STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6554 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 6, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GONZALEZ-ROJAS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to funds received pursuant to a New York opioid settlement sharing agreement The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph 10 of subdivision (c) of section 25.18 of the 2 mental hygiene law, as amended by chapter 171 of the laws of 2022, is 3 amended to read as follows: 4 10. On or before November first of each year, beginning one year after 5 the initial deposit of monies in the opioid settlement fund, the rele- 6 vant commissioners[,] shall provide a written report to the governor, 7 temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the 8 senate finance committee, chair of the assembly ways and means commit- 9 tee, chair of the senate alcoholism and substance [abuse] use disorders 10 committee, chair of the assembly alcoholism and drug abuse committee, 11 and the opioid settlement advisory board. Such report shall be presented 12 as a consolidated dashboard and be made publicly available on the 13 respective offices' websites. The report shall, to the extent practica- 14 ble after making all diligent efforts to obtain such information, 15 include the following: (i) the baseline funding for any entity that 16 receives funding from the opioid settlement fund or other funds received 17 pursuant to a New York opioid settlement sharing agreement, prior to the 18 receipt of such [opioid settlement] funds; (ii) how funds deposited in 19 the opioid settlement fund and other funds received pursuant to a New 20 York opioid settlement sharing agreement had been utilized in the 21 preceding calendar year, including but not limited to: (A) the amount of 22 money disbursed [from the fund] and the award process used for such 23 disbursement, if applicable; (B) the names of the recipients, the 24 amounts awarded to such recipient and details about the purpose such 25 funds were awarded for, including what specific services and programs EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08762-02-5
A. 6554 2 1 the funds were used on and what populations such services or programs 2 served; (C) the main criteria utilized to determine the award, including 3 how the program or service assists to reduce the effects of substance 4 use disorders; (D) an analysis of the effectiveness of the services 5 and/or programs that received opioid settlement funding or other funds 6 received pursuant to a New York opioid settlement sharing agreement in 7 their efforts to reduce the effects of the overdose and substance use 8 disorder epidemic. Such analysis shall utilize evidence-based uniform 9 metrics when reviewing the effects the service and/or program had on 10 prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery advancements; (E) 11 any relevant information provided by the New York subdivisions pursuant 12 to this section; and (F) any other information the commissioner deems 13 necessary to help inform future appropriations and funding decisions, 14 and ensure such funding is not being used to supplant local, state, or 15 federal funding. 16 § 2. Subdivision (d) of section 25.18 of the mental hygiene law, as 17 amended by chapter 171 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as 18 follows: 19 (d) Limitation on authority of government entities to bring lawsuits. 20 No government entity shall have the authority to assert released claims 21 against entities released by the department of law in a statewide opioid 22 settlement agreement executed by the department of law and the released 23 party on or after June first, two thousand twenty-one. Any action filed 24 by a government entity after June thirtieth, two thousand nineteen 25 asserting released claims against a manufacturer, distributor, [or] 26 dispenser, consultant, or related party thereof, of opioid products 27 shall be extinguished by operation of law upon being released pursuant 28 to such statewide opioid settlement agreement. 29 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.