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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 Section 17a-674c of the general statutes is repealed and the 1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 6
any judgment, consent decree or settlement paid by any defendant, 7
which is finalized on or after July 1, 2021, related to the production, 8
distribution, dispensing and other activities related to opioids shall be 9
deposited into the fund. Moneys remaining in the fund at the end of a 10
fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund. 11
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of subsection (b) of this section, 12
if the commissioner and the Attorney General certify that the purposes 13 Bill No. 1163
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of such judgment, consent decree or settlement are inconsistent with 14
the intent of the provisions of this section and sections 17a-674d to 17a-15
674f, inclusive, the commissioner and Attorney General (1) shall report 16
in writing to the committee such certification, including any 17
identification by the commissioner and Attorney General of an 18
alternate fund or account and explanation of the reasons for depositing 19
such moneys in such alternate fund or account, and (2) may deposit 20
such moneys into such alternate fund or account. The commissioner 21
and Attorney General shall jointly report, in accordance with the 22
provisions of section 11-4a, to the joint standing committee of the 23
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public 24
health regarding the intended use of such moneys in such alternate 25
fund or account prior to allocating 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 29
year; 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 32
substance use disorder abatement purposes, in accordance with the 33
controlling judgment, consent decree or settlement, as confirmed by 34
the Attorney General's review of such judgment, consent decree or 35
settlement and upon the approval of the committee and the Secretary 36
of the Office of 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 41
disorder prevention, treatment, recovery or harm reduction programs, 42
services and supports; 43 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, 47
treatment, recovery or harm reduction pilot p rograms or 48
demonstration studies that are not evidence-based, but are approved 49
by the committee as an appropriate use of moneys for a limited period 50
of time as specified by the committee, provided the committee shall 51
assess whether the evidence supports funding such programs or 52
studies or whether it provides a basis for funding such programs or 53
studies with an expectation of creating an evidence base for such 54
programs and studies; 55
(5) Evaluation of effectiveness and outcomes reporting for substance 56
use disorder abatement infrastructure, programs, services, supports 57
and resources for which moneys from the fund have been disbursed, 58
including, but not limited to, impact on access to harm reduction 59
services or treatment for substance use disorders or reduction in drug-60
related mortality; 61
(6) One or more publicly available data interfaces managed by the 62
commissioner to aggregate, track and report data on (A) substance use 63
disorders, overdoses and drug-related harms, (B) spending 64
recommendations, plans and reports, and (C) outcomes of programs, 65
services, supports and resources for which moneys from the fund were 66
disbursed; 67
(7) Research on opioid abatement, including, but not limited to, 68
development of evidence-based treatment, barriers to treatment, 69
nonopioid treatment of chronic pain and harm reduction, supply-side 70
enforcement; 71
(8) Documented expenses incurred in administering and staffing the 72
fund and the committee, and expenses, including, but not limited to, 73
legal fees, incurred by the state or any municipality in securing 74 Bill No. 1163
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settlement proceeds, deposited in the fund as permitted by the 75
controlling judgment, consent decree or settlement; 76
(9) Documented expenses associated with managing, investing and 77
disbursing moneys in the fund; [and] 78
(10) Documented expenses, including legal fees, incurred by the 79
state or any municipality in securing settlement proceeds deposited in 80
the fund to the extent such expenses are not otherwise reimbursed 81
pursuant to a fee agreement provided for by the controlling judgment, 82
consent decree or settlement; and 83
(11) Provision of funds to municipal police departments for the 84
purpose of equipping police officers with opioid antagonists, with 85
priority given to departments that do not currently have a supply of 86
opioid antagonists. 87
(f) (1) For purposes of this section, the fund balance shall be 88
determined by the State Treasurer as of July first, annually. 89
(2) Except as permitted by subdivision (8) of subsection (e) of this 90
section, or unless otherwise required by court order to refund to the 91
federal government a portion of the proceeds, moneys in the fund shall 92
be used for prospective purposes and shall not be used to reimburse 93
expenditures incurred prior to July 1, 2022. 94
(3) Proceeds derived from any state settlement of claims against a 95
defendant shall be allocated and disbursed only to those municipalities 96
that execute an agreement to participate in such settlement and adhere 97
to the terms of such agreement, provided the allocation or 98
disbursement of such settlement proceeds for the benefit of persons 99
within municipalities that do not execute an agreement to participate 100
in such settlement or do not adhere to the terms of such agreement 101
shall not be precluded or limited. 102
(4) Governmental and nonprofit nongovernmental entities shall be 103
eligible to receive moneys from the fund for programs, services, 104 Bill No. 1163
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supports and resources for prevention, treatment, recovery and harm 105
reduction. 106
(5) Subject to the provisions of subdivision (6) of this subsection, 107
fund disbursements shall be made by the commissioner upon approval 108
of the committee. The commissioner shall not make or refuse to make 109
any disbursement allowable under this subsection without the 110
approval of the committee. The commissioner shall adhere to the 111
committee's decisions regarding disbursement of moneys from the 112
fund, provided such disbursement is a permissible expenditure under 113
this section. The commissioner's role in the distribution of moneys 114
after the distribution has been approved by the committee and after 115
the review and approval required under subsection (e) of this section 116
shall be ministerial and shall not be discretionary. 117
(6) Moneys expended from the fund for the purposes set forth in 118
subsection (d) of this section shall be supplemental to, and shall not 119
supplant or take the place of, any other funds, including, but not 120
limited to, insurance benefits or local, state or federal funding, that 121
would otherwise have been expended for such purposes. The 122
commissioner shall not disburse moneys from the fund during any 123
fiscal year unless the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management 124
transmits to the committee a letter verifying that funds appropriated 125
and allocated in such fiscal year's budget for substance use disorder 126
abatement infrastructure, programs, services, supports and resources 127
for prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction are in an 128
amount not less than the sum of the funds for such purposes 129
appropriated and allocated in the previous fiscal year's budget. As 130
used in this subdivision, "supplemental" means additional funding, 131
consistent with the provisions of this section, for substance use 132
disorder abatement infrastructure or a substance use disorder 133
abatement program, service, support or resource to ensure that 134
funding in the current fiscal year exceeds the sum of federal, state, and 135
local funds allocated in the previous fiscal year for such substance use 136
disorder abatement infrastructure, program, service, support or 137 Bill No. 1163
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resource. 138
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2023 17a-674c
PS Joint Favorable