Fund-related spending decisions to the legislature.[14]
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
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-02 (“There is created in the state treasury an opioid settlement fund. Moneys recovered by the state as a result of opioid litigation must be deposited in the fund”). Attorney General letter to cities and counties. Undated. Accessed August 13, 2024 (describing AG’s plan to add its 15% State Fund to the 70% Abatement Account Fund). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-06(1) (“A political subdivision that recovers moneys as a result of opioid litigation may deposit the moneys in the fund or may retain the moneys and transfer the moneys to the public health unit that provides services to that political subdivision”) and Sec. 50-36-02 (“Moneys recovered by a political subdivision as a result of opioid litigation may be deposited in the fund”). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-05(1) (“The department’s spending decisions of the legislatively appropriated funds from the fund for remediating and abating the opioid crisis must include at least twenty percent for opioid use prevention and overdose prevention, including best practices relating to fentanyl drug overdose, and approved use for workforce development)” Sec. 50-36-01(1) (“‘Department’ means the department of health and human services”), and Sec. 50-36-02 (“[L]egislative appropriations from the fund may not exceed eight million dollars in a biennium”). The legislature appropriated $8 million from the Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services for the 2023-2025 biennium. 2023 ND HB 1447 Sec. 5. ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-02 (“The fund does not include funds not retained by the state pursuant to law or court order”) and Distributor Settlement Agreement I.SS (“Exhibit E provides a non-exhaustive list of expenditures that qualify as being paid for Opioid Remediation. Qualifying expenditures may include reasonable related administrative expenses”). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-05 (requiring DHHS to use Fund monies “for remediating and abating the opioid crisis”). North Dakota Opioid Settlement. DHHS website. Accessed August 13, 2024. (“The usage of settlement funds must be used for opioid remediation and align with approved usages as identified in the settlement document Exhibit E”). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-05(1). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-04(1) (“The department shall develop a process for receiving and evaluating spending recommendations of the committee”) and N Sec. 50-36-05(1) (describing “department’s spending decisions of the legislatively appropriated funds from the [Opioid Settlement] fund”).See also North Dakota Opioid Settlement. DHHS website. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“The Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee will provide input and recommendations to the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services Behavioral Health Division regarding the spending of funds received by the settlement”). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-03(2)(a). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-03(2)(c). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-04(1). ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-05(2). ↑
See Attachment D, Sample Grant Agreement Sec. 2. North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Behavioral Health Division. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑
HHS announces the ND Opioid Settlement Fund Grant awards. HHS press release. January 19, 2024. Accessed September 5, 2024. ↑
N.D. Cent. Code Sec. 50-36-04(3). ↑
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