RICHMOND — The Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA) grants committee on Sept. 24 approved a draft equitable distribution policy intended to codify how the authority allocates settlement funds among cities, counties and regional partnerships, and signed off on a series of technical amendments to both local and state awards.

The committee voted unanimously to approve the policy in committee before it is forwarded to the full OAA board for consideration Nov. 19, Sarah Thomason, chair of the grants committee, said at the meeting. The policy, staff said, documents the authority’s existing approach to distributing three primary funding buckets: individual distributions to cities and counties (15% set‑aside), cooperative partnerships or regional efforts (35%), and unrestricted funds (35%) that can be used for operations or additional awards.

“Equitable distribution is achieved when the authority provides access to these funds as described in the policy, not on whether any individual city or county actually chooses to submit compliant applications,” Charlie Linacombe, OAA director of operations, told the committee as he presented the draft.

Staff emphasized the practical limits on equalized spending: allocations are based on an MOU formula agreed to by all 133 cities and counties in the Commonwealth, but actual disbursements depend on whether localities submit grant applications that comply with Code of Virginia requirements. “We can only equitably distribute the money when we get applications for the money,” the committee record shows.

The committee also approved a block of technical amendments to city and county awards and a separate block of state agency amendments. Staff described several corrections and administrative actions, including a reallocation to Chesterfield County’s mobile outreach services award, a correction to Harrisonburg’s peer‑recovery center award (OAA funds corrected to $200,000 with a reported $50,000 non‑OAA match), a planning grant performance‑period extension for Suffolk City scheduled to align its application with the March 2026 cycle, and scope adjustments for a Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services judicial training project.

Staff noted an Office of the Attorney General media campaign had an unexpected carry‑forward that required committee approval because the carry‑forward increased the project’s total award amount above the level the executive director may administratively adjust. The committee’s packet referenced the Commonwealth settlement MOU and Code of Virginia § 2.2‑2374(d) as the governing documents informing the policy.

On outreach and operational matters, Linacombe said Erica Tanner will join Oct. 10 as the OAA central‑region local government opioid settlement liaison to help engage underrepresented localities. He also reported that as of Sept. 24, 67 localities had signed onto a “gold standard” participation designation, a milestone staff said crosses roughly the 50% mark for local participation.

Committee members asked staff to clarify the regional budgeting approach; Linacombe confirmed regional budgets are created by aggregating the MOU formula for all localities within each Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services region. Staff also provided an update on the OAA dashboard rollout and a statewide substance use disorder analytics platform; staff said the OAA dashboard has one remaining vendor fix before broad promotion and that a restricted demo of the statewide analytics platform will be shown to government users in the coming weeks.

The committee elected Daryl Washington, executive director of the Fairfax‑Falls Church Community Service Board, as vice chair after he self‑nominated and received a second. The meeting closed with routine staff announcements and an adjournment by voice vote.

Votes at a glance
- Approval of Aug. 1 minutes: approved by voice vote.
- Block approval of city and county award amendments (Attachment A, FY26): approved by voice vote.
- Block approval of state agency award amendments: approved by voice vote.
- Approval of draft equitable distribution policy (committee level): approved unanimously; scheduled for full‑board consideration Nov. 19.
- Appointment of vice chair: Daryl Washington elected by voice vote.

What happens next
The committee’s approval sends the draft equitable distribution policy to the full OAA board on Nov. 19. Staff will continue processing the technical amendments and will hold technical support webinars for applicants. Staff also said annual reports and carry‑forward true‑up deadlines for city and county awards are forthcoming (city/county annual reports due Nov. 17; carry‑forward true‑ups due Oct. 20).