80% Statewide Abatement Share

Where do these monies live?

Rhode Island’s 80% statewide abatement share is held in the Rhode Island Statewide Opioid Abatement Account.[1]

What can this share be spent on?

In general, and with limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on the approved purposes described in the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) Exhibit E,[3] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and other strategies.

Unlike local governments’ shares, which may be spent on reimbursement uses,[4] monies in the Rhode Island Statewide Opioid Abatement Account must only be used for forward-looking abatement purposes.[5]

Rhode Island is also using the Governor’s preexisting Overdose Task Force Action Plan as a “roadmap” to guide distribution of funds and to ensure that Statewide Opioid Abatement Account monies are “equitably distributed, taking into consideration the history of structural racism and its impact on health.”[6] This plan focuses on four broad pillars: prevention, “rescue and harm reduction,” treatment, and recovery.[7]

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

Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee recommends, Executive Office of Health and Human Services and Governor select, state legislature appropriates. Specific expenditures for this share are made using a multi-step process involving several state entities:[8]

1. Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee. The Rhode Island Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee is required to create a process for gathering input from communities, provider organizations, and localities,[9] then annually recommending uses of the statewide abatement share to the Secretary of the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services.[10]

2. EOHHS Secretary. The Secretary of the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) must make a “good faith effort” to incorporate the Advisory Committee’s recommendations into EOHHS’s annual budget.[11] If EOHHS “substantially deviates” from the Advisory Committee’s recommendations, it must provide a public written explanation.[12] Recommendations are ultimately “approved or rejected by the EOHHS Secretary, … then a budget is developed and sent to the Governor’s office.”[13]

3. Governor’s office. The Rhode Island Governor selects recommendations for inclusion in their budget to be considered by the Rhode Island legislature.[14]

4. State general assembly. The Rhode Island General Assembly passes a budget and sends it back to the Governor for final approval.[15]

After the Governor signs the budget, EOHHS coordinates with various state agencies to carry out planning and implementation of opioid abatement activities.”[16]

Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?

No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Rhode Island does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. This means that the Statewide Abatement share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.

Can I see how this share has been spent?

Yes (public reporting not required, only intrastate). View annual reports on the Advisory Committee’s website. Rhode Island has also published expenditure information via a funded project overview.[17] The state’s MOU requires the Secretary of EOHHS to submit an annual report to the Advisory Committee on the distribution and use of funds from this share.[18]

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

What else should I know?

Not applicable.

Citations

1. Rhode Island Memorandum of Understanding Between the State and Cities and Towns Receiving Opioid Settlement Funds (MOU) II.A(2) (80% of funds paid directly to the State (‘Statewide Abatement Share’) and held in the Rhode Island Statewide Opioid Abatement Account). See also MOU IV.A (the Statewide Abatement Account has the “restricted purpose of holding these funds separately, ensuring they are not comingled with non-Opioid Settlement Funds, and distributing the funds for Approved Purposes”). R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 42-7.2-10(d) (“There is hereby created within the general fund of the state and housed within the budget of the office of health and human services a restricted receipt account entitled ‘Rhode Island Statewide Opioid Abatement Account’”). ↑
2. MOU I.A (“Qualifying expenditures may include reasonable related administrative expenses”) and MOU I.G (defining “Opioid Settlement Funds” to exclude “funds needed to pay an administrator or a Rhode Island Qualified Settlement Administrator, or designated by a Settlement Agreement or court order for State or Participating Subdivision attorneys’ fees and costs”). ↑
3. MOU I.A ("'Approved Purposes' means care, treatment, and other programs and expenditures designed to (1) address the misuse and abuse of opioid products; (2) treat or mitigate opioid use or related disorders; or (3) mitigate other alleged effects of, including on those injured as a result of, the opioid epidemic as identified by... Exhibit E ... or any other relevant Settlement Agreement"), MOU II.B ("All Opioid Settlement Funds, regardless of allocation, shall be utilized solely for Approved Purposes"). ↑
4. MOU III.B. ↑
5. R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 42-7.2-10(d) (“There is hereby created within the general fund of the state and housed within the budget of the office of health and human services a restricted receipt account entitled ‘Rhode Island Statewide Opioid Abatement Account,’” and “[f]unds from this account shall only be used for forward-looking opioid abatement efforts as defined and limited by any settlement agreements, state-city and town agreements, or court orders pertaining to the use of such funds”) and MOU IV.B(1) (“The Statewide Abatement Share shall be used for forward-looking Approved Purposes only”). ↑
6. Opioid Settlement. Prevent Overdose RI (PORI). Accessed August 25, 2024 (“We are using the State’s existing Governor’s Overdose Task Force Action Plan as a roadmap to recommend the distribution of these funds throughout the state. We have already utilized this plan to guide millions of dollars in statewide overdose prevention and substance use treatment investments. The Action Plan is also helping us make sure that funds are equitably distributed, taking into consideration the history of structural racism and its impact on health”). ↑
7. Opioid Settlement. PORI. Accessed August 25, 2024. See also Track Our Action Plan. PORI. Accessed August 25, 2024. ↑
8. OSAC Budget Workflow. PORI. April 26, 2024. Accessed August 25, 2024. See also Opioid Settlement. PORI. Accessed August 25, 2024. (“The OSAC first convened in April 2022. Each year, OSAC recommends areas to focus on and approves a funding budget drafted for them by State staff. Next, they present the budget to the Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. The Secretary can accept the budget or talk with OSAC to make changes to it. Lastly, the Secretary presents the final budget to the Governor. The Governor puts it in their budget to be considered by the General Assembly. You can learn more about the settlement process here”). ↑
9. MOU V.E(3).This subsection also encourages but does not require the Advisory Committee to coordinate with established government bodies and organizations working to address overdose, including the Governor’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force and harm reduction organizations. ↑
10. MOU V.F(1) (describing the annual submission of spending recommendations and that “[t]o aid the Advisory Committee in formulating the Statewide Abatement Recommendations, EOHHS, RIDOH, and BHDDH shall present information regarding the State’s opioid abatement strategy and appropriations plan, and information on how that strategy responds to the opioids crisis and the abatement needs of Rhode Island’s communities. The Advisory Committee may also consider how non-Opioid Settlement Funds are used as part of the State’s opioid abatement strategy when formulating the Statewide Abatement Recommendations”). ↑
11. MOU V.F(2) (“The Secretary shall review and consider the Statewide Abatement Recommendations and shall make a good faith effort to incorporate the Statewide Abatement Recommendations into EOHHS’s annual budget process”). ↑
12. MOU V.F(3) (“If the Secretary substantially deviates from the Statewide Abatement Recommendations, the Secretary shall provide the Advisory Committee with a written explanation, that will be made public, of any substantial deviations”). ↑
13. PORI: OSAC Budget Workflow. ↑
14. MOU IV.B(2) (“at least annually the Secretary [of EOHHS] shall present to the Governor, for inclusion in the Governor’s budget presentation to the General Assembly, the Secretary’s recommendations on the use of the Statewide Abatement Share”). See also OSAC Budget Workflow. PORI. Accessed August 25, 2024 (“The Governor selects budget recommendations and then presents them to the State General Assembly”). ↑
15. OSAC Budget Workflow. PORI. Accessed August 25, 2024 (“The House and Senate have budget hearings, submit amendments, and then vote on bills before sending them back to the Governor for final approval”). See also OSAC Budget Workflow. PORI. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑
16. Opioid Settlement Funded Project Annual Report. EOHHS. December 27, 2023. Accessed August 25, 2024 (“EOHHS works closely with the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals (BHDDH) and the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), along with the Department of Corrections, the Department of Housing, and other state agencies to carry out planning and implementation of opioid abatement activities”). ↑
17. Opioid Settlement Funded Project Annual Report. EOHHS. December 27, 2023. Accessed August 25, 2024. Rhode Island Statewide Opioid Abatement Account Report to the Governor, Legislature, and Attorney General (FY 2023). EOHHS. January 3, 2023. Accessed August 25, 2024. ↑
18. MOU IV.C. ↑