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Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s Opioid Settlements

This Community Guide will describe how Wisconsin is spending its opioid settlements and whether Wisconsin is working to ensure community access to opioid settlement funds. Last revised September 1, 2024.

Ultimate Decisionmaker

Local officials for cities and counties

Decision Making

Here are the entities that ultimately decide how each of Wisconsin’s opioid settlement shares are spent:

70% local share: local officials for cities and counties
30% state share:

70% Local Share

This share is distributed directly to the state’s 87 litigating cities and counties according to of the Wisconsin Local Government MOU.[1] Each are required to set up a separate fund to hold their opioid settlement proceeds that may not be comingled with other monies of the local government.[2] Local governments may allocate their shares to other political subdivisions and can combine their shares with one another.[3]

Up to 20% of this share may be spent as attorneys’ fees.[4] Excepting administrative costs,[5] the remaining funds must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) ,[6] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, 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.[7]

Yes, supplantation is prohibited. Wisconsin state law explicitly prohibits local governments from using opioid settlement funds to substitute for budgeted funds from other sources.[8] This means that local governments in Wisconsin may only use their opioid settlement funds in ways that supplement — rather than replace (or “supplant”) — existing resources.

30% State Share

Wisconsin’s state share of opioid settlement funds is allocated to the (DHS).[1]

With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on the uses described in the national settlement agreement’s (non-exhaustive) ,[3] which includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and other strategies.

Department of Health Services proposes, state legislature decides. The (DHS) must develop an expenditure proposal and submit it to the ’s .[4] If the Joint Committee on Finance takes no action within 14 working days, then DHS can proceed with expenditures based on its plan.[5] However, the Joint Committee on Finance may opt instead to hold a meeting to review the proposal and make changes, and DHS can only spend funds once the plan is approved.[6]

No, supplantation is not prohibited. Wisconsin does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of opioid settlement funds from its state share. This means that the state share may be spent in ways that replace (or “supplant”) — rather than supplement — existing resources.

Community Access

70% Local share: Up to each locality (not required). Local governments are not required to seek public input on uses of their shares. However, each may choose to seek such input. For example:
- Rock County formed an Opioid Settlement workgroup in 2022, comprised of members from public health, human services, county administration, and law enforcement. The working group administered an opioid settlement survey, held public listening sessions, and conducted key informant interviews to inform the development of recommendations for the use of opioid settlement funds.[1] The were then presented to the Rock County Board of Supervisors in the same year.

Advisory Bodies

No. Wisconsin has not established an advisory body to inform spending of opioid settlement funds.

Not applicable.

No (up to each locality). Local governments in Wisconsin are not required to establish opioid settlement advisory bodies. However, localities may choose to establish advisory councils that include members with lived and/or living experience to help ensure that settlement spending reflects community priorities.[1]

Not applicable.

Additional Resources

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Dose of Reality: Opioid Settlement Funds
Dose of Reality Roundtables Summary (December 2023, February 2024)
Opioids, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit (May 2024)

(mail-order harm reduction supplies)

70% Local Share

Local governments decide autonomously. Decisionmakers for the counties and cities will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on Exhibit E uses.[7]

30% State Share

Wisconsin’s state share of opioid settlement funds is allocated to the (DHS).[1]

Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(2)(c) (“The settlement agreement or any document that effectuates the settlement identifies 70 percent of the settlement proceeds as payable to local governments in the state that are parties in the opiate litigation”). Wisconsin State-Local Government Memorandum of Understanding (2022 MOU) Sec. A.3 and Wisconsin State-Local Government Memorandum of Understanding for the Allocation of Opioid Settlement Proceeds (2023 MOU) Sec. 3 (“Opioid Settlement Proceeds shall be allocated as follows: (i) 30% to the State of Wisconsin (‘State Share’); and (ii) 70% to Local Governments (‘LG Share’). 2022 MOU Sec. A.7 and 2023 MOU Sec. 8 ((describing direct allocation by formula). Wisconsin Local Government Memorandum of Understanding (Local MOU) Exhibit A. The 2022 MOU and Local MOU apply to the Distributor and Janssen settlements only. The 2023 MOU applies to the Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, Teva, and Allergan settlements. See also Dose of Reality: Opioid Settlement Funds. Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). Last revised August 23, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (referring to the 87 local governments that participated in the litigation). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(1). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(4) (power to redirect funds to another locality so long as there is an agreement requiring the recipient locality to use the funds for approved abatement purposes) and Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(5) (“Local governments may combine moneys from their segregated accounts if each local government conforms to the reporting requirement under [Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(c)]”). ↑
and (restricting all funds to approved uses “[e]xcept for Opioid Settlement Funds expended in payment of attorney fees as provided in Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(6) [Responsibilities for Attorney Fees]”); Wis Stat. Sec. 165.12(6) (“If a separate fund created in a settlement agreement for the opiate litigation is insufficient to pay the entire amount of attorney fees and expenses owed by local governments, a local government may use a portion of the amounts payable to local governments … to supplement amounts owed by the local government for attorney fees and expenses.”) and (“Pursuant to Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(6) a sum up to but in no event exceeding an amount equal to 20% of the total proceeds from the Settlement Agreements attributable to Local Governments shall be deposited into the Attorney Fees Account. … Any excess amounts remaining in the Attorney Fee Fund after funds have been allocated and paid to counsel shall revert back to the Local Governments and the escrow agent shall allocate such sums to Local Governments based on the allocation set forth on Exhibit A, which assigns each Local Government a percentage share”). See also and (requiring local governments to report specified information to the Attorney General and Joint Committee on Finance if they use any portion of settlement funds directly allocated to them for attorney fees). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(2) (local governments to spend their shares “solely for purposes identified as approved uses for abatement the settlement agreement”) and 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”). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(2) (“A local government may expend moneys of the segregated account solely for purposes identified as approved purposes for abatement in the settlement agreement”); and (local share to be spent on “purposes identified as approved uses for abatement in a Settlement Agreement” outside of attorneys’ fees); (“A minimum of 80% of the Settlement proceeds attributable to Local Governments shall be paid to each Local Government’s segregated Opioid Abatement Account, which may be expended only for approved uses for opioid abatement as provided in the Settlement Agreements and supporting Memorandums of Understanding”); 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”). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(1) (“Moneys in the segregated account are considered moneys of the local government”). See also and (describing direct allocation by formula). See, e.g. Milwaukee Independent. June 3, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024 (describing county’s five-year strategy for spending its share). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(b)(3) (“A local government may not use moneys from the segregated account to substitute for budgeted moneys from the other sources”). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(4)(c)(1)-(2). ↑

Wis Stat. Sec. 165.12(2)(b) and (3)(a). Wisconsin State-Local Government Memorandum of Understanding (2022 MOU) Sec. A.3 and Wisconsin State-Local Government Memorandum of Understanding for the Allocation of Opioid Settlement Proceeds (2023 MOU) Sec. 3 (“Opioid Settlement Proceeds shall be allocated as follows: (i) 30% to the State of Wisconsin (‘State Share’); and (ii) 70% to Local Governments (‘LG Share’). See also 2022 MOU Sec. A.4 and 2023 MOU Sec. 4 (100% of the “Additional Restitution Amount” paid to the State and deposited with DHS). ↑
Wis Stat Sec. 165.12(3)(a); 2022 MOU Sec. A.5 and 2023 MOU Sec. 5 (state share and the “Additional Restitution Amount” must be “utilized only or purposes identified as approved uses for abatement” in the settlements); Distributor Settlement Agreement 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”). ↑
Wis Stat Sec. 165.12(3)(a) (“Moneys payable to the state … shall be allocated to the department of health services for expenditure for purposes that comply with any settlement agreement or order of the court”) and I.SS (“Exhibit E provides a non-exhaustive list of expenditures that qualify as being paid for Opioid Remediation”). See also and (state share and the “Additional Restitution Amount” must be “utilized only or purposes identified as approved uses for abatement” in the settlements). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a). See, e.g., Department of Health Services (DHS). April 1, 2024. Accessed September 2, 2024. . DHS press release. April 2, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a)-(b). State law details the sequence: “If the cochairpersons of the joint committee on finance do not notify the department within 14 working days after the date of the submittal under this paragraph that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the expenditure proposal, the department may expend the moneys as described in the proposal. If, within 14 working days after the date of the submittal under this paragraph by the department, the cochairpersons of the committee notify the department that the committee has scheduled a meeting for the purpose of reviewing the expenditure proposal, the department may expend the moneys only upon approval by the committee.” Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a). The same process applies if DHS seeks to modify its spending plan during a fiscal year. Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(b). See, e.g., . DHS. Last revised August 23, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 ("We submitted our plan for this funding to the Joint Committee on Finance April 1, 2024 … The Joint Committee on Finance modified our plan. The modified plan was approved May 7, 2024”). ↑
Wis. Stat. Sec. 165.12(3)(a)-(b). ↑
. April 22, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024. ↑
Erik Gunn. . Wisconsin Examiner. May 6, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 (“During that two-week window that committee can block the plan and revise it, which it has done for the first two opioid settlement plans for the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. The committee’s Republican co-chairs announced April 22 that the 2025 DHS plan had been blocked, but didn’t say why”). ↑
Erik Gunn. . Wisconsin Examiner. May 6, 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024 ↑

Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s Opioid Settlements

Decision Making

70% Local Share

30% State Share

Community Access

Advisory Bodies

Additional Resources

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Decision Making

Wisconsin’s Opioid Settlements

Total Funds

Allocation

Mechanism

Additional Resources

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Community Access

Advisory Bodies

Has the state established an advisory body for settlement funds?

Is the state advisory body required to include member(s) with lived and/or living experience?

What is the overall membership of the state advisory body?

Are local governments required to establish a settlement advisory body? If so, are local advisory bodies required to include member(s) with lived and/or living experience?

What else should I know?

Citations

Wisconsin Counties Association

NEXT Distro

Can I provide input on spending?

Can I apply for grants?

Where do I go for updates?

What else should I know?

Citations

70% Local Share

30% State Share

Where do these monies live?

What else should I know?

Citations

Where do these monies live?

What else should I know?

Citations

Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s Opioid Settlements

Decision Making

70% Local Share

30% State Share

Community Access

Advisory Bodies

Additional Resources

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Decision Making

Wisconsin’s Opioid Settlements

Total Funds

Allocation

Mechanism

70% Local Share

30% State Share

Additional Resources

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Community Access

Advisory Bodies

Has the state established an advisory body for settlement funds?

Is the state advisory body required to include member(s) with lived and/or living experience?

What is the overall membership of the state advisory body?

Are local governments required to establish a settlement advisory body? If so, are local advisory bodies required to include member(s) with lived and/or living experience?

What else should I know?

Citations

Wisconsin Counties Association

NEXT Distro

Can I provide input on spending?

Can I apply for grants?

Where do I go for updates?

What else should I know?

Citations

70% Local Share

30% State Share

Where do these monies live?

What can this share be spent on?

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

Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?

Can I see how this share has been spent?

What else should I know?

Citations

Where do these monies live?

What can this share be spent on?

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

Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?

Can I see how this share has been spent?

What else should I know?

Citations