15% State Share
Where do these monies live?
Fifteen percent (15%) is allocated to an undefined “State Fund” and explicitly excluded from the 70% Opioid Abatement Special Fund.[1]
What can this share be spent on?
With limited exceptions,[2] this share may be spent either on reimbursements for past abatement expenditures or for forward-looking abatement.[3] Communications from the Vermont Attorney General refer to the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E,[4] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies, as the state’s list of approved uses.
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
The “State” decides. The “state,” which Vermont’s governing documents do not define, ultimately decides specific expenditures for this share.[5]
Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Vermont does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of funds from its 15% state share. This means that the 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
Vermont Attorney General’s Executive Summary of Opioid Distributors and J&J Settlements (AG Executive Summary) I. September 14, 2021. Accessed August 28, 2024 (“15% to states to remediate for past expenses of the opioid crisis or for future abatement”). The September 2021 executive summary from the AG applies only to the Distributor and Janssen settlements. A subsequent memo from the AG in March 2023 addressed “second wave” settlements (Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walmart, and Walgrens) and confirmed that “15% [of these settlement funds go] to the State”). Attorney General 2023 Memo. March 23, 2023. Accessed August 28, 2024. See also 18 V.S.A. Sec. 4771 (“While an opioid litigation settlement may designate a portion of the monies for local or State use, this subchapter applies to only monies from abatement accounts funds”). ↑
See AG Executive Summary IV (“[A]pproved purposes can be found at Exhibit E to the [Settlement Agreements], which is attached to this memo”) 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”). ↑
AG Executive Summary I (“15% to states to remediate for past expenses of the opioid crisis or for future abatement (the ‘State Fund’)”). ↑
AG Executive Summary IV (“[A]pproved purposes can be found at Exhibit E to the SAs, which is attached to this memo”). See also Opioid Settlements. Vermont Attorney General website. Accessed August 28, 2024 (linking to “Exhibit E - List of Opioid Remediation Uses”). ↑
AG Executive Summary I (“15% to states to remediate for past expenses of the opioid crisis or for future abatement (the ‘State Fund’)”). ↑
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