20% State Share
Last updated
Maine
Last updated
Unclear. Maine’s Memoranda of Understanding simply provide that this share is distributed “to the State of Maine Attorney General.”[1]
This share must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) ,[2] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.[3]
State Attorney General decides. The will decide how this 20% share will be spent on approved uses.[4]
No, supplantation is discouraged but not prohibited. Maine does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its funds from the 20% state share. This means that the state share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.
However, Maine’s , which applies to settlements reached after those with Distributors and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), does “strongly encourage[]” the state, localities, and the Maine Recovery Council to use settlement funds “solely to supplement and strengthen, rather than supplant, resources for … approved uses.”[5]
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.
Not applicable.
Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, ; Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, . ↑
Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, Secs. (defining “Approved Uses” to mean the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E), (requiring “[a]ll Opioid Funds, regardless of allocation,” to be spent on “Approved Uses”); Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, Secs. , (same). See also Distributor Settlement Agreement, Sec. (“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”). Maine’s MOUs do not address administrative or attorneys’ fee uses for the state share but do address Recovery Fund and local set-asides for those purposes. ↑
See also . Office of the Maine Attorney General website. Accessed August 7, 2024 (“All opioid settlement funds, which will come into Maine over the next 18 years, will need to be spent on opioid abatement activities as described in exhibits to the MOUs, including prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery programs”). ↑
Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, Sec. (providing merely that the 20% state share is distributed “to the State of Maine Attorney General to be used on Approved Uses”); Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, Sec. (same). See also 2023 MOU II.C (“Because the State did not hire outside counsel, any funds for attorney fees that the State receives from the Supplemental Opioid Settlements will be deposited into the Attorney General’s share.”) ↑
Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, (the and its do not contain this language on supplantation). The language in Maine’s 2023 MOU is insufficient to qualify independently as an explicit bar on supplantation uses. However, the language in the 2022 and 2023 agreements regarding Maine School Administrative Units’ Inclusion in Maine’s Recovery Fund do establish such an explicit bar. ↑
