24.5% Local Share
Where do these monies live?
This 24.5% local share is distributed directly to participating counties, cities, villages, and towns according to the default allocations in Exhibit C of West Virginia’s MOU.[1] Counties and their municipalities can agree to allocate the funds differently than according to the default in Exhibit C.[2] Each county and municipality receiving funds is required to set up a separate account to hold their opioid settlement proceeds separate from their general coffers.[3]
What can this share be spent on?
In general,[4] this share must be spent on the approved purposes described in Exhibit A of West Virginia’s MOU,[5] which mirrors much of the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E but differs from it in key respects, including but not limited to its omission of syringe service programs from its “Core Strategies” list and the inclusion of an extra law enforcement category of funding to curtail the oversupply of “licit and illicit opioids.”[6]
Localities may use up to one-half of their settlements funds to reimburse for past abatement expenditures (including past “law enforcement and regional jail fees”), provided that these uses are recorded via resolution or similar government action.[7]
Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?
Local governments decide autonomously. Local officials in the counties, cities, villages, and towns will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on approved purposes but must report its uses to the West Virginia First Foundation.[8]
Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, West Virginia does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the local share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.
Can I see how this share has been spent?
Eventually (public reporting required). Expenditures from this share will likely be published on the Foundation’s website. State law and the MOU require local governments to submit an annual report to the West Virginia First Foundation specifying their expenditures on approved purposes.[9] The Foundation is then required to publish a consolidated report of opioid settlement expenditures.[10]
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
West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) B.2(b)(i) (“24.5% of the Net Opioid Funds shall be allocated as LG Shares. These LG Shares shall be allocated amongst the Local Governments using the default percentages set forth in Exhibit C”) and W. Va. Code Sec. 5-31-1(d) (legislature finding that “[a]ll 55 counties and virtually all participating municipalities, representing 99.6 percent of the population of West Virginia, have executed the memorandum of understanding”). See also MOU A.5 (defining “Local Government(s)” to mean “all counties, cities, villages, and towns located within the geographic boundaries of the State”) and MOU B.4 (“If a Local Government for any reason is excluded from a specific Settlement or Judgment, the allocation percentage for that Local Government shall be redistributed among the participating Local Governments for that Settlement or Judgment”). ↑
State Auditor County Guidance Regarding Accounting for Opioid Settlement Funds. Accessed September 2, 2024 (requiring county commissions to create separate accounts at a public meeting) and State Auditor Municipal Guidance Regarding Accounting for Opioid Settlement Funds. Accessed September 2, 2024 (requiring municipal councils to create separate accounts at a public meeting, except municipalities whose shares are less than $500, whose funds are redistributed to the county in which they sit). The separate accounts in both the counties and municipalities are to be interest-baring and any interest is to remain in fund and be subject to the same requirements. ↑
See, e.g., MOU D (“Payment of all Attorneys' Fees and Litigation Expenses shall be awarded consistent with the orders of the Court and upon recommendation of Judge Christopher Wilkes (WVMLP Special Master). Such award shall be final and non-appealable”). ↑
MOU A.1 (defining “Approved Purpose(s)” to mean “evidence-based strategies, programming and/or services used to expand the availability of treatment for individuals affected by substance use disorders and/or addiction, to develop, promote and provide evidence-based substance use prevention strategies, to provide substance use avoidance and awareness education, to engage in enforcement to curtail the sale, distribution, promotion or use of opioids and other drugs, to decrease the oversupply of licit and illicit opioids and to support recovery from addiction to be performed by qualified providers as is further set forth in Exhibit A and Paragraph B(3)”) and B.3 (“All Net Opioid Funds, regardless of allocation, shall be used in a manner consistent with the Approved Purposes definition”). ↑
MOU Exhibit A Schedule A (“Core Strategies” generally) and Exhibit A Sec. I(1) (“Funding for law enforcement efforts to curtail the sale, distribution, promotion or use of opioids and other drugs to reduce the oversupply of licit and illicit opioids, including regional jail fees”). Compare the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E, Schedule A Sec. H(1) (“Provide comprehensive syringe services programs with more wrap-around services, including linkage to OUD treatment, access to sterile syringes and linkage to care and treatment of infectious diseases”). ↑
MOU B.3 (“The LG Share may be used as restitution for past expenditures so long as the past expenditures were made for purposes that would have qualified or were consistent with the categories of Approved Purposes listed in Exhibit A. Prior to using any portion of the LG Share as restitution for past expenditures, a Local Government shall pass a resolution or take equivalent governmental action detailing and explaining its use of the funds for restitution. Moreover, up to one-half of the LG Share may be used to provide restitution for monies that were previously expended on opioid abatement activities, including law enforcement and regional jail fees”). See, e.g., Toni Milbourne. Jefferson Co. Commission takes first public look at potential opioid settlement dollars spending. The Journal. April 16, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024 (“Attorney Stephen Skinner also told commissioners that the memorandum of understanding they signed allows the [Jefferson County] commission to use the funds to ‘reimburse’ themselves for past payments of Eastern Regional Jail fees. The explanation given for that use of the funds was that perhaps the county had to forgo given projects, because it had to pay required jail fees”). ↑
MOU B.2-3 (requiring local governments to spend their shares on approved purposes, decide their own intra-county allocations, decide reimbursement uses of funds, and otherwise providing for localities’ ability to autonomously spend their shares). See also Attorney General Morrisey, Auditor’s Office, Partner to Ensure Opioid Settlement Money Used Accordingly. Attorney General press release. December 21, 2023. Accessed September 2, 2024 (“Local governments have broad discretion to decide which approved uses are best to spend their share of the settlement money. See, e.g., Eric Aryes. Wheeling Leaders Discuss Use of Opioid Settlement Funds. The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register. May 17, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024 (“’The state of West Virginia received an opioid settlement of just under $1 billion, of which 22% was distributed to local cities and counties, for use a determined by the county commission – or in this case – city council,’ Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said”). ↑
W. Va. Code Sec. 5-31-5(b) and MOU C.13. ↑
W. Va. Code Sec. 5-31-5(b) and MOU C.14. ↑
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