Local Government Coordinating Commission Meeting on Opioid Settlement Fund Guidance - February 26, 2025

The Local Government Coordinating Commission (LGCC) held a meeting on February 26, 2025, to discuss and provide guidance on the allocation of opioid settlement funds. The meeting began with approval of previous minutes, followed by public comments from community members and presentations from harm reduction, prevention, and treatment organizations. The majority of the meeting was dedicated to debating and amending a joint settlement implementation policy document, which was ultimately tabled for final approval at a special meeting scheduled for March 4, 2025. The meeting also saw the election of new officers and approval of the 2025 meeting schedule.

Consent Calendar

• Approval of the December 12, 2024 meeting minutes passed unanimously.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Katie Ortiz Pinho (State of the Heart Recovery) described their recovery center's success (182 formerly homeless individuals now in beds, zero dirty UAs in 30 days) and requested help accessing opioid settlement funding.
• Debbie Thomas (Addison's mother) presented her "Eternal Angel Posters" campaign to memorialize fentanyl victims and asked for opioid settlement money to ship posters to Washington, D.C. for a rally.
• Catherine McGill (New Mexico Black Leadership Council) urged the committee to prioritize prevention investments, saying "we cannot police our way out of a public health crisis."
• Angie Vaccio (PBJ Family Services) advocated for secondary prevention targeting children with high risk factors (parental substance use, housing instability, etc.) and requested funding for their 53-year-old program.
• David Burke (Serenity Mesa Youth Recovery Center) described their youth treatment and triage center, noting that Department of Health requires two nurses on site 24/7, and requested operational funding to expand services and hire staff.
• Alexis Torres (education professional and student) spoke about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in education as early prevention, and expressed disappointment at recent program cuts.

Presentations

• Ashley Charzik (New Mexico Harm Reduction Collaborative) presented harm reduction services, including syringe service programs (over 10,000 participants last year, 82,000 syringes collected, over 5,000 naloxone kits distributed, 250 hours of navigation) and advocated for an overdose prevention center (OPC) in Albuquerque, citing zero overdose deaths at OPCs worldwide.
• Patrick Madigan (Goldfinch Health) presented the Billion Pill Pledge program to reduce opioid overprescribing after surgery. Bernalillo County averages 46 opioid prescriptions per 100 people (above national average of 37.5 and 36.5% above New Mexico state average). The program claims 60% reduction in pills prescribed and 92% reduction in refill rates in participating states.
• Lisa Cidilla White (Keep NM Alive campaign, Bernalillo County) described the joint city-county prevention campaign, including website (over 17,000 visits from 2023-2024), community events, and volunteer hours (592 in 2023, 716 in 2024). Two mothers, Kelly Opp and another, shared personal stories of losing a child to fentanyl and a son in recovery, urging continued support.

Discussion Items

• Opioid Settlement Fund Implementation Policy: Chair Rogers presented a draft policy guideline developed by a subcommittee, based on Vital Strategies' 26 recommendations. Key elements included prioritizing 8 strategies, establishing the Behavioral Health Oversight and Advisory Board as an advisory body, community transparency via a dashboard, tribal sovereignty, capacity building, competitive grants, and expenditure categories (40% prevention, 60% intervention/treatment) with a 30% cap on recurring costs.
• Amendments and Debate: Several amendments were proposed and debated:
  • Amendment 1 (Olivis/Feblecorn): Added a subsection under Capacity & Sustainability requiring $2 million each from the city and county for provider capacity building (e.g., grant writing, Medicaid billing). Passed unanimously.
  • Amendment 2 (Feblecorn): Replaced the 30% recurring cost cap with fixed annual limits ($1.925M for county, $2.353M for city). Passed 6-5.
  • Amendment 3 (Feblecorn): Created a one-time $10 million each city/county competitive grant program for nonprofit capital projects (up to 15% for operating expenses, $7.5M per project cap, 5-year term). An amendment to exempt this from the recurring cap was added. Passed 7-4.
  • Amendment 4 (Jackson/Benavides): Added a section requiring each entity to contribute $1.8M in year 1, $1.5M in years 2 and 3 to APS Crossroads and related prevention programs (total $9.6M over 3 years), exempt from recurring cap. Removed section 11A1B5. Passed unanimously.
  • Amendment 6 (Single/Rayle): Clarified the terms "source" to "appropriating body" on dashboard wording. Passed unanimously.
  • Amendment 7 (Single/Rayle): Added specific program language under Vital Strategies recommendations (recovery housing IOPs, training for fire/rescue, community-oriented recovery program, naloxone for first responder vehicles). Passed 9-1.
• Tabling: A motion to table the policy until the next special meeting passed unanimously.

Key Outcomes

• Vote on Amendments: All amendments passed as detailed above.
• Policy Document Tabled: The draft policy, as amended, will be finalized and posted for public review before the next meeting.
• Special Meeting Scheduled: March 4, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. at the County Building (Bernalillo County) to finalize and vote on the opioid settlement fund policy.
• Election of Officers:
  • Chair: Commissioner Barboa (elected 7-3 over Member Jackson)
  • Vice Chair: Member Jackson (elected 8-2 over Councillor Rogers)
• 2025 Meeting Schedule Approved: Includes the March 4 special meeting and regular meeting dates (schedule adopted unanimously).