Drug policy experts who advise the state on how to spend millions of opioid settlement dollars clashed Tuesday on getting involved in the next federal funding fight and New York’s decisions to make up for less aid from Washington.
Members of the state’s Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board disagreed at Tuesday’s meeting about a proposal to make a recommendation to state leaders about how they should backfill additional federal cuts to recovery programs included in President Donald Trump’s budget request.
New York’s Chief Budget Examiner Peggy O’Shea urged the board to make its position clear in its annual report to be released in November.
“The state will not be able to replace all of the federal dollars that are cut, so I simply want to understand what is the board’s recommendation,” O’Shea told the group. “When we’re negotiating with the Legislature on what’s going to be in the enacted budget, it will be important to understand what the board voted on.”
That request enraged some board members who said state leaders often dismiss the board’s recommendations.
“It’s just simply unwise to reduce the funding…when they are the vanguard of meeting the needs of the community,” board member Joyce Rivera said in protest of shifting settlement funds from existing programming to supplement less federal aid.
Officials from the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports and the Budget Division regularly tell the board it cannot direct to the state how money is spent.
Board member Ashley Livingston said state leaders need to follow the group’s recommendations based on research and evidence.
“What are we going to do with our recommendations to protect the populations that they’re coming for?” said “If they’re not gonna, then I think as a board, we need to continually say to the public ‘It is not us, it is your governor,'” said Livingston, co-chair of the Friends of Recovery in Warren and Washington counties. “Go to your representative, go be an advocate because we have no say — because the governor is going to do whatever the governor wants to do.”
O’Shea told Livingston she expects the issue to be a focal point of next year’s budget debate.
“My reason for raising the question is, this is going to be a real issue in the fiscal year 2027 budget,” said O’Shea, as the state expects a $3 billion loss in Medicaid funding next year.
Congress will negotiate President Trump’s 2026 budget this fall.
The state can’t use opioid settlement funds to replace federal aid this fiscal year as it faces a $750 million budget gap, and multi-billion-dollar shortfalls in the coming years.
But O’Shea said state leaders could decide to use opioid settlement dollars next year to backfill less aid from Washington if it doesn’t allocate federal money for those services.
“I think it’s really important that the board comes to an agreement whether they recommend that or not,” the chief budget examiner said.
The board submits a report to Gov. Kathy Hochul and state leaders each year recommending how the state should spend millions of settlement dollars from opioid manufacturers and distributors to combat the opioid crisis.
Opioid Settlement Advisory Board chair Debra Pantin agrees the board cannot be silent on the issue in its next report, and must weigh in on the next funding fight brewing in Washington.
“I do think as a board we need vote,” Pantin said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We need to have a discussion and vote on a process so when I go out there, or any of us go out there, we can say clearly ‘This is what the board is thinking.'”
With members split on the issue, Pantin withdrew her motion for a vote and tabled the decision for now.
Recovery advocates have started meeting with members of the state’s congressional delegation with concerns about some of Trump’s budget requests that would consolidate grants for mental health and substance use programs — cutting treatment and recovery services that reduce overdoses.
“Currently, we lack the option to reimburse for any of our services, so we are really uniquely dependent on some of these grants,” said Chris Assini, director of policy for the Friends of Recovery New York.
Assini is one of several drug policy experts who have expressed concerned the state continues to spend opioid settlement funds too slowly. Drug policy experts have sounded the alarm this month, citing OASAS data that shows the department has not spent about $200 million in opioid settlement funding.
OASAS officials on Tuesday said the state has not committed $60 million of the funding, and over $100 million is under contract for treatment, education or recovery services, but has not been spent to date.
“It appears that we are prioritizing process over actual outcomes and fails to meet the urgency of the needs that these communities may have,” Assini said.
O’Shea and other state officials said the process takes time as providers satisfy multi-year contracts, and New York has moved the settlement funds out the door faster than any other state.
“Because we’re dealing with multi-year, we wouldn’t expect the money to be fully expended until all the contracts are over,” she said.
The board is next scheduled to meet Sept. 12 — just as the next significant funding fight will be heating up in Washington before the Oct. 1 federal budget deadline.
A spokesperson with OASAS said Tuesday the department reviews providers’ operations, fiscal reports and performance to ensure contracts for services are effective and in compliance with regulations.
“The ongoing OSF-funded initiatives—which include expanding access to medication for addiction, strengthening recovery support services, enhancing outreach to high-need populations and bolstering harm reduction efforts — have contributed to a 32% reduction in overdose deaths in New York State during the 12-month period ending this January,” OASAS spokesperson Evan Frost said in a statement. “This significant decrease in overdose fatalities (5% greater than the national average) points to the positive influence these investments are having on the opioid and overdose epidemic. By maintaining our focus on multi-year initiatives, we can continue to drive sustainable, positive change in the long run.”