60% Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Share
Last updated
Massachusetts
Last updated
The Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF) holds 60% of Massachusetts’ opioid settlement funds,[1] as well as amounts allocated to non-participating subdivisions.[2]
With limited exceptions,[3] monies in the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF) must be spent “to mitigate the impacts of the opioid epidemic in the commonwealth, including, but not limited to, expanding access to opioid use disorder prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery options,”[4] and to “supplement harm reduction, treatment, and recovery programs.”[5] 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.[6]
The state’s Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council’s additionally identifies , , and specific initiatives.[7]
Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council recommends, Executive Office of Health and Human Services decides and administers. The administers and ultimately decides specific expenditures from the ORRF after consulting the recommendations of the (Council),[8] which identifies priorities and has developed a strategic framework (“”).[9]
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 … .”[10]
Yes (public reporting required). View the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund’s annual reports . Massachusetts state law requires the state Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish on its website an annual report detailing ORRF expenditures from the prior year.[11]
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.com’s for an updated collection of states’ and localities’ available expenditure reports.
Expansion of harm reduction services
Increased access to medication for OUD
Workforce
Expansion of supportive housing programs
Community outreach and engagement
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 10, Sec. 35OOO(c) (“Annually, not later than October 1, the secretary of health and human services shall file a report on the activity, revenue and expenditures to and from the fund in the prior fiscal year with the clerks of the senate and the house of representatives, the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on mental health, substance use and recovery and made available on the executive office of health and human services’ public website. The report shall include, but not be limited to: (i) the revenue credited to the fund; (ii) the amount of expenditures attributable to the administrative costs of the executive office; (iii) an itemized list of the funds expended from the fund; and (iv) data and an assessment of how well resources have been directed to vulnerable and under-served communities”). ↑
In 2023, the Council used their to recommend the creation of a multi-year and municipal grant program (i.e., the Department of Public Health’s )[12] and identified additional spending priorities for 2024.[13] It also allocated monies across five initiatives:[14]
Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, ; Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 10, Sec. 35OOO(a). ↑
Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, (“amounts allocated to Subdivisions that are Non-Participating Subdivisions as of a Payment Date”). ↑
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 10, Secs. 35OOO(b) (providing that “[t]he secretary of health and human services shall provide administrative support to the council”), 35OOO(c) (referring to “the administrative costs of the executive office” as an expenditure of the ORRF). See also . Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General website. Accessed August 15, 2024 (providing that no settlements funds will be used “to pay any state lawyers”). ↑
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 10, Sec. 35OOO(a). See also Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“It is also understood that OUD is often accompanied by co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions, and it is intended that the strategies in this document will support persons with OUD and any co-occurring SUD and mental health conditions”). ↑
Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“State Use of Abatement Funds”). See also Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, . ↑
See Massachusetts Abatement Terms, (“Statewide Commitment to Abatement”). This opening section of the Massachusetts Abatement Terms expresses the Commonwealth’s and its municipalities’ non-binding “shared commitment” to using funds in certain ways; subsequent sections contain hard-and-fast rules for each of the shares. ↑
. Opioid Recovery and Remediation fund. December 6, 2022. Accessed August 15, 2024. A specifically linked to this presentation from December 6, 2022 when referring to the “ORRF Strategic Framework.” See also . Kate Walsh, Executive Office of Health & Human Services, on behalf of the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council. October 1, 2023. Accessed August 15, 2024 (“The ORRF strategic framework prioritizes the investment of funds to address racial and geographic disparities in [OUD], with a goal of creating a full continuum of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, services, and supports for an individual’s recovery from opioid addiction and in support of their loved ones”). ↑
Mass. Ann. Laws ch. 10, Secs. 35OOO(a) (“Expenditures from the fund shall be made by the executive office of health and human services, without further appropriation and consistent with the terms of settlements made in connection with claims arising from the manufacture, marketing, distribution or dispensing of opioids, as applicable. The secretary of health and human services, in consultation with the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund advisory council … shall administer the fund”), 35OOO(b) (“There shall be an Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund advisory council regarding the expenditures from the fund”); Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, (describing ORRF as administered by EOHHS “in consultation with” the Council). ↑
Massachusetts Abatement Terms, . See . Executive Office of Health and Human Services. March 6, 2024. Accessed August 15, 2024 (announcing additional strategic priorities and specifically linking to a when referring to the “ORRF Strategic Framework”). ↑
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”). ↑
See, . RIZE Massachusetts press release. May 15, 2024. Accessed August 15, 2024 (“DPH’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) contracted RIZE to develop and implement a community grantmaking program that would create a pathway of access for municipalities and nonprofit organizations to apply for Opioid Recovery & Remediation Fund (ORRF) funding … The Community-based Opioid Response Efforts (CORE) grant, the first round of grants through Mosaic, will fund community-based organizations that are working to reduce the harms caused by the opioid epidemic”). ↑
. Executive Office of Health and Human Services. March 6, 2024. Accessed August 15, 2024 (see “”). ↑
. Kate Walsh, Executive Office of Health & Human Services, on behalf of the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council. October 1, 2023. Accessed August 15, 2024. ↑
