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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1163
January Session, 2023
LCO No. 5024
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE USE OF OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUNDS
TO PROVIDE MUNICIPAL POLICE OFFICERS WITH OPIOID
ANTAGONISTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 17a-674c of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2023): 2
(a) There is established an Opioid Settlement Fund which shall be a 3
separate nonlapsing fund administered by the committee. 4
(b) Any moneys intended to address opioid use, related disorders or 5
the impact of the opioid epidemic that are received by the state from any 6
judgment, consent decree or settlement paid by any defendant, which is 7
finalized on or after July 1, 2021, related to the production, distribution, 8
dispensing and other activities related to opioids shall be deposited into 9
the fund. Moneys remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall 10
not revert to the General Fund. 11
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of subsection (b) of this section, if 12
the commissioner and the Attorney General certify that the purposes of 13 Raised Bill No. 1163
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such judgment, consent decree or settlement are inconsistent with the 14
intent of the provisions of this section and sections 17a-674d to 17a-674f, 15
inclusive, the commissioner and Attorney General (1) shall report in 16
writing to the committee such certification, including any identification 17
by the commissioner and Attorney General of an alternate fund or 18
account and explanation of the reasons for depositing such moneys in 19
such alternate fund or account, and (2) may deposit such moneys into 20
such alternate fund or account. The commissioner and Attorney General 21
shall jointly report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, 22
to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having 23
cognizance of matters relating to public health regarding the intended 24
use of such moneys in such alternate fund or account prior to allocating 25
such moneys for other purposes. 26
(d) Beginning on December 31, 2022, and annually thereafter, the 27
State Treasurer shall report the following to the committee: 28
(1) An inventory of fund investments as of the most recent fiscal year; 29
and 30
(2) The net income earned by the fund in the most recent fiscal year. 31
(e) Moneys in the fund shall be spent only for the following substance 32
use disorder abatement purposes, in accordance with the controlling 33
judgment, consent decree or settlement, as confirmed by the Attorney 34
General's review of such judgment, consent decree or settlement and 35
upon the approval of the committee and the Secretary of the Office of 36
Policy and Management: 37
(1) State-wide, regional or community substance use disorder needs 38
assessments to identify structural gaps and needs to inform 39
expenditures from the fund; 40
(2) Infrastructure required for evidence-based substance use disorder 41
prevention, treatment, recovery or harm reduction programs, services 42
and supports; 43 Raised Bill No. 1163
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(3) Programs, services, supports and resources for evidence-based 44
substance use disorder prevention, treatment, recovery or harm 45
reduction; 46
(4) Evidence-informed substance use disorder prevention, treatment, 47
recovery or harm reduction pilot programs or demonstration studies 48
that are not evidence-based, but are approved by the committee as an 49
appropriate use of moneys for a limited period of time as specified by 50
the committee, provided the committee shall assess whether the 51
evidence supports funding such programs or studies or whether it 52
provides a basis for funding such programs or studies with an 53
expectation of creating an evidence base for such programs and studies; 54
(5) Evaluation of effectiveness and outcomes reporting for substance 55
use disorder abatement infrastructure, programs, services, supports and 56
resources for which moneys from the fund have been disbursed, 57
including, but not limited to, impact on access to harm reduction 58
services or treatment for substance use disorders or reduction in drug-59
related mortality; 60
(6) One or more publicly available data interfaces managed by the 61
commissioner to aggregate, track and report data on (A) substance use 62
disorders, overdoses and drug-related harms, (B) spending 63
recommendations, plans and reports, and (C) outcomes of programs, 64
services, supports and resources for which moneys from the fund were 65
disbursed; 66
(7) Research on opioid abatement, including, but not limited to, 67
development of evidence-based treatment, barriers to treatment, 68
nonopioid treatment of chronic pain and harm reduction, supply-side 69
enforcement; 70
(8) Documented expenses incurred in administering and staffing the 71
fund and the committee, and expenses, including, but not limited to, 72
legal fees, incurred by the state or any municipality in securing 73
settlement proceeds, deposited in the fund as permitted by the 74
controlling judgment, consent decree or settlement; 75 Raised Bill No. 1163
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(9) Documented expenses associated with managing, investing and 76
disbursing moneys in the fund; [and] 77
(10) Documented expenses, including legal fees, incurred by the state 78
or any municipality in securing settlement proceeds deposited in the 79
fund to the extent such expenses are not otherwise reimbursed pursuant 80
to a fee agreement provided for by the controlling judgment, consent 81
decree or settlement; and 82
(11) Provision of funds to municipal police departments for the 83
purpose of equipping police officers with opioid antagonists, with 84
priority given to departments that do not currently have a supply of 85
opioid antagonists. 86
(f) (1) For purposes of this section, the fund balance shall be 87
determined by the State Treasurer as of July first, annually. 88
(2) Except as permitted by subdivision (8) of subsection (e) of this 89
section, or unless otherwise required by court order to refund to the 90
federal government a portion of the proceeds, moneys in the fund shall 91
be used for prospective purposes and shall not be used to reimburse 92
expenditures incurred prior to July 1, 2022. 93
(3) Proceeds derived from any state settlement of claims against a 94
defendant shall be allocated and disbursed only to those municipalities 95
that execute an agreement to participate in such settlement and adhere 96
to the terms of such agreement, provided the allocation or disbursement 97
of such settlement proceeds for the benefit of persons within 98
municipalities that do not execute an agreement to participate in such 99
settlement or do not adhere to the terms of such agreement shall not be 100
precluded or limited. 101
(4) Governmental and nonprofit nongovernmental entities shall be 102
eligible to receive moneys from the fund for programs, services, 103
supports and resources for prevention, treatment, recovery and harm 104
reduction. 105 Raised Bill No. 1163
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(5) Subject to the provisions of subdivision (6) of this subsection, fund 106
disbursements shall be made by the commissioner upon approval of the 107
committee. The commissioner shall not make or refuse to make any 108
disbursement allowable under this subsection without the approval of 109
the committee. The commissioner shall adhere to the committee's 110
decisions regarding disbursement of moneys from the fund, provided 111
such disbursement is a permissible expenditure under this section. The 112
commissioner's role in the distribution of moneys after the distribution 113
has been approved by the committee and after the review and approval 114
required under subsection (e) of this section shall be ministerial and 115
shall not be discretionary. 116
(6) Moneys expended from the fund for the purposes set forth in 117
subsection (d) of this section shall be supplemental to, and shall not 118
supplant or take the place of, any other funds, including, but not limited 119
to, insurance benefits or local, state or federal funding, that would 120
otherwise have been expended for such purposes. The commissioner 121
shall not disburse moneys from the fund during any fiscal year unless 122
the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management transmits to the 123
committee a letter verifying that funds appropriated and allocated in 124
such fiscal year's budget for substance use disorder abatement 125
infrastructure, programs, services, supports and resources for 126
prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction are in an amount 127
not less than the sum of the funds for such purposes appropriated and 128
allocated in the previous fiscal year's budget. As used in this 129
subdivision, "supplemental" means additional funding, consistent with 130
the provisions of this section, for substance use disorder abatement 131
infrastructure or a substance use disorder abatement program, service, 132
support or resource to ensure that funding in the current fiscal year 133
exceeds the sum of federal, state, and local funds allocated in the 134
previous fiscal year for such substance use disorder abatement 135
infrastructure, program, service, support or resource. 136
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
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Section 1 July 1, 2023 17a-674c
Statement of Purpose:
To authorize the use of opioid settlement funds to provide municipal
police officers with opioid antagonists.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]