30% State Share

Where do these monies live?

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

What can this share be spent on?

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

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

Department of Health Services proposes, state legislature decides. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) must develop an expenditure proposal and submit it to the Wisconsin state legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance.[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]

Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?

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.

Can I see how this share has been spent?

Yes (public reporting not required, only intrastate). Though this share is technically subject only to intrastate reporting of spending plans to the Joint Committee on Finance,[7] DHS publishes amounts approved for each fiscal year and quarterly progress reports for its funded opportunities on its Dose of Reality: Opioid Settlement Funds website.

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

In April 2024, the legislature exercised its right to overrule DHS’ recommendations for state share spending.[8] The Joint Committee on Finance has exercised its power to “block and revise” DHS’ plan for fiscal years 2023 and 2024,[9] and news coverage describes how “[i]n rewriting the first annual plan for $31 million, submitted in 2022 for the 2023 fiscal year, the finance committee’s Republican majority to law enforcement agencies and to some specific nonprofits not previously named in the DHS plan.”[10]

1. Wis Stat. Sec. 165.12(2)(b) and (3)(a). and (“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 and (100% of the “Additional Restitution Amount” paid to the State and deposited with DHS). ↑

2. Wis Stat Sec. 165.12(3)(a); and (state share and the “Additional Restitution Amount” must be “utilized only or purposes identified as approved uses for abatement” in the settlements); 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”). ↑

3. 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