§ 33-11-103 — Tennessee opioid abatement council

(a) There is created the Tennessee opioid abatement council. (b) The council is composed of fifteen (15) voting members and one nonvoting ex-officio member. The commissioner or the commissioner's designee shall serve as the nonvoting ex-officio member. Voting members must be residents of this state and have expertise and a minimum of ten (10) years of experience in public health policy, medicine, substance use disorder and addiction treatment, mental health services, drug misuse prevention programs, or drug court diversion or other programs in which people with substance use disorders interact with first responders, law enforcement, or the criminal justice system. A member shall not serve more than two (2) terms consecutively but may be reappointed to the council after not serving as a member for two (2) or more years. (c) The council shall be appointed as follows: (1) The governor shall appoint four (4) members, including the chair; (2) The speaker of the senate shall appoint four (4) members; (3) The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint four (4) members; (4) The Tennessee County Services Association shall appoint two (2) members; and (5) The Tennessee Municipal League shall appoint (1) member. (d) Upon creation of the council, the members appointed in subdivisions (c)(2) and (3) shall serve an initial four-year term and the members appointed in subdivisions (c)(4) and (5) shall serve an initial five-year term to enable the staggering of terms. (e) With the exception of the initial terms established in subsection (d), each appointed member of the council shall serve a three-year term, with terms ending on June 30 of each year. The beginning of an initial term shall be deemed to be July 1 of the calendar year in which the appointment occurs, regardless of whether the actual appointment date occurs before or after July 1 of that year. (f) The respective appointing authority may remove a member for failure to attend at least one-half (½) of the scheduled meetings in any one-year period or for other cause. (g) If a vacancy on the council occurs, the respective appointing authority shall fill the vacancy for the unexpired term. Notwithstanding the expiration of a member's term, each member shall serve until a successor is duly appointed. (h) (1) The members shall serve without compensation, but each member shall be entitled to reimbursement for the member's actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of the member's official duties. (2) All reimbursement for travel expenses shall be in accordance with the comprehensive travel regulations promulgated by the department of finance and administration. (3) All actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of members' official duties shall be paid from the opioid abatement fund and not the general fund. (i) The council shall meet at the call of the chair and not less than four (4) times per year. The meeting location shall rotate among locations in each of the three (3) grand divisions. Members may attend meetings in person or remotely by audiovisual means, as provided in § 8-44-108 . (j) Meetings of the council must comply with the open meeting requirements of title 8, chapter 44. Notwithstanding the open meeting requirements of title 8, chapter 44, the council is permitted to meet in a closed executive session for the purpose of obtaining advice from counsel and discussing personnel-related issues in addition to any other purposes allowed by title 8, chapter 44. (k) Records of the council are deemed to be public records for purposes of the open records law, compiled in title 10, chapter 7, subject to the confidentiality provisions of § 10-7-504 and other laws or doctrines. (l) The annual report, financial statements, all books, accounts, and financial records of the council shall be subject to annual audit by the comptroller of the treasury. Any monies distributed to local governments from the fund shall also be subject to audit by the comptroller of the treasury. (m) Written minutes covering all meetings and actions of the council shall be prepared by the director and shall be maintained by the department and open to public inspection. (n) The council will terminate if all opioid abatement monies being paid pursuant to existing settlements, judgments, or court orders have been received and disbursed unless the attorney general and reporter certifies that additional funds are anticipated within one (1) year. (o) The council shall not be subject to the contested case procedures set forth in title 4, chapter 5, part 3. If a court has entered a consent judgment agreed to by the state through the approval of the attorney general and reporter that incorporates a statewide opioid settlement agreement or a state-subdivision opioid abatement agreement, and such an agreement provides for the court in which the consent judgment was filed to determine particular disputes, the court that entered the consent judgment shall have exclusive jurisdiction over such disputes. Otherwise actions to disburse funds are final. (p) For proceeds received from a statewide opioid settlement agreement with McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan Finance, LLC, CVS Health Corporation, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Walgreen Co., Walmart Inc., K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc., or The Kroger Co. or affiliates or subsidiaries of these entities that are deposited in the opioid abatement fund, the council shall disburse thirty-five percent (35%) of these proceeds to counties that join the settlement. The council shall disburse these proceeds to counties subject of subsections (q)-(s). The council shall disburse the remaining sixty-five percent (65%) of such proceeds for statewide, regional, or local opioid abatement and remediation purposes pursuant to § 33-11-105 . (q) Proceeds disbursed to counties under subsection (p) shall be allocated according to data measuring the impact of the opioid crisis at the county level. The allocation may be set in a state-subdivision opioid abatement agreement. If there is no agreement, the council will determine the allocation using population to determine half of the allocation and state data on opioid sales measured by morphine milligram equivalents, fatal overdoses, and non-fatal overdoses to determine the other half of the allocation. The council will use aggregate data for at least three (3) years and will update the data every four (4) years. If any of these sets of data are not available, the council may use the remaining data sets or substitute another set of data that reflects the impact of the opioid crisis. (r) Funds allocated to a county pursuant to subsection (p) are subject to subsection (s) and must be spent on opioid abatement and remediation purposes that are: (1) Specifically approved by the council; or (2) Included on a council list of approved programs. (s) The council: (1) Shall create a list of approved programs for opioid abatement and remediation for use by the council, the state, or local governments; (2) Shall create a certification process through which government entities verify the use of funds for programs on the council's list of approved programs; (3) Has the authority to create an application and certification process for counties applying for funds toward programs not on the council's list of approved programs; (4) Has the authority to develop rules and time limitations for use of medication assisted therapies in treating opioid addiction that are paid for through the opioid treatment fund; and (5) Has the authority to create a timeline for monies paid to the counties to revert back to the opioid treatment fund if they are not used within a certain period by a county.

Legislative History

Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 568,s 2, eff. 3/15/2024. Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 429, s 2, eff. 5/11/2023. Acts 2021 , ch. 491, § 6.