This share is distributed to participating cities and counties according to Exhibit A of Oregonâs state-local agreement.[1] Unless a city opts to receive its monies directly, this share is distributed to its county.[2]
Note: This 55% allocation to localities applies to the grand majority, but not all, of Oregonâs opioid settlements.[3]
Excepting administrative expenses and attorneysâ fees,[4] this share must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreementâs (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E,[5] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.
Local governments decide autonomously. Decisionmakers for the counties and cities will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on Exhibit E uses.[6] Any amounts not spent or committed within five years of receipt are transferred to the Opioid Settlement Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Fund.[7]
No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Oregon does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the 55% local share may be spent in ways that replace (or âsupplantâ) â rather than supplement â existing resources.
Yes (public reporting required). View the stateâs annual reports on the OHAâs page.[8] Localities must report on their expenditures to the state each year,[9] and the state must publish an annual report on use of settlement funds statewide, including the 55% local share.[10]
Visit OpioidSettlementTracker.comâs for an updated collection of statesâ and localitiesâ available expenditure reports.
Not applicable.
(â55% of the Oregon Settlement Funds shall be allocated to the OR Participating Subdivisionsâ) and 4(c)(i) (âThe percentage for each OR Participating Subdivision is set forth in Exhibit A in the column entitled âAbatement Percentageâ (the âLocal Allocationâ). For the avoidance of doubt, non-litigating Oregon towns, cities, and counties with a population less than 10,000 are not eligible to receive an allocation of OR Subdivision Fundsâ). The City of Portland automatically receives direct payment. . See also (âFifty Five percent (55%) of total Additional Settlement Funds paid to Oregon will be allocated to OR Participating Subdivisionsâ). â
. âDuring [Fiscal Year 2022-2023], nine cities that were otherwise eligible to receive funds chose to reallocate their direct funds to their respective counties: Astoria, Central Point, Cornelius, Happy Valley, Hillsboro, Klamath Falls, Prineville, Redmond and Tigard.â . OHA. April 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. â
(âThe OR Participating Subdivisions will establish an Oregon attorney fee back-stop fund (the âOR Back-Stop Fundâ). The OR Back-Stop Fund will be funded by and deducted from OR Subdivision Funds prior to the distribution of any Local Allocation share to any OR Participating Subdivisions, shall be equal to no more than $2,500,000, and may be used only to pay the contingency fees due to Contingency Fee Counsel of the Litigating Local Governmentsâ) and (capping administrative expenses at 5%). See also (imposing a 5% cap on administrative expenditures from the Mallinckrodt bankruptcy). Note: The carveouts for administrative spending and attorneysâ fees do not apply in the same way to monies received from the Mallinckrodt bankruptcy and other settlement agreements. (prohibiting the use of funds from the Mallinckrodt bankruptcy for attorneysâ fees). Monies received by Oregon localities from the settlements with Allergan, CVS, Teva, Walgreens, and Walmart may not be spent on administrative costs or attorneysâ fees. . â
(âExcept as set forth in Sections 4.d [Provision for State Back-Stop Agreement] and 4.e [âAdditional Costsâ], Settlement Funds received by an OR Participating Subdivision shall be used for Approved Abatement Usesâ), (defining âApproved Abatement Usesâ to mean âOpioid Remediation activities described in Exhibits E to the Distributor and Janssen Agreementsâ), and I.SS (âExhibit E provides a non-exhaustive list of expenditures that qualify as being paid for Opioid Remediation. Qualifying expenditures may include reasonable related administrative expensesâ). For example, the city of Salem plans to âuse around $650,000 in opioid settlement money to avoid cutting services for addressing youth outreach and homelessness.â Joe Siess. . Salem Reporter. July 13, 2024. Accessed August 24, 2024. â
. See also . OHA. July 2023. Accessed August 24, 2024 (âOHA is not overseeing local funds and cannot provide advice on how the funds should be spentâ); . OHA. April 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. (âSubdivisions will decide how their funds are used. These jurisdictions are required to report to the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) annually on how they have allocated their fundsâ); and . OHA. Updated April 16, 2024. Accessed August 24, 2024. (âCities and counties will decide how their funds are usedâ; âAll local allocation decisions are made locallyâ). â
. However, funds designated to support capital outlay projects must be expended or encumbered within seven years of receipt before they are transferred to the state. See also (âAdditional Settlement Funds allocated to OR Participating Subdivisions, whether NOAT II Funds or Additional Company Settlement Funds, shall be distributed to OR Participating Subdivisions in the same proportion and manner as OR Subdivision Funds are distributed under the Section 4(c) of the OSA).â â
See, e.g., (hyperlinked as âOpioid Settlement Report â22-â23â on the OHAâs ). â
(âPrior to September 1 of each year each OR Participating Subdivision ⌠shall deliver an annual report to the Oregon Department of Justice ⌠regarding how it expended OR Subdivision Funds during the prior fiscal year (July 1 - June 30)â). â
. See also (applying Sections 5 (reporting and oversight) and 6 (audit) from the original state-local agreement to additional settlement funds). â