50% State Share
Where do these monies live?
The Opioid Litigation Proceeds Restricted Account holds 50% of Utah’s opioid settlement funds and is distributed to state agencies.[1]
What can this share be spent on?
With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on the approved uses described in Exhibit A of Utah’s MOU,[3] which is identical to the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E and includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies. Reimbursement uses of opioid settlement funds are prohibited statewide.[4]
The Utah Opioid Task Force’s Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee has created a Utah Opioid Crisis Response Blueprint that identifies priorities, includes subject matter expert-recommended strategies, and is intended to “assist ... state and local communities in utilizing funds” without requiring specific uses.[5]
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
Opioid Task Force and Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee recommend, state legislature decides. The Utah state legislature ultimately decides specific appropriations of the Opioid Litigation Proceeds Restricted Account.[6]
As described by the state in an FAQ resource, the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee writes appropriations of funds into the budget with “guidance through the Utah Opioid Task Force and the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee.”[7] The Utah Executive Appropriations Committee makes the final determinations of appropriations to programs and projects from this share.
For fiscal year 2024, the legislature appropriated $2.8 million from this share to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for “integrated healthcare services.”[8]
Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?
Yes, supplantation is prohibited. Utah state law explicitly prohibits supplantation uses of state and local opioid settlement funds.[9] This means that Utah’s opioid settlement funds only be spent in ways that supplement – rather than replace (or “supplant”) – existing state or local government resources.
Can I see how this share has been spent?
Yes (public reporting required). View DHHS’ annual reports on its Opioid Litigation page.[10] DHHS must publish detailed expenditure reporting on its website for both the state and local shares.[11] Legislative changes in 2024 increased the level of required detail in these reports.[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
One Utah Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 3.2 (“50% of the Settlement Funds shall be allocated to the State (‘State Share’)”), MOU 4.1 (“The State Share shall be deposited by the National Settlement Fund Administrator into the Opioid Litigation Settlement Restricted Account and disbursed pursuant to the terms of that statute”). Utah Code Ann. Sec. 51-9-801(1) (creating Opioid Litigation Proceeds Restricted Account within the general fund). ↑
MOU 7.4 (“Out of any Settlement Funds, administrative expenses shall not exceed 1% of the Settlement Funds recovered by the State or any Settling Party”) and MOU 6.3 (“no portion of the State Share shall be used for the payment of Settling Party Local Government attorney fees and no portion of the State Share shall be used to established the Utah Fund”). See also 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”). ↑
MOU 2.2 (defining “Approved Uses” to mean “those uses identified in Exhibit A, Opioid Settlement Funds – Approved Uses”) and MOU 3.1 (“All Settlement Funds, other than those directed to attorney fees and costs, regardless of allocation, shall be utilized consistent with the Approved Uses”). See also 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”). ↑
Utah Code Ann. Sec. 26B-5-211(1)(b) (defining “opioid funds” to mean both the state and political subdivisions’ monies) and Sec. 26B-5-211(2)(a) (“Opioid funds may not be used to … reimburse expenditures that were incurred before the opioid funds were received by the governmental entity”). ↑
Utah Opioid Crisis Response Blueprint. Utah Opioid Task Force, Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee. January 2024. Accessed August 27, 2024 (“The [Committee] is composed of subject matter experts from a broad range of fields and has the singular task of providing guidance on utilizing settlement funds expected from various opioid litigations”). ↑
Utah Code Ann. Sec. 51-9-801(4) (money in the Opioid Litigation Proceeds Restricted Account is “[s]ubject to appropriation by the Legislature”). See also MOU 4.1 (“The State Share shall be … disbursed pursuant to the terms of th[e Opioid Litigation Settlement Restricted Account] statute”). See also Utah Settlements FAQ. Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Accessed August 27, 2024 (“[F]unding decisions at the state level [are] being made by the legislative appropriation process”). ↑
Utah Settlements FAQ. Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed August 27, 2024 (“The funds are allocated through the Social Services Appropriations Committee with guidance through the Opioid Task Force and the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee. While not given a formal role in the settlement spending process by the state’s legislation or memorandum of understanding, the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of the Utah Opioid Task Force that was formed by the state attorney general in 2017, has created a blueprint document with high-level spending recommendations for both county and state policymakers. Ultimately the Legislature's Executive Appropriation Committee determines how much funding will be allocated to identified programs and projects from the Opioid Litigation Settlement Restricted Account”). Cf County Opioid Settlement Funds FAQs. Utah Association of Counties. December 2023. Accessed August 27, 2024 (“The State can only access its own money through Legislation. The Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee discusses what to do with the money during the Legislative Session and then writes it into the budget. The Office of Substance Use and Mental Health, the Opioid Task Force, and other entities can suggest to the Subcommittee what state opioid settlement monies should be used for”). ↑
2024 UT SB 3, Item 104. ↑
Utah Code Ann. Sec. 26B-5-211(1)(b) (defining “opioid funds” to include opioid settlement funds received by the state or a political subdivision), (2)(b) (providing that “opioid funds” may not be used to “supplant or take the place of any funds that would otherwise have been expended for that purpose”). See also Utah Code Ann. Sec. 26B-5-211(6)(e) (requiring the Utah Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Substance Use and Mental Health’s annual opioid settlement report to include “a description of any finding or concern as to whether all opioid funds disbursed from the restricted account violated the prohibitions” against supplantation). ↑
See, e.g., Annual Opioid Litigation Funding Report. Utah Department of Health and Human Services. September 30, 2023. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑
Utah Code Ann. Sec. 26B-5-211(6)-(7) (outlining the requirements for expenditure reporting submitted to the legislature by the DHHS Office of Substance Use and Mental Health to be made public on the DHHS website). See also Utah Code Ann. Sec. 26B-5-211(1)(b) (defining “opioid funds” to include opioid settlement funds received by the state or a political subdivision). ↑
2024 UT SB 261 (with an effective date of May 1, 2024). ↑
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