Opioid settlement advisory committee reviews FY26 spending priorities; recovery campus, contingency management debated

The Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee on Wednesday reviewed a slate of proposed FY26 spending priorities drawn from the state's opioid abatement fund, with members pressing state health officials for details about unspent grant obligations, timing of new settlements and how several new proposals would be staffed and measured.

Committee members focused on both recurring commitments the legislature signaled should continue and about 17 new proposals that would pilot or expand services in specific regions. Mark Levine, commissioner of health, outlined the mix of repeat items and new grants and flagged a large potential one-time payment from the Sackler settlement that could affect future planning: "we have not yet received an application for a grant from the city of Burlington," Levine said when discussing the proposed overdose prevention center and the committee's lack of an active grant application from Burlington.

Why it matters: the committee allocates variable annual payments from multiple settlements; this year's roughly $12 million in available funds must cover ongoing obligations, recurring items legislatively encouraged for annual renewal and a set of pilot programs intended to fill local gaps in prevention, treatment and recovery support. Members said they need prompt accounting of currently obligated but unspent grant funds before finalizing FY26 requests.

Most prominent items discussed

- Case management staff: Last year's…