AG Kris Mayes sues Arizona over plan to use $115 million in opioid settlement funds for budget deficit
Jun 20, 2024, 3:12 PM | Updated: 3:49 pm
Attorney General Kris Mayes sued Arizona on June 20, 2024, in an attempt to block the state from using $115 million in opioid settlement funds to remedy budget deficits.
PHOENIX — Attorney General Kris Mayes sued Arizona on Thursday in an attempt to block the state from using $115 million in opioid settlement funds to remedy budget deficits.
Mayes said the decision by the Arizona Legislature and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to use the funding for purposes not related to preventing opioid use was illegal. An emergency stay will be in place through July 5.
“In their rush to end the session, GOP leaders and the governor ignored other viable options to balance the budget, such as utilizing the rainy-day fund, which has now reached approximately $1.4 billion,” Mayes, a Democrat, said in a statement to KTAR News 92.3 FM.
“This is outrageous. Every Arizonan should ask why the opioid funds were not protected and used to support our communities and prevent opioid use as intended.”
What is Arizona trying to do with opioid settlement money?
The budget, passed by the Legislature over the weekend and signed by Hobbs on Tuesday, includes using $115 million in settlement dollars to shore up funding in the budget year that ends on July 1 and the following year for the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
Additionally, lawmakers want to shift another $40 million in each of the next two budget years toward the state’s prison system.
Christian Slater, communications director for Hobbs, disagreed with Mayes’ lawsuit.
“The Attorney General is flatly wrong,” Slater said in a statement. “Her characterization of these funds as ‘backfilling’ ADCRR would be more accurately described as funding vital opioid use disorder treatment for a population that is disproportionately impacted by the opioid epidemic.
“On her very own website, the Attorney General indicates the funds can be used for opioid treatment at ADCRR.”
Mayes said that decision violates settlement agreements and that she was “determined to stop it.”
The multistate settlement will provide Arizona and its communities with $1.1 billion over 18 years with funding beginning in 2022.
“This is too important, with too many lives at risk, to get wrong,” Mayes said.
