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Opioid Abatement Fund (Texas) Settlement <br />Opioid Council <br />As part of the settlement agreement and upon its execution, the parties will form the Texas Opioid <br />Council (Council) to establish the framework that ensures the funds recovered by Texas (through <br />the joint actions of the Attorney General and the state's political subdivisions) are allocated fairly <br />and spent to remediate the opioid crisis in Texas, using efficient and cost-effective methods that <br />are directed to the hardest hit regions in Texas while also ensuring that all Texans benefit from <br />prevention and recovery efforts. <br />I. Structure <br />The Council will be responsible for the processes and procedures governing the spending of the <br />funds held in the Texas Abatement Fund, which will be approximately 70% of all funds obtained <br />through settlement and/or litigation of the claims asserted by the State and its subdivisions in the <br />investigations and litigation related to the manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and sale of <br />opioids and related pharmaceuticals. <br />Money paid into the abatement fund will be held by an independent administrator, who shall be <br />responsible for the ministerial task of releasing funds solely as authorized below by the Council, <br />and accounting for all payments to and from the fund. <br />The Council will be formed when a court of competent jurisdiction enters an order settling the <br />matter, including any order of a bankruptcy court. The Council's members must be appointed <br />within sixty (60) days of the date the order is entered. <br />The Council shall be comprised of the following thirteen (13) members: <br />1. Statewide Members. <br />Six members appointed by the Governor and Attorney General to represent the State's <br />interest in opioid abatement. The statewide members are appointed as follows: <br />a. The Governor shall appoint three (3) members who are licensed health <br />professionals with significant experience in opioid interventions; <br />b. The Attorney General shall appoint three (3) members who are licensed <br />professionals with significant experience in opioid incidences; and <br />c. The Governor will appoint the Chair of the Council as a non-voting member. <br />The Chair may only cast a vote in the event there is a tie of the membership. <br />2. Regional Members. <br />Six (6) members appointed by the State's political subdivisions to represent their <br />designated Texas Health and Human Services Commission "HHSC" Regional Healthcare <br />1 <br />