30% Local Share

Where do these monies live?

This share is distributed directly to Maine counties, cities, and towns according to Exhibit 3 of the MOUs.[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, recovery, and other strategies.[4]

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

Localities decide autonomously. Decisionmakers for the counties, cities, and towns will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on Exhibit E uses,[5] whether directly or in collaboration with federal, state, local, tribal, or private sector groups.[6]

Are supplantation uses prohibited for this share?

No, supplantation is discouraged but not prohibited. Maine does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its funds from the 30% local share. This means that the local share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.

However, Maine’s 2023 settlement MOU, 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.”[7]

Can I see how this share has been spent?

Up to each locality (neither public nor intrastate reporting required). Opioid settlement expenditures are not officially published in a centralized location for this share.

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

What else should I know?

In May 2024, The Maine Monitor published the results of a local government survey that revealed that “[a] third” of the 35 local governments who responded reported law enforcement and jail program expenditures of opioid settlement funds, “including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorder in jails, … hiring behavioral health specialists that work with police, and purchasing handheld drug-checking devices.”[8]

Citations

1. Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, Secs. I.B (defining “Direct Share Subdivisions” to mean the 39 subdivisions listed in Exhibit 3, which all have populations equal to or greater than 10,000 or filed a complaint in the opioid litigation), II.C(2) (distributing 30% to “Direct Share Subdivisions … in accordance with Exhibit 3”), II.D (providing that “Direction Share Subdivisions’ shares shall be distributed directly to each Direct Share Subdivision”); Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, Secs. I.C, II.C, II.C(2) (same). The Maine Attorney General provides estimates of payments here. ↑
2. The 2022 MOU discusses a backstop fund that contains 7% of each payment made to participating subdivisions from the Distributor and Janssen settlements. Private counsel for the subdivisions may only apply for these monies for a “shortfall.” Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, Secs. I.E, V. ↑
3. Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, Secs. I.A (defining “Approved Uses” to mean the national settlement agreements’ Exhibit E), II.B (requiring “[a]ll Opioid Funds, regardless of allocation,” to be spent on “Approved Uses”), II.C(2) (requiring the 30% local share to be spent on Approved Uses); Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, Secs. I.B, II.B, II.C(2) (same). See also Distributor Settlement Agreement, Sec. 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”). ↑
4. See also FAQs. 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”). ↑
5. Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, Secs. II.C(2) (distributing 30% to “Direct Share Subdivisions for spending on Approved Uses”), II.D (providing that “Direction Share Subdivisions’ shares shall be distributed directly to each Direct Share Subdivision”); Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, Secs. II.C, II.C(2) (same). See, e.g., Augusta (reporting on city’s plans to create a local committee to recommend expenditures). ↑
6. Amendment to Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds, Sec. II.D (“Any Direct Share Subdivision may form agreements or ventures or otherwise work in collaboration with federal, state, local, tribal or private sector entities in pursuing Opioid Remediation activities funded from their direct share distribution or funded by the Recovery Fund”); Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, Sec. II.C (same). ↑
7. Maine State-Subdivision Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement Regarding Use of Settlement Funds-2023, Sec. II(B) (the 2022 MOU and its amendment 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. ↑
8. Emily Bader. How are Maine counties and municipalities spending their opioid settlement funds. The Maine Monitor. May 12, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑