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

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

• 65% local share: local officials for cities and counties

• 35% state share:

Has the state established an advisory body for settlement funds?

No. Wyoming has not established an advisory body to inform opioid settlement spending.

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

Not applicable.

What is the overall membership of the state advisory body?

Not applicable.

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?

No (up to each locality). Local governments in Wyoming 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.

What else should I know?

Not applicable.

Citations

• (January 31, 2024)

• 65% 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. Watch for opportunities to weigh in on city and county spending decisions, such as city council meetings and town halls.

• 35% state share: No opportunities available (not required). The state has not established recurring opportunities for the public to provide input on uses of its share.[1]

It depends. As of September 1, 2024, the state has not yet established any grant opportunities for the 35% state share. Local governments may create grant programs to distribute their share of funds. The existence, parameters, and processes for local settlement grant programs will vary by locality, so stay alert for new opportunities. Visit the (OpioidSettlementTracker.com and Legal Action Center) for the most up-to-date information on settlement grant opportunities for community organizations.

Where do these monies live?

This share is distributed to the Department of Health (DOH).[1]

What can this share be spent on?

With limited exceptions,[2] this share must be spent on forward-looking approved uses described in Exhibit A of Wyoming’s MOUs,[3] which is a variation of the national settlement agreement’s Exhibit E, Schedule B (“Approved Uses”) that allows for a broader variety of law enforcement-related uses.[4]

Reimbursement uses of opioid settlement funds are explicitly prohibited.[5]

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

Department of Health decides. The Wyoming Department of Health (DOH) ultimately decides how to spend this share on Exhibit A uses, including as grants for approved uses.[6] In past years, funds have primarily been allocated to projects within DOH’s Behavioral Health Division and Public Health Division.[7]

Is this share attached to an explicit bar against supplantation?

No, supplantation is not prohibited. Like most states, Wyoming does not explicitly prohibit supplantation uses of its opioid settlement funds. 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 required). View the state share’s annual report . The “State” is required to publish an online report each year on its expenditures, including funds expended by DOH and any grants awarded.[8]

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

Not applicable.

1. ) and ((“35% allocated to the State (Statewide Share)”); and (“Unless newly-enacted legislation or the terms of a Settlement that becomes an order of a court provides otherwise, the Statewide Share will be distributed to the Wyoming Department of Health through the Wyoming Attorney General acting as trustee, agent, or attorney-in-fact to hold and distribute such amount, under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 9-1-639(a), exclusively for abating the opioid crisis throughout Wyoming”). Note that MOA II — which applies to the settlements with Allergan, Teva, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart — applies a different allocation to the monies associated with the Teva Settlement specifically (25% instead of 35% to the state share). MOA I applies only to the Distributor and Janssen settlements, and the Purdue Bankruptcy. See and . ↑

2. and (defining “Opioid Funds” to exclude attorneys’ fees or “any funds made available in a National Settlement Agreement or any Bankruptcy Resolution for the reimbursement of the United States Government”). ↑

Where do these monies live?

This share is distributed directly to participating counties and cities according to Exhibit B of Wyoming’s MOUs.[1] Non-participating localities’ amounts are reallocated to participating localities,[2] who may each opt to redirect their shares to the state share.[3]

What can this share be spent on?

Up to 15% of this share can be spent on attorneys’ fees.[4] Otherwise, and with limited exceptions,[5] this share must be spent on forward-looking approved uses described in Exhibit A of Wyoming’s MOUs,[6] which is a variation of the national settlement agreement’s Exhibit E, Schedule B (“Approved Uses”) that allows for a broader variety of law enforcement-related uses.[7]

Reimbursement uses of opioid settlement funds are explicitly prohibited.[8]

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

Local governments decide autonomously (but must certify proper uses). Decisionmakers for the counties and municipalities will ultimately decide for themselves how to spend their monies on Exhibit A uses,[9] but each is required to certify to the Wyoming Attorney General that it will spend its share on approved uses prior to receiving disbursement of funds,[10] in addition to annually certify spending on approved uses and reporting expenditures for the preceding year to the AG.[11]

Counties are additionally required to consult and “regularly” receive input from their cities and towns.[12] Local governments are encouraged to collaborate with each other on abatement efforts and are explicitly empowered to grant their shares to organizations.[13]

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

Up to each locality (no public reporting required, only intrastate). Opioid settlement expenditures are not officially published in a centralized location for this share. Participating local governments must annually report their expenditures only to the Attorney General.[14]

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

Media coverage has described how Wyoming's local governments have been slow to spend down their shares. In 2023, local governments reportedly received more than $7.5 million in opioid settlement funds; however, and “according to reports sent to the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office[,] … leaders only spent or allocated about 5.6% of that.”[15]

1. ) and (“65% allocated to the Participating Local Governments (Localized Share)”); and (defining “Participating Local Governments” to mean “all counties, cities, and towns within the geographic boundaries of the State of Wyoming” that have signed on to the respective MOU); and and (local share “will be distributed directly to each Participating Local Government”). Exhibit B is an attachment to both MOU I and MOU II that describes local governments’ allocation percentages. Note that MOA II — which applies to the settlements with Allergan, Teva, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart — applies a different allocation to the monies associated with the Teva Settlement specifically (75% instead of 65% to the Local Share). MOA I applies only to the Distributor and Janssen settlements, and the Purdue Bankruptcy. See and . ↑

2. and (providing that a non-Participating Government’s allocation is reallocated to the Local Share and distributed according to “the remaining proportions set for in Exhibit B”). ↑