Laserfiche WebLink
2 <br /> <br />suspicious orders. Johnson & Johnson will be prohibited from selling or promoting opioids <br />for ten years. <br /> <br />Minnesota Framework <br /> <br />Minnesota has been preparing for these settlements and the opportunity they present to deliver <br />substantial funding to needed abatement and remediation programs. In 2019, the Legislature <br />passed the Opiate Epidemic Response bill, creating a special opioid abatement account and the <br />Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council, which will oversee the spending of the state’s <br />share of settlement funds. <br /> <br />Additionally, a months-long partnership between the state and cities and counties has resulted in <br />a state-subdivision agreement (or “Minnesota Memorandum of Agreement”) that is designed to <br />maximize the settlement funds coming to the State of Minnesota and get them to where they are <br />needed most. The state-subdivision agreement details how the settlement money will be <br />allocated within the state and also sets out a structure for the distribution of opioid abatement <br />funds from pending bankruptcy plans with Purdue Pharma and Mallinckrodt. A copy of the <br />state-subdivision agreement can be found on the Attorney General’s website at <br />www.ag.state.mn.us/opioids. <br />Pursuant to the state-subdivision agreement—and assuming maximum payments— <br />approximately $296 million in funds paid to Minnesota and its cities and counties from the <br />Distributor and Johnson & Johnson settlements, as well as tens of millions of additional dollars <br />from the Purdue Pharma and Mallinckrodt bankruptcies, will be allocated as follows: <br /> Local Government Abatement Fund. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the abatement <br />funds will be paid directly to counties and certain municipalities that participate in the <br />settlement. Local government funds will be directly allocated to all participating <br />counties, and all participating municipalities that: (a) have populations of 30,000 or more, <br />(b) have filed lawsuits against the settling defendants, or (c) have public health <br />departments. To promote efficiency in the use of abatement funds and limit the <br />administratively burdensome disbursements of amounts that are too small to add a <br />meaningful abatement response, smaller, non-litigating municipalities will not receive a <br />direct allocation of settlement funds. The allocation percentages for each county and <br />municipality were determined by counsel for the subdivisions negotiating the national <br />settlement agreements and were calculated using data reflect the impact of the opioid <br />crisis on the subdivision. <br /> <br /> State Fund. Twenty-five percent (25) of the abatement funds will be paid directly to the <br />State. Pursuant to state law, these funds will go into the special opioid abatement account <br />to be overseen and distributed by the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council. <br />Under current law, after certain appropriations are made, approximately 50% of the funds <br />paid into the opioid abatement account are distributed to county social service agencies to <br />provide child protection services to children and families who are affected by addiction.