50% State Share
Last updated
Alabama
Last updated
Alabama’s 50% state share is held in the state’s Opioid Treatment and Abatement Fund.[1]
With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on uses consistent with the national settlement agreements’ (non-exhaustive) .[3] The Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council’s , which “align” with ,[4] further identify a subset of its many interventions it thinks “would assist in changing the trajectory of the opioid crisis in Alabama.”[5]
Oversight Commission on Alabama Opioid Settlement Funds recommends, Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council guides, state legislature decides. The ultimately decides via appropriation how to spend funds from this share after consulting with the Oversight Commission on Alabama Opioid Settlement Funds (Commission) and (Council).[6],[7]
The Commission, created in 2023, is specifically tasked to “develop a statewide plan for the investment and use of opioid settlement funds and review the expenditure of funds appropriated to agencies and entities.”[8]
The , created in 2017,[9] is generally responsible for assisting the governor in developing a statewide response to the overdose crisis and identifying spending priorities that reflect the state’s needs.[10]
No, supplantation is discouraged but not prohibited. Like most states, Alabama does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the 50% state share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) – rather than supplement – existing resources.
However, in its annual reports, the has described a “shared commitment to using abatement funds recovered from statewide opioid settlements to supplement and strengthen resources available to Alabama communities and families for substance use disorder prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery.”[11]
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 for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
Unlike most states, Alabama chose not to participate in some of the national settlement agreements.[12] Pursuing individual settlement agreements with the companies involved in the opioid litigation means that Alabama’s opioid settlement scheme is not automatically subject to all the features (and protections) of the “national” settlement agreements’ opioid remediation-related terms. For example, Alabama’s McKesson and Janssen settlement agreements do not specify any amount that must be used exclusively towards forward-looking abatement strategies.[13]
See, e.g., McKesson Special Master Report (describing special master fees and attorneys’ fees). ↑
See Section V.D.1 of the Distributor and Janssen agreements (requiring states to devote 70% of their opioid settlements to future opioid remediation). ↑
See 2024 AL House Bill 479 (appropriating settlement funds from the “Opioid Treatment and Abatement Fund”). But see . Alabama Attorney General Office press release. March 4, 2024. Accessed August 6, 2024 (“The State’s share of the settlement funds will be deposited directly into the State’s General Fund”). ↑
See . Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. December 31, 2022 (describing Exhibit E’s “core strategies” list under “Approved State Use of Abatement Funds” and stating that “[t]he agreement reached by the State of Alabama with various parties restricts the use of any settlement funds to abatement strategies only. The priorities recommended by the Council align with the approved strategies”). Note that the state’s Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) settlement includes its own approved use exhibit with a non-exhaustive list of opioid remediation strategies that is similar but not identical to the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E. The Janssen approved uses exhibit’s list of opioid remediation strategies are grouped into three categories: Opioid Community Innovation & Recovery (e.g., treatment, prevention, and harm reduction), Opioid Statewide Innovation & Recovery (e.g., resources for dashboards and stigma reduction training), and Opioid Recovery Sustainability (e.g., funding for child and family supports and syringe service programs). Johnson & Johnson Sign-On Exhibit A. ↑
See . Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. December 31, 2022 (“Approved State Use of Abatement Funds”). See also . Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. December 31, 2023 (“The Council supports ongoing recommendations as outlined in the previous year’s report,” which are “in keeping with the State Opioid Plan” established by the Oversight Commission on Alabama Opioid Settlement Funds). ↑
Id. See also Exhibit A (describing a state-specific abatement plan with “three main components” to “complement … all other state and local government opioid plans”). ↑
See, e.g., , . ↑
See . Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. December 31, 2023 (“The Council looks forward to continued collaboration with the Oversight Commission on Alabama Opioid Settlement Funds providing lawmakers with the information they need to make data-driven and impactful decisions, based on guidance found in the 2022 Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council Report to the Governor.”) ↑
. ↑
. ↑
See . Alabama Attorney General Office press release. March 4, 2024 (“As the Alabama Legislature works to determine the best uses of this funding, appropriators will have the benefit of reviewing two-and-a-half years of diligent work by the Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council to determine the State’s greatest needs”). ↑
Alabama Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council, and . ↑
See OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s “.” ↑
