House Human Services reviews H.218, a single bill to appropriate opioid settlement fund awards

Lawmakers on the House Human Services Committee discussed H.218 on Tuesday, a bill to appropriate one-time and recurring expenditures from the state's opioid abatement special fund for fiscal year 2026.

The bill compiles recommendations from the state's Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee and the Department of Health into a single appropriation measure so the funds and programs are easier to track than when they are scattered across the annual budget (Act 113). Committee staff said the measure is intended to consolidate appropriations that have been funded in prior legislation and to present one place where the advisory committee's recommendations and department proposals can be considered together.

The advisory process and H.218's contents

Katie (Legislative Counsel, Office of Legislative Counsel) told the committee that H.218 contains two kinds of allocations: recurring appropriations the legislature has signaled it intends to continue and one-time appropriations for new or pilot projects. The bill, as presented, includes recurring appropriations with intent language that those items be funded annually from the opioid abatement special fund "unless and until the special fund does not have sufficient monies to fund this expenditure."

Commissioner of Health Mark Levine described the advisory committee's updated process for reviewing proposals. The committee used a Johns Hopkins University framework adapted to emphasize geographic equity, issued a request…