Cities’ and counties’ combined 2/3 share is held by the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (ARORP),[1] a joint body formed in 2022 as a partnership between the Arkansas Municipal League (AML) and the Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC).[2] Funds from this share are ultimately distributed to ARORP grantees by an appointed settlement fund administrator.[3]
With limited exceptions,[4] funds from the 2/3 local share must be spent on “Approved Purposes” (as defined by the Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding) and consistently with applicable settlement agreements.[5] In practice, the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership uses the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E — which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies — to guide spending from this share.[6]
Advisory Board recommends, leadership of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership decides. Leadership of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership — ARORP’s director, AML’s executive director, and AAC’s executive director — ultimately decide specific expenditures for this share after consulting recommendations made by ARORP’s Advisory Board.[7]
The ARORP describes an application process that includes:
Applicants obtaining local approval from mayor(s) and county judge(s)
Application submission and an initial review by the ARORP team
Evaluation and approval by the ARORP Advisory Board
Evaluation and approval by the ARORP leadership team
There are multiple categories of funding opportunities,[8] including a “ that allows flexibility for [applicants] to submit any project related to opioid prevention, treatment, and/or recovery.”[9]
Yes, supplantation is prohibited (in practice). The (ARORP), which oversees the 2/3 local share, has explicitly cited to proposed supplantation uses of funds in its as reasons for denying certain funding requests.[10] Additionally, ARORP states as one of its that it “should seek to use limited funds to supplement and expand existing public and private abatement efforts and funding, rather than supplanting or duplicating existing abatement efforts and funding,”[11] and ’ and ’ distribution agreements state that applications for funding from ARORP “should address the of the Partnership.”[12]
Yes (neither public nor intrastate reporting required). The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership has published an of funded projects that reports on projects’ titles, organizations, counties, funding amounts. It also includes links to projects’ progress and budget reports. ARORP maintains a of project proposals denied funding.
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
Not applicable.
Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. , ; Cities Distribution Agreement, ; Counties Distribution Agreement, . ↑
Cities Distribution Agreement, ; Counties Distribution Agreement, . See also . Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed July 8, 2024. ↑
See . Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed July 8, 2024 (“the QSF administrator (Ed Gentle) who will write checks to fund approved projects”). See also . June 10, 2022. Accessed July 8, 2024. ↑
Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. , (reserving up to 27% of the cities and counties share “for the payment of attorneys’ fees and associated litigation expenses”), (defining “Approved Purpose(s)” to include “payment of attorneys’ fees and associated litigation expenses”). But see Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. , (providing that any residual amounts remaining after payments of attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses are returned to the Cities Opioid Settlement Fund and Counties Opioid Settlement Fund, respectively). ↑
Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. (defining “Approved Purpose(s)” to mean 19 general categories of interventions along with attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses), (“All Opioid Funds, regardless of allocation, shall be utilized in a manner consistent with the Approved Purposes, any settlement agreements, and all orders approving settlements”). Note that Arkansas’ MOU’s definition of “Approved Purposes” includes a broader allowance for law enforcement expenditures than Exhibit E. See Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. (“Support law enforcement expenditures relating to the opioid epidemic”). ↑
. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. Accessed July 8, 2024 (“The settlement funding can only be used for certain purposes. Exhibit E, found at www.arorp.org/funding-opportunities/, specifies exactly how settlement funds must be used. Thus, organizations who are seeking to create or expand a project in opioid prevention, treatment, or recovery can apply to ARORP for funding. The ARORP Advisory Board will use Exhibit E to evaluate each proposal that comes in”). ↑
Cities Distribution Agreement, ; Counties Distribution Agreement, . Cities and Counties Distribution Agreements 5-6. ↑
As of August 14, 2024, available funding categories include General Funding, Overdose Response Team Funding, Naloxone Community Hero Project Funding, and Sentinel Project. See . Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed August 14, 2024 ↑
. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. March 2023. Accessed August 14, 2024 (“We want you to assess your community's needs and submit a proposal to address existing gaps in services”). See also . Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. March 2023. Accessed August 14, 2024 (requiring applicants to include sign-off from mayors and county judges). ↑
See . Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed July 8, 2024. ↑
. Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership website. Accessed July 8, 2024; Cities Distribution Agreement, ; Counties Distribution Agreement, . ↑
Cities Distribution Agreement, ; Counties Distribution Agreement, . See also . Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. March 2023. Accessed September 1, 2024 ("How will funding reach cities and counties?” “The ARORP Advisory Board will use Exhibit E to evaluate each proposal that comes in. The funding is meant to be startup money; the money is not meant to replace or supplant existing funding”); . Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. Accessed July 8, 2024 (“The money is not meant to replace or supplant existing funding”) (emphasis in original). ↑
Arkansas’ 1/3 state share is distributed to the state “acting through” its Governor and Attorney General,[1] although actual practice suggests that the funds reside with the state Attorney General.[2]
Though the Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) states that this share is “allocated” to Medicaid claw-back costs and attorneys’ fees,[3] this share is spent on abatement purposes as well.[4]
State Attorney General decides. The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office, which ultimately decides specific expenditures for this share,[5] has distributed its share as grants to law enforcement, organization, and agency recipients.[6]
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Arkansas does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds from the 1/3 state share. This means that the state may spend funds from its share in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.
No (neither public nor intrastate reporting required). There are no reporting requirements applicable to this share and no official expenditure information.
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s Expenditure Report Tracker for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
Not applicable.
Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. (defining “State” to mean the governor and state attorney general), (directing 1/3 allocation to “State Share”). ↑
See . Arkansas Attorney General press release. November 8, 2023. Accessed July 8, 2024; . Arkansas Attorney General press release. November 9, 2023. Accessed July 8, 2024. . Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts press release. May 15, 2024. Accessed July 8, 2024 (“The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office provided the funds to AOC as part of the state’s opioid litigation settlement allocation”). ↑
Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. . The settlement agreements define allowable costs to include Exhibit E interventions, administrative costs, Medicaid claw-back, and attorneys’ fees. ↑
See Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Sec. ; previously cited press releases from the Arkansas Attorney General and Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts. ↑
Arkansas’ governing documents provide that both the state’s Attorney General and Governor control this share. See Arkansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding, Secs. (defining “State” to mean the governor and state attorney general), (directing 1/3 allocation to “State Share”). However, recent disbursements from the state share identify only the Arkansas Attorney General’s office as granting these funds and do not clarify what role, if any, the Governor plays in the state’s opioid settlement spending scheme. See also Michael R. Wickline. . Arkansas Democrat Gazette. February 23, 2023. Accessed July 8, 2024. ↑
See press releases regarding state share opioid settlement spend, e.g., . Arkansas Attorney General press release. November 8, 2023. Accessed September 1, 2024 (announcing $232,880 grant to law enforcement for naloxone and $770,000 to Arkansas Mobile Opioid Recovery (ARMOR)), . Arkansas Attorney General press release. November 9, 2023. Accessed September 1, 2024 (announcing $50 million grant to “help establish” the National Center for Opioid Research & Clinical Effectiveness (NCOR)), . AOC press release. May 15, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (announcing $1 million grant by AG to the Administrative Office of the Courts to 45 existing drug court programs). ↑
Here are the entities that ultimately decide how each of Arkansas’s opioid settlement shares are spent:
2/3 local share: of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (i.e., the Partnership’s director, ’ executive director, and ’s executive director)
1/3 state share: