40% Municipal Share
Last updated
Massachusetts
Last updated
This share is distributed to the Commonwealth’s towns, cities, and counties according to the percentages listed .[1]
This share must be spent on the strategies described in the “” section of the ,[2] which provides seven categories of interventions:[3]
Opioid use disorder treatment
Support people in treatment and recovery
Connections to care
Harm reduction
Address the needs of criminal-justice-involved persons
Support pregnant or parenting women and their families, including babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome
Prevent misuse of opioids and implement prevention education
Municipalities are prohibited from using their shares to fund care reimbursed by the state.[4] The also describe a “shared commitment” to use settlement funds in ways that reflects in the input of communities, addresses disparities, addresses co-occurring disorders, leverages existing programs, and encourages innovation.[5]
Localities decide autonomously. Decisionmakers for the towns, cities, and counties will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on abatement uses,[6] and each are able to engage in grantmaking with nonprofit organizations.[7] Municipalities are encouraged to enter into agreements amongst themselves to pool their funds and collaborate on abatement efforts,[8] and each locality may opt to reallocate its shares to the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF).[9]
Localities also may optionally tap into resources created by the Commonwealth to support local opioid abatement efforts. The Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services’ , for example, refers to:
The Department of Public Health’s Office of Local and Regional Health’s
The Office of the Inspector General’s (technical assistance on public procurement)[10]
from the John Snow Research and Training Institute[11]
Yes, supplantation is prohibited. Massachusetts’ explicitly requires the state’s abatement funds to be used “solely to supplement and strengthen, rather than supplant, resources for prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery, in accordance with the … .”[12] This includes, but is not limited to, a specific prohibition on municipalities using their shares to “fund care reimbursed by the state,” including by Medicaid (MassHealth) or the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Addiction Services.[13]
Yes (public reporting required). View Care Massachusetts’ . Localities that receive $35,000 or more in annual settlement funds, whether individually or pooled with other localities, must submit annual expenditure reports to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), and all localities are asked to submit such reports.[14] EOHHS has committed to making these reports publicly available.[15]
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
In response to community feedback, Boston established a novel $250,000 to provide “financial support to Boston families who have lost a loved one to opioid overdose. … Families can use the funds to cover funeral expenses, therapy, legal services, childcare, and other financial burdens.”[16]
Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, . Non-participating subdivisions’ amounts are reallocated to the ORRF. See Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, ; . Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General website. Accessed August 15, 2024 (“Distributions allocated to municipalities that do not participate in a particular statewide opioid settlement (i.e., municipalities that do not sign settlement Participation Forms for one or more of the settlements) will be directed to the ”). ↑
Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, ; Massachusetts Abatement Terms, . ↑
Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“Municipal Use of Abatement Funds”). ↑
Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“Municipal abatement funds shall not be used to fund care reimbursed by the state, including through MassHealth and BSAS, although local or area agencies or programs that provide state-reimbursed services can be supported financially in other ways that help meet the needs of their participants”). But see Bill Zito. . The Reminder. May 14, 2024. Accessed August 16, 2024 (reporting on the Ludlow CARES Coalition’s request to the Town of Ludlow’s Board of Selectman for reimbursement using the town’s opioid settlement funds. It is unclear whether the requested reimbursement would qualify as “care reimbursed by the state”). ↑
See Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“Statewide Commitment to Abatement”). This opening section of the Massachusetts Abatement Terms merely expresses the Commonwealth’s and its municipalities’ “shared commitment” to using funds in certain ways; subsequent sections do contain hard-and-fast rules for each of the shares. ↑
See Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, ; . Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services website. Accessed August 16, 2024 (“Municipalities are encouraged to innovate and collaborate in developing opioid abatement fund strategies”). See also Alexa Lewis. . Daily Hampshire Gazette. June 12, 2024. Accessed August 16, 2024 (reporting on both Easthampton and Westhampton as having established accounts to receive settlement funds, and that Westhampton’s “Board of Health is in discussion with local organizations and other municipalities to determine the best uses for the funds”). ↑
. Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General website. Accessed August 15, 2024 (“state procurement laws apply to expenditure of municipal abatement funds, subject to certain permitted exceptions and exemptions. Exceptions and exemptions that may be relevant to municipalities seeking to expend abatement funds include, for example, an exception for grant agreements between municipalities and nonprofit entities for a public purpose, and an exemption for contracts or agreements entered into by a municipal hospital or a municipal department of health”). ↑
Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, ; Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“Municipalities are encouraged to pool abatement funds to increase their impact, including by utilizing the ”). See Marcia Testa. . Massachusetts Association of Health Boards website. August 10, 2022. Accessed August 16, 2024; . Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services website. Accessed August 16, 2024 (“Inter-municipal agreements allow municipalities to pool funds to build shared abatement programs and services”). ↑
Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, . ↑
. Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General website. Accessed August 15, 2024 (“The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has published answers to frequently asked questions about use of municipal abatement funds . In addition, the OIG's provides helpful guidance on the state laws governing municipal procurement of supplies, services, real property. The OIG has a trained in public procurement that can provide you with technical guidance and answer your questions. To speak with someone on the OIG’s procurement team, call 617-722-8838 or email ”). ↑
. Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services website. Accessed August 16, 2024 (“Municipalities can access support from John Snow Research and Training Institute (JSI) at and fill out the or by emailing or by phone (617-385-3655). The team at JSI can provide technical assistance and training related to using these funds in compliance with the ”). ↑
Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, Sec. . See also Massachusetts Abatement Terms, Secs. (“a shared commitment to using abatement funds recovered from statewide opioid settlements to supplement and strengthen resources”), (“Abatement funds directed to the state shall be deposited into the statewide Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund to supplement prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery programs throughout Massachusetts”). ↑
Massachusetts Abatement Terms, Sec. (“[A]lthough local or area agencies or programs that provide state-reimbursed services can be supported financially in other ways that help meet the needs of their participants”). ↑
Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“The reports shall include, but not be limited to: municipal abatement funds received; an itemized list of the funds expended for abatement and administrative costs, if applicable; the unexpended balance; a brief description of the funded abatement strategies and efforts to direct resources to vulnerable and under-served
Communities”). See also . Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services website. Accessed August 16, 2024 (“Starting in August 2023, all participating municipalities will be asked to submit an annual report on their FY23 Opioid Abatement Fund planning process, strategies selected, and expenditures. Those municipalities that received $35,000.00 or more in FY23 are required to submit a report.”) ↑
. Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services website. Accessed August 16, 2024 (“In order to support full transparency of the use of the opioid abatement funds, and in accordance with the State-Subdivision Agreement l [], all reports will be made public”). ↑
. City of Boston press release. May 1, 2024. Accessed August 16, 2024. ↑
