Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Attorney General Maura Healey today announced that Massachusetts municipalities that sign onto statewide opioid settlements with opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, opioid-maker Johnson & Johnson, and future statewide opioid settlements, would receive 40% of the abatement funds the state recovers, up from the 15% default allocation provided by the settlements.
In order to ensure that the 40% municipal allocation applies to the settlement payments the state expects this year, the AG’s Office is asking municipalities to return a signed State-Subdivision Agreement to MAOpioidSettlements@mass.gov by March 31. The agreements memorialize the increased allocation and set forth the permitted uses and reporting requirements for the abatement funds. The agreements must be submitted even if the municipality already submitted its Participation Forms.
The Attorney General’s Office website has Frequently Asked Questions About Statewide Settlements With Opioid Distributors and Johnson & Johnson.
Last July, Healey announced a resolution with three opioid distributors — Cardinal, McKesson and Amerisource Bergen — and opioid-maker Johnson & Johnson that will provide millions in “abatement funds” to the Commonwealth and its cities and towns to fund prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery efforts across Massachusetts.
All Massachusetts cities and towns are eligible to receive a portion of the settlement funds directly, so long as they sign up and agree to use the payments to abate the opioid crisis in their communities.
Municipalities that haven’t signed up yet can still do so by emailing a completed Subdivision Settlement Participation Form for both of the settlements to MAOpioidSettlements@mass.gov. Municipalities should return the signed forms by March 31 to ensure their eligibility for first payments.
The Attorney General’s Office expects abatement funds to start flowing into Massachusetts this spring or summer.
Settlement funds that are not distributed directly to municipalities will go to a new statewide Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund.