Kansas has reached multiple settlements with major pharmaceutical companies, distributors and related firms as part of the state’s ongoing efforts to bring accountability to those that fueled the opioid addiction crisis and to provide funds to support addiction services. The settlements will result in the state of Kansas receiving more than $340 million through 2038 to treat and fight opioid addiction.
The Kansas Fights Addiction Act, codified as KSA 75-775 to -781, was enacted by the state legislature in 2021. The Act directs the settlement dollars to be deposited into two funds – 75% are deposited into the state-specific Kansas Fights Addiction Fund (KFAF), and 25% are deposited into the Municipalities Fight Addiction Fund (MFAF). The MFAF is paid out to the 205 participating subdivisions (which includes the City of Abilene) based on the payment shares outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the League of Kansas Municipalities and the Kansas Association of Counties.
MFAF Program and Purpose
- The Municipalities Fight Addiction Act
- Gives direct funding to our municipality from the opioid settlement dollars.
- Intended to empower subdivisions with direct agency over spending, while still allowing subdivisions to seek additional funding from the KFAF.
- Restricted purpose funding:
- Intent is to focus on Opioid Use Disorder and Substance Abuse Disorder (OUD/SUD) abatement.
- Intent is to add to services, rather than supplant existing dollars.
- Demand side (user) v. supply side (law enforcement) - the dollars are intended to be used for the impact of dealing with the person addicted. Think: Prevention & Education
- Administration Requirements
- Keep dollars in a separate fund (does not need to be a separate account).
- Track how much comes in and out in a given year.
- Submit an annual report on receipts and expenditures by March 1 every year.
- Be willing to answer questions about expenditures from the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
Abatement Strategies
All funding provided through the settlements must be allocated to opioid and substance use disorder (OUD/SUD) abatement. Refer to the Kansas Opioids Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Kansas MFAF Guide to Strategic Opioid Settlement Allocation and Fact Sheet provided below.
Link to Kansas Opioid Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
Link to Exhibit E-List of Opioid Remediation Uses
Link to Guide
Link to Fact Sheet
Contact the Finance Director with any questions related to the City of Abilene’s Kansas Fights Addiction Fund. All requests for funding must be submitted to the Finance Director on organization letterhead specifically detailing how the funding will be used for abatement strategies as identified in Exhibit E within the MOU.
Identify Needs: Questions and answers to consider within written proposals
- Do we have a Substance Use Disorder (SUD) problem in our community?
- How are we currently addressing SUD? Is it working?
- What do we want to achieve when addressing SUD?
- What is your goal? - Reduce harm? Address short-term emergency situations? Treatment? Build more housing, job sourcing and child care?
- Who are we currently not serving/who currently needs help? Do we have the resources to provide any help?
- Are we talking to enough people/groups to understand the full scope of SUD in our community? If not, who can we talk to and what are the challenges we need to overcome in connecting with them?
