Transparency and Michigan Opioid Settlement Funds
It's time to change how the opioid settlement money is tracked in Michigan.
Our Treasury Request for Rulemaking
As you know, transparency regarding opioid settlement spending has been lacking in Michigan. Michigan has already collected $181 million in opioid settlement dollars, with future amounts totaling more than $1.5 billion. However, relatively little has been disclosed about this spending. To fulfill the need to know how the money is being used to reduce harm from opioids, the Opioid Policy Institute and the Center for Popular Democracy are requesting that the Michigan Department of Treasury develop transparent and non-burdensome audit rules to track and disseminate information about all of Michigan's opioid settlement fund spending. This auditing authority exists as part of the Michigan Opioid Healing and Recovery Fund, but has not been properly leveraged to increase transparency around spending.
A clear auditing process is an essential step towards achieving transparency regarding spending here in Michigan. Transparency is especially critical when dealing with funds intended to address a crisis as profound and personal as the opioid overdose crisis.
Michigan government leaders need to hear from you that transparency is an essential part of opioid settlement spending
Time for some action
Contact Michigan Government OfficialsOur issue brief explaining the how and why behind our RFR
For the wonky ones, here's the RFR
This RFR was co-authored by the folks at Popular Democracy and intern Harmukh Singh a J.D. Candidate from Columbia Law School (2024).
Here's our open letter advocating for the Michigan Department of Treasury to develop audit rules for the opioid settlement money
Update - 11 Nov 2024
Our request was DENIED - see the reasoning here:
