The Mississippi House and Senate unanimously passed bills Thursday to ensure hundreds of millions of state opioid settlement dollars are spent on efforts that prevent more overdoses.
The legislation would require local governments to spend opioid settlement money on strategies that address addiction, prevent them from using settlement dollars to replace existing funding and strengthen rules to prevent conflicts of interests for members of the state Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Council.
The House and Senate are expected to start final negotiations soon. Both chambers must agree on language before sending a bill to the Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk.
Both bills were amended Tuesday to address issues Mississippi Today has identified over the past year. They would reform state code that governs money won in national lawsuits, where governments across the country charged massive drug companies with using dangerous business practices related to prescription pain pills. Those practices catalyzed the deadliest drug crisis in American history.
In Mississippi, over 10,000 people have died of overdoses since 2000, and the state is expected to receive $421 million in opioid settlements through 2040. The money was viewed by most as a lifeline to address what recent surgeons general have identified as among the country’s most urgent public health crises.
But a September Mississippi Today investigation found that of the roughly $124 million Mississippi had received by last summer, less than $1 million had been used to address the opioid epidemic. Significantly more had been used for lawyers’ fees and general expenses.
Each year since 2022, Mississippi has been paid tens of millions of opioid settlement dollars, money that is supposed to help respond to the overdose public health crisis. But 15% of those dollars — the money controlled by the state’s towns, cities and counties — is unrestricted and being spent with almost no public knowledge. Mississippi Today spent the summer finding out how almost every local government receiving money has been managing the money over the past three years.Read The Series
A big reason for that was because Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who set the ground rules for how these funds would be distributed, directed 15% of the settlement funds to cities and counties with no restrictions and no reporting requirements. It wasn’t until Mississippi Today requested opioid settlement records from all of these governments that anyone knew how local elected officials were spending the funds.
Soon after the newsroom published its investigation, Republican House Public Health and Human Services Chairman Sam Creekmore told Mississippi Today he would work to pass legislation that ensured local dollars would be used to address the problem the state’s lawyers highlighted in the opioid settlement lawsuits — for the public health epidemic that the companies helped create.
When discussing the bill on the House floor, the New Albany lawmaker cited findings from Mississippi Today’s September investigation, such as the amount of money not being used to address the addiction crisis, as a reason why this bill was necessary.
“It’s just sitting in a bank account,” he said. “This new language we added gives these cities guidelines, and it’s pretty simple. All opioid settlement funds received by the local governments shall be used exclusively for abatement of harms caused by substance use disorder and related public health issues.”
Rep. Bob Evans, a Democrat from Monticello, questioned Creekmore about why the bill did not mandate that local governments publicly report how they spend opioid settlement money. Creekmore said he wanted to keep the bill simple for cities and counties, but those types of reporting requirements may be added as the Senate and the House continue to work on the bill.
A sign outside Moore’s Bicycle Shop in Hattiesburg, Miss., Friday, May 30, 2025, explains the significance of the purple flag raised to honor those who have died from opioid overdoses in the community. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayCreekmore’s amendment also tasks the Mississippi Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Council — the committee the Legislature created last year to solicit, review and recommend grant applications for the majority of the state’s opioid settlement money — with using some of the lawsuit funds to hire an outside group to help improve that process.
It’s a step some council members endorsed after Mississippi Today reported that the committee’s initial grant recommendations called for sending most of the money to organizations the members were affiliated with.
The Senate’s amendment would address the potential for council conflicts of interest as well. Submitted on Tuesday by Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, the amendment would prohibit committee members from directly or indirectly influencing the council’s evaluations of recommendations they could stand to benefit from. It also gives the Legislature more power to alter how they fund grant applicants.
When speaking about that proposal on the floor, Sen. Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula, said this potential protection would be implemented before the council evaluates the next round of awards.
“We probably all have heard the complaints that came out of the process,” he said. “Let me say, I saw some of that. I think they’re valid, but I also think the people that did the recommendations were performing the job admirably.”
Hence then, the article about senate and house pass reforms for opioid settlement money following mississippi today investigation was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Senate and House pass reforms for opioid settlement money following Mississippi Today investigation )
Also on site :