56% Local Share
Last updated
Arizona
Last updated
Arizona’s 56% local share is distributed to directly to the 15 county-regions listed . These counties then further sub-allocate their county shares to their cities and towns (91 total statewide), with allocations based on either a local agreement or a default formula.[1] Cities may transfer their shares to their counties.[2]
With limited exceptions,[3] this share must be spent on “Approved Purposes,” defined as the Opioid Abatement Strategies listed in of the One Arizona Agreement. (Exhibit A is identical to the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E and includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.)[4]
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has published a guidance document, “,” which summarizes the 12 categories of interventions in Exhibit A.
Local governments decide autonomously (but counties must consult cities and towns). The One Arizona Agreement designates the health departments for each of the 15 counties as lead agencies for the distribution of local settlement funds, and county health departments must consult with cities and towns in their county on the distribution of their shares.[5]
Importantly, while county health departments are designated as “lead” agencies, individual cities and towns may choose to retain discretion over how to use their share of funds,[6] and local governing bodies (i.e., county boards of supervisors and city councils) will generally give final approval for settlement spending on Approved Purposes.[7] Localities are explicitly empowered to distribute their shares as grants to organizations.[8]
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Arizona does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that local governments may spend funds from their share in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.[9]
Yes (public reporting required). View the Arizona Attorney General’s . Each region (i.e., county) is required to submit an annual report to the state detailing its settlement expenditures,[10] and the state must publish these reports on its website.[11]
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
Localities can choose to pool their funds. For example, Pima County and the city of Tucson entered an intergovernmental agreement “to pool their default allocations of the [Local Share]” and empowering the Pima County Health Department to authorize the use of such funds, including by awarding grants to organizations.[12]
One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, Sec. . ↑
See, e.g., . Nogales International. July 19, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (“In a city document, city officials wrote they ‘do not wish to be burdened’ by state requirements outlining appropriate use-of-funds and reporting stipulations. Instead, members of the Nogales City Council approved an accompanying measure: transfer the city’s allotted portion of the settlement funds for Santa Cruz County officials to manage it”). ↑
One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, Secs. (“All Opioid Funds, except those allocated to payment of counsel and litigation expenses as set forth in Section E, shall be utilized in a manner consistent with the Approved Purposes definition”), (“The Backstop Fund is to be used to compensate counsel for Participating Local Governments that filed opioid lawsuits by September 1, 2020 (‘Litigating Participating Local Governments’)”), (“From any national Settlement, the funds in the Backstop Fund shall equal 14.25% of the LG Share for that Settlement. No portion of the State Share shall be used for the Backstop Fund or in any other way to fund any Participating Local Government’s attorney’s fees and costs”), (“Any funds remaining in the Backstop Fund in excess of the amounts needed to cover private counsel’s representation agreements shall revert to the Participating Local Governments”). ↑
One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, Secs. (“’Approved Purpose(s)’ shall mean those uses identified in the agreed Opioid Abatement Strategies attached as Exhibit A”), , . ↑
One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, (“In single-county Regions, that county’s health department will serve as the lead agency responsible for distributing the LG Share funds. That health department, acting as the lead agency, shall consult with the cities and towns in the county regarding distribution of the LG Share funds”). See also . Arizona Attorney General website. Accessed August 13, 2024 (providing that “[e]ach local government controls how the settlement funds are spent” and listing only single-county regions, thereby allowing us to ignore One Arizona Agreement B.4’s rules for multi-county regions). ↑
These shares are outlined in of the One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, absent a local agreement dictating a different allocation. See One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, Sec. . See also, e.g., . Maricopa County website. Accessed August 13, 2024 (“The county will retain 51.53% of the funds and distribute the remaining 48.47% among participating cities and towns. … In Maricopa County, the Department of Public Health will serve as the Lead Agency for administration of county funds and will be responsible for arranging payments to municipalities”). ↑
See, e.g., Yavapai County Board of Supervisors Meeting Agenda for June 5, 2024, . Accessed July 7, 2024 (Yavapai County Community Health Services requesting Board of Supervisor approval to use county opioid settlement funds for ten grant projects and other assorted initiatives); Brandon Messick. . June 12, 2024. Accessed August 13, 2024 (reporting on Mohave County’s Board of Supervisors as voting to approve recommendations by its staff for uses of settlement funds); . Chandler Arizona website. June 18, 2024. Accessed August 13, 2024 (describing city council’s approval of contracts with local organizations). ↑
One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, Sec. (“The LG Share shall be used only for (1) Approved Purposes by Participating Local Governments within a Region or Multicounty Region or (2) grants to organizations for Approved Purposes within a Region or Multicounty Region”) (emphasis added). ↑
Specific grant programs may be subject to anti-supplantation requirements. See, e.g., . October 10, 2023 (approving Attorney General expenditure plan request to use $11.5 million in opioid settlement funds for grants “to counties that established a coordinated reentry planning services program within a county jail … on or before June 30, 2023, subject to the following provisions: … C. Grants allocated under this section shall supplement and not supplant any existing local funds allocated to coordinated reentry planning services programs”). ↑
One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, Sec. (“At least annually, by July 31 of each year, each Region or Multicounty Region shall provide to the State a report detailing for the preceding fiscal year (1) the amount of the LG Share received by each Participating Local Government within the Region or Multicounty Region, (2) the allocation of any awards approved (listing the recipient, the amount awarded, the program to be funded, and disbursement terms), and (3) the amounts disbursed on approved allocations. In order to facilitate this reporting, each Participating Local Government within a Region or Multicounty Region shall provide information necessary to meet these reporting obligations to a delegate(s) selected by the Region or Multicounty Region to provide its annual report to the State”). ↑
One Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Funds Agreement, Sec. . ↑
Intergovernmental Agreement Between Pima County and the City of Tucson for Disbursement of Opioid Settlement Funds, . Accessed July 7, 2024. ↑
