Committee reviews H660 opioid settlement allocations, warns fund is finite and sets vote for next week

Nolan Langwell, with the Joint Fiscal Office, presented a reconciliation spreadsheet to a legislative committee on H660, the bill governing distribution of opioid settlement funds, and warned the fund is finite as members weighed program recommendations from the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (OSAC) against the Department of Health's proposal.

"What I have before you, this is a spreadsheet that I put together for the committee," Langwell said, explaining the sheet shows existing ongoing projects, new requests and a right-hand column listing prior appropriations (including entries cited as Act 113 (2024), Act 178 (2024) and Act 22 (2023)). He said detailed spend-versus-obligation numbers are maintained in a separate health department report.

The discussion focused on how much money is actually available to allocate. Langwell summarized his modeling: the state receives roughly $4 million a year from settlements but spends about $6 million to $8 million annually on funded programs, which, at prior appropriation levels, would drive the fund toward a deficit within one to two years. He also noted the spreadsheet's near-term balance figures do not include a pending Purdue settlement that has been reported informally at about $20 million and whose timing and receipt remain uncertain.

The committee chair cautioned against treating the spreadsheet's headline balance as fully available for new awards. "Don't look at the bottom right as that's what's available to fund because that is not what's available to fund," the chair said, noting many appropriations are already obligated and likely to be expended by fiscal year-end.

Representatives of the health department offered a different presentation of the numbers. "On page 3 of our report, we note that the fund has a total balance of approximately 3,600,000.0 right now," a department representative identified as Jessica said, adding that a $1.44 million reversion and other adjustments produced an estimate of about $8.6 million that the department and staff have previously discussed as available for the coming fiscal year.

Committee members pressed for clearer provider-level reporting before final allocations. One member said only one organization contacted so far (Community Care Network) had provided spending detail on prior awards. Members were reminded that state grant agreements include performance measures and that the health department is the appropriate source for detailed provider reporting.

The question of which recommendations to accept was underscored by competing lists: OSAC's recommendations and the health department's. The chair said the committee can select awards "a la carte" from either list, but urged members to keep scope and sustainability in mind, especially because many of the requests on the current list are one-time appropriations.

The chair announced next steps: committee staff will pull up the original bill language and prior amendments for review, and the committee plans to finish H660 and vote on it by the end of next week. The chair also said there would be no time for oral testimony from organizations that were recommended by OSAC but not by the department; those organizations were invited to submit brief written statements explaining why they believe funding is critical.

The committee did not take a formal vote during the session. Members scheduled follow-up staff briefings and indicated they will use the Joint Fiscal Office spreadsheet and the health department report to finalize allocations ahead of the planned vote.