Fort Walton Beach Resolution — 2021-07--MOU--Opioid Settlement — reading text

17. " Settlement" shall mean the negotiated resolution of legal or equitable claims against a Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Participant when that resolution has been jointly entered into by the State and Local Governments or a settlement class as described in (B)( 1) below. 18. " State" shall mean the State of Florida. B. Terms 1. Only Abatement- Other than funds used for the Administrative Costs and Expense Fund as hereinafter described in paragraph 6 and paragraph 9, respectively), all Opioid Funds shall be utilized for Approved Purposes. To accomplish this purpose, the State will either file a new action with Local Governments as Parties or add Local Governments to its existing action, sever settling defendants, and seek entry of a consent order or other order binding both the State, Local Governments, and Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Participant( s) (" Order"). The Order may be part of a class action settlement or similar device. The Order shall provide for continuing jurisdiction of a state court to address non-performance by any party under the Order. Any Local Government that objects to or refuses to be included under the Order or entry of documents necessary to effectuate a Settlement shall not be entitled to any Opioid Funds and its portion of Opioid Funds shall be distributed to, and for the benefit of, the other Local Governments. 2. Avoid Claw Back and Recoupment- Both the State and Local Governments wish to maximize any Settlement and Opioid Funds. In addition to committing to only using funds for the Expense Funds, Administrative Costs and Approved Purposes, both Parties will agree to utilize a percentage of funds for the core strategies highlighted in Exhibit A. Exhibit A contains the programs and strategies prioritized by the U. S. Department of Justice and/or the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services (" Core Strategies"). The State is trying to obtain the United States' agreement to limit or reduce the United States' ability to recover or recoup monies from the State and Local Government in exchange for prioritization of funds to certain projects. If no agreement is reached with the United States, then there will be no requirement that a percentage be utilized for Core Strategies.  3. Distribution Scheme - All Opioid Funds will initially go to the State, and then be distributed according to the following distribution scheme. The Opioid Funds will be divided into three funds after deducting costs of the Expense Fund detailed in paragraph 9 below: a) City/County Fund- The city/county fund will receive 15% of all Opioid Funds to directly benefit all Counties and Municipalities. The amounts to be distributed to each County and Municipality shall be determined by the Negotiation Class Metrics or other metrics agreed upon, in writing, by a County and a Municipality. For Local Governments that are not within the definition of County or Municipality, those Local Governments may receive that government' s share of the City/County Fund under the Negotiation Class Metrics, if that government executes a release as part of a Settlement. Any Local Government that is not within the definition of County or Municipality and that does not execute a release as part of a Settlement shall have its share of the City/County Fund go to the County in which it is located. b) Regional Fund- The regional fund will be subdivided into two parts. i) The State will annually calculate the share of each County within the State of the regional fund utilizing the sliding scale in section 4 of the allocation contained in the Negotiation Class Metrics or other metrics that the Parties agree upon. ii) For Qualified Counties, the Qualified County' s share will be paid to the Qualified County and expended on Approved Purposes, including the Core Strategies identified in Exhibit A, if applicable. iii) For all other Counties, the regional share for each County will be paid to the Managing Entities providing service for that County. The Managing Entities will be required to expend the monies on Approved Purposes, including the Core Strategies. The Managing Entities shall endeavor to the greatest extent possible to expend these monies on counties within the State that are non- Qualified Counties and to ensure that there are services in every County. c) State Fund - The remainder of Opioid Funds after deducting the costs of the Expense Fund detailed in paragraph 9, the City/County Fund and the Regional Fund will be expended by the State on Approved Purposes, including the provisions related to Core Strategies, if applicable. d) To the extent that Opioid Funds are not appropriated and expended in a year by the State, the State shall identify the investments where settlement funds will be deposited. Any gains, profits, or interest accrued from the deposit of the Opioid Funds to the extent that any funds are not appropriated and expended within a calendar year, shall be the sole property of the Party that was entitled to the initial deposit.  4. Regional Fund Sliding Scale- The Regional Fund shall be calculated by utilizing the following sliding scale of the Opioid Funds available in any year: A. Years 1- 6: 40% B. Years 7- 9: 35% C. Years 10- 12: 34% D. Years 13- 15: 33% E. Years 16- 18: 30% 5. Opioid Abatement Taskforce or Council - The State will create an Opioid Abatement Taskforce or Council ( sometimes hereinafter" Taskforce" or" Council") to advise the Governor, the Legislature, Florida' s Department of Children and Families (" DCF"), and Local Governments on the priorities that should be addressed as part of the opioid epidemic and to review how monies have been spent and the results that have been achieved with Opioid Funds. a) Size- The Taskforce or Council shall have ten Members equally balanced between the State and the Local Governments. b) Appointments Local Governments - Two Municipality representatives will be appointed by or through Florida League of Cities. Two county representatives, one from a Qualified County and one from a county within the State that is not a Qualified County, will be appointed by or through the Florida Association of Counties. The final representative will alternate every two years between being a county representative( appointed by or through Florida Association of Counties) or a Municipality representative ( appointed by or through the Florida League of Cities). One Municipality representative must be from a city of less than 50, 000 people. One county representative must be from a county less than 200,000 people and the other county representative must be from a county whose population exceeds 200, 000 people. c) Appointments State- i) The Governor shall appoint two Members. ii) The Speaker of the House shall appoint one Member. iii) The Senate President shall appoint one Member. iv) The Attorney General or her designee shall be a Member. d) Chair - The Attorney General or designee shall be the chair of the Taskforce or Council. e) Term- Members will be appointed to serve a two- year term.  f) Support- DCF shall support the Taskforce or Council and the Taskforce or Council shall be administratively housed in DCF. g) Meetings -The Taskforce or Council shall meet quarterly in person or virtually using communications media technology as defined in section 120. 54( 5)( b)( 2), Florida Statutes. h) Reporting - The Taskforce or Council shall provide and publish a report annually no later than November 30th or the first business day after November 30th, if November 30th falls on a weekend or is otherwise not a business day. The report shall contain information on how monies were spent the previous fiscal year by the State, each of the Qualified Counties, each of the Managing Entities, and each of the Local Governments. It shall also contain recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature, and Local Governments for priorities among the Approved Purposes for how monies should be spent the coming fiscal year to respond to the opioid epidemic. i) Accountability - Prior to July 1st of each year, the State and each of the Local Governments shall provide information to DCF about how they intend to expend Opioid Funds in the upcoming fiscal year. The State and each of the Local Government shall report its expenditures to DCF no later than August 31st for the previous fiscal year. The Taskforce or Council will set other data sets that need to be reported to DCF to demonstrate the effectiveness of Approved Purposes. All programs and expenditures shall be audited annually in a similar fashion to SAMHSA programs. Local Governments shall respond and provide documents to any reasonable requests from the State for data or information about programs receiving Opioid Funds. j) Conflict of Interest- All Members shall adhere to the rules, regulations and laws of Florida including, but not limited to, Florida Statute § 112. 311, concerning the disclosure of conflicts of interest and recusal from discussions or votes on conflicted matters. 6. Administrative Costs- The State may take no more than a 5% administrative fee from the State Fund (" Administrative Costs") and any Regional Fund that it administers for counties that are not Qualified Counties. Each Qualified County may take no more than a 5% administrative fee from its share of the Regional Funds. 7. Negotiation of Non- Multistate Settlements - If the State begins negotiations with a Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Participant that is separate and apart from a multi- state negotiation, the State shall include Local Governments that are a part of the Negotiating Committee in such negotiations. No Settlement shall be recommended or accepted without the affirmative votes of both the State and Local Government representatives of the Negotiating Committee. 8. Negotiation of Multistate or Local Government Settlements - To the extent practicable and allowed by other parties to a negotiation, both Parties agree to communicate with members of the