Here are the entities that ultimately decide how each of Wisconsin’s opioid settlement shares are spent:

• 70% local share: local officials for cities and counties

• 30% state share: Wisconsin state legislature Joint Committee on Finance

Where do these monies live?

Wisconsin’s state share of opioid settlement funds is allocated to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS).[1]

What can this share be spent on?

With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E,[3] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and other strategies.

Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?

Department of Health Services proposes, state legislature decides. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) must develop an expenditure proposal and submit it to the Wisconsin state legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance.[4] If the Joint Committee on Finance takes no action within 14 working days, then DHS can proceed with expenditures based on its plan.[5] However, the Joint Committee on Finance may opt instead to hold a meeting to review the proposal and make changes, and DHS can only spend funds once the plan is approved.[6]

Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?

No, supplantation is not prohibited. Wisconsin does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of opioid settlement funds from its 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?

Yes (public reporting not required, only intrastate). Though this share is technically subject only to intrastate reporting of spending plans to the Joint Committee on Finance,[7] DHS publishes amounts approved for each fiscal year and quarterly progress reports for its funded opportunities on its Dose of Reality: Opioid Settlement Funds website.

Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s Expenditure Report Tracker for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.

What else should I know?

In April 2024, the legislature exercised its right to overrule DHS’ recommendations for state share spending.[8] The Joint Committee on Finance has exercised its power to “block and revise” DHS’ plan for fiscal years 2023 and 2024,[9] and news coverage describes how “[i]n rewriting the first annual plan for $31 million, submitted in 2022 for the 2023 fiscal year, the finance committee’s Republican majority directed money to law enforcement agencies and to some specific nonprofits not previously named in the DHS plan.”[10]

Citations

1. Wis Stat. Sec. 165.12(2)(b) and (3)(a). Wisconsin State-Local Government Memorandum of Understanding (2022 MOU) Sec. A.3 and Wisconsin State-Local Government Memorandum of Understanding for the Allocation of Opioid Settlement Proceeds (2023 MOU) Sec. 3 (“Opioid Settlement Proceeds shall be allocated as follows: (i) 30% to the State of Wisconsin (‘State Share’); and (ii) 70% to Local Governments (‘LG Share’). See also 2022 MOU Sec. A.4 and 2023 MOU Sec. 4 (100% of the “Additional Restitution Amount” paid to the State and deposited with DHS). ↑

2. Wis Stat Sec. 165.12(3)(a); 2022 MOU Sec. A.5 and 2023 MOU Sec. 5 (state share and the “Additional Restitution Amount” must be “utilized only or purposes identified as approved uses for abatement” in the settlements); 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”). ↑

3. Wis Stat Sec. 165.12(3)(a) (“Moneys payable to the state … shall be allocated to the department of health services for expenditure for purposes that comply with any settlement agreement or order of the court”) and Distributor Settlement Agreement I.SS (“Exhibit E provides a non-exhaustive list of expenditures that qualify as being paid for Opioid Remediation”). See also 2022 MOU Sec. A.5 and 2023 MOU Sec. 5 (state share and the “Additional Restitution Amount” must be “utilized only or purposes identified as approved uses for abatement” in the settlements). ↑

4. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a). See, e.g., National Prescription Opiate Litigation Funds: DHS Proposal for State Fiscal Year 2025. Department of Health Services (DHS). April 1, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024. DHS Submits Plan to Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance on How to Use $36 Million in Opioid Settlement Funds. DHS press release. April 2, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑

5. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a). ↑

6. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a)-(b). State law details the sequence: “If the cochairpersons of the joint committee on finance do not notify the department within 14 working days after the date of the submittal under this paragraph that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the expenditure proposal, the department may expend the moneys as described in the proposal. If, within 14 working days after the date of the submittal under this paragraph by the department, the cochairpersons of the committee notify the department that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the expenditure proposal, the department may expend the moneys only upon approval by the committee.” Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a). The same process applies if DHS seeks to modify its spending plan during a fiscal year. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(b). See, e.g., Dose of Reality: Opioid Settlement Funds. DHS. Last revised August 23, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 ("We submitted our plan for this funding to the Joint Committee on Finance April 1, 2024 … The Joint Committee on Finance modified our plan. The modified plan was approved May 7, 2024”). ↑

7. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a)-(b). ↑

8. Letter from the Wisconsin Joint Committee on Finance to DHS Secretary-Designee Johnson. April 22, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑

9. Erik Gunn. GOP lawmakers to unveil opioid settlement plan rewrite while Evers demands PFAS cleanup funds. Wisconsin Examiner. May 6, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (“During that two-week window that committee can block the plan and revise it, which it has done for the first two opioid settlement plans for the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. The committee’s Republican co-chairs announced April 22 that the 2025 DHS plan had been blocked, but didn’t say why”). ↑

10. Erik Gunn. GOP lawmakers to unveil opioid settlement plan rewrite while Evers demands PFAS cleanup funds. Wisconsin Examiner. May 6, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 ↑

This Community Guide will describe how Wisconsin is spending its opioid settlements and whether Wisconsin is working to ensure community access to opioid settlement funds. Last revised September 1, 2024.

Where do these monies live?

This share is distributed directly to the state’s 87 litigating cities and counties according to of the Wisconsin Local Government MOU.[1] Each are required to set up a separate fund to hold their opioid settlement proceeds that may not be comingled with other monies of the local government.[2] Local governments may allocate their shares to other political subdivisions and can combine their shares with one another.[3]

What can this share be spent on?

Up to 20% of this share may be spent as attorneys’ fees.[4] Excepting administrative costs,[5] the remaining funds must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) ,[6] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and other strategies.

Who ultimately decides how to spend this share (and how)?

Local governments decide autonomously. Decisionmakers for the counties and cities will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on Exhibit E uses.[7]

Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?

Yes, supplantation is prohibited. Wisconsin state law explicitly prohibits local governments from using opioid settlement funds to substitute for budgeted funds from other sources.[8] This means that local governments in Wisconsin may only use their opioid settlement funds in ways that supplement — rather than replace (or “supplant”) — existing resources.

Can I see how this share has been spent?

Up to each locality (no public reporting required, only intrastate). Opioid settlement expenditures are not officially published in a centralized location for this share. Local governments must submit an annual accounting of their expenditures to the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Joint Committee on Finance,[9] but there is no additional requirement to publish these materials online.

Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.

What else should I know?

Not applicable.

Citations

2. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(1). ↑

3. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(4) (power to redirect funds to another locality so long as there is an agreement requiring the recipient locality to use the funds for approved abatement purposes) and Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(5) (“Local governments may combine moneys from their segregated accounts if each local government conforms to the reporting requirement under [Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(c)]”). ↑

8. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(3) (“A local government may not use moneys from the segregated account to substitute for budgeted moneys from the other sources”). ↑

9. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(c)(1)-(2). ↑

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

• Dose of Reality: Opioid Settlement Funds

• Dose of Reality Roundtables Summary (December 2023, February 2024)

• Opioids, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit (May 2024)

• The Opioid Epidemic: You Spoke, We Continue to Listen

• Dose of Reality: Safer Use/Harm Reduction

Wisconsin Counties Association

• Wisconsin Opioid Abatement

• Opioid Abatement Resources

NEXT Distro

• Resources in Wisconsin (mail-order harm reduction supplies)

Has the state established an advisory body for settlement funds?

No. Wisconsin has not established an advisory body to inform spending of opioid settlement funds.

Is the state advisory body required to include member(s) with lived and/or living experience?

Not applicable.

What is the overall membership of the state advisory body?

Not applicable.

Are local governments required to establish a settlement advisory body? If so, are local advisory bodies required to include member(s) with lived and/or living experience?

No (up to each locality). Local governments in Wisconsin are not required to establish opioid settlement advisory bodies. However, localities may choose to establish advisory councils that include members with lived and/or living experience to help ensure that settlement spending reflects community priorities.[1]

What else should I know?

Not applicable.

Citations

1. See, e.g., Eau Claire County’s Opioid Task Force, which was formed in 2022, and includes three citizen members, two of whom have lived experience. Opioid Task Force. Eau Claire County website. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑

Can I provide input on spending?

• 70% Local share: Up to each locality (not required). Local governments are not required to seek public input on uses of their shares. However, each may choose to seek such input. For example:

  • Rock County formed an Opioid Settlement workgroup in 2022, comprised of members from public health, human services, county administration, and law enforcement. The working group administered an opioid settlement survey, held public listening sessions, and conducted key informant interviews to inform the development of recommendations for the use of opioid settlement funds.[1] The were then presented to the Rock County Board of Supervisors in the same year.

  • Public Health Sauk County surveyed the community in fall 2023 to gather input on use of opioid settlement funds.[2] The full report from the survey may be found .

• 30% State share: Depends on future programming (not required). Though the state has not established recurring opportunities for the public to provide input on uses of its share, it has sought public input in the past. To gather information and input from citizens and stakeholders about opioid settlement spending priorities, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) conducted 12 listening sessions in January 2022, launched a public survey in early 2023, and co-hosted a series of in December 2023 and February 2024.[3]

Can I apply for grants?

Yes. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has made grants available from the 30% state share in the past.[4] Local governments may create grant programs to distribute funds from the 70% local share. The existence, parameters, and processes for local settlement grant programs will vary by locality, so stay alert for new opportunities. Visit the (OpioidSettlementTracker.com and Legal Action Center) for the most up-to-date information on settlement grant opportunities for community organizations.

Where do I go for updates?

• To find updates on the local share, a good starting point is to check the websites for your county board of supervisors, city council, or local health departments (see, e.g., , , , , and ).[5]

• For updates on the state share, visit the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ website.

What else should I know?

Not applicable.

Citations

1. . Rock County Opioid Settlement Working Group. September 8, 2022. Accessed September 1, 2024 (see methodology described on ) ↑

2. Sauk County Public Health. January 17, 2024. ↑

3. .Wisconsin Department of Health Services. April 1, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑

4. .Wisconsin Department of Health Services. April 1, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑

5. See also the Wisconsin Counties Association’s website. ↑