Legislators Move Fast to Pass Opioid Legislation

February 17, 2022

Following a $26 billion national legal settlement last year, Minnesota lawmakers are reshaping previously passed legislation to help ensure Minnesotans receive maximum support for persons struggling with opioid addiction. 

In July 2021, drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and drug wholesalers McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health agreed to a legal settlement following several lawsuits connected to claims that their business actions contributed to the nationwide opioid epidemic.  

SF 4025 (Sen. Julie Rosen - R, Vernon Center) and HF 4265 (Rep. Liz Olson - DFL, Duluth) would reshape Minnesota’s law to ensure maximize settlement funds and ensure the money gets sent to Minnesota’s cities, counties and tribal governments, along with some set aside for state’s Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council. Minnesota is set to receive about $300 million from the national settlement. If passed, advocates say the state could begin receiving these funds as early as April. 

The bill amends the structure of legislation passed in 2019 (HF 400), so local governments receive 75% of the settlement funds and the state, specifically to the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council, receives the remaining 25%. The money is to be rolled out in annual payments over the next 18 years to 140 Minnesota cities and all 87 counties. 

Both bills are moving through committees and should be up for a floor vote in April.