NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6554
SPONSOR: Gonzalez-Rojas TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to funds received
pursuant to a New York opioid settlement sharing agreement
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To increase transparency of funds acquired by the State through the NY
Opioid Settlement Sharing Agreement.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends mental hygiene law to Include funds received pursuant
to any NYS opioid settlement sharing agreement in the Opioid Settlement
Fund reporting requirements.
Section 2 amends the entities listed in mental hygiene law to be
internally consistent. Section 3 sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York State has successfully received over $2.6 billion through
settlements with opioid manufacturers, distributors, and sellers.
However, only 36% of those monies are tracked by the NYS Office of
Addiction Services and Supports; there is no transparency around the 46%
localities' share and 17% State share. Although NY Opioid Settlement
Sharing Agreements outline that a certain share of the funds must be
spent on approved uses, there is no reporting mechanism to track those
funds and ensure they are being spent appropriately. This has led to
confusion and mistrust among New Yorkers regarding where the funds are
going and how they are being used.
This bill expands the existing reporting requirements for the 36% of
funds that are In the Opioid Settlement Fund to include the remaining
64% of funds received through a Sharing•Agreement.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
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.
