Legislature failed to pass bill that would turn opioid settlements into investment fund

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The state is already expected to receive an opioid settlement totaling more than $58 million. Lawmakers have thus far not decided how to use those funds.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The regular legislative session ended with some big proposals still left on the table. One of them, SB 133, would have set up special funds to deal with the growing opioid crisis in the state.

“That was what the bill hoped to do, was to take that money that came in, be able to invest it and use that interest for an ongoing process for remediation,” chief medical officer Dr. Anne Zink said. “So just like with the PFD, being able to invest those funds and then being able to pay them out. The same sort of process, being able to invest these funds and being able to pay them out over a period of time.

“We are interested in bringing legislation back to securitize those funds so that they’re an ongoing funds source to be able to address the incredible burden of opioids in our state,” Zink said. “The situation next is that we’re working with [the Office of Management and Budget] to work through a process to be able to get out some of those funds as they start to come in. So, this is a long-term process, these funds don’t all come into the state at once,” Zink said.

 

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