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VIENNA -- West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey discussed opioid lawsuit settlement funds and other topics as he met with local residents and leaders Tuesday at the Vienna City Building.
Funds from multiple settlements involving wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers accused of contributing to the opioid crisis total nearly $1 billion, with a lawsuit against Kroger set to go to trial in June. Morrisey said he's open to a settlement in that case as well but is prepared to go to trial.
"We're always hoping, but we're going to make sure there's some accountability," he said.
Of the settlement funds, 72.5% will go to the West Virginia First Foundation, a nonprofit being established to disburse the funds, and 24.5% to cities and counties, with 3% held in trust for future legal expenses. The money can be spent on treatment efforts, support for people in treatment and recovery, addressing the needs of people with opioid use disorder, prevention of over-prescribing and misuse of opioids, preventing overdose deaths and other opioid-related injuries, training and research.
The foundation will be overseen by an 11-member board, with one member appointed from each of six behavioral health regions in the state and five appointed by the governor and approved by the West Virginia Senate.
"This is not going to be run out of Charleston or run as a state-based structure," Morrisey said.
The makeup of the foundation and its regional entities is still being determined, he said.
"We're small," Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp said. "We would like to at least have a say in who represents us at the table."
Morrisey said one of the first steps will involve conducting assessments so resources can be spent "where they're needed most."
"This shouldn't be a political exercise. This should be based on needs," he said.
But before money can go to the foundation or local governments, the mass litigation panel must determine how much will be paid in attorney's fees to outside counsel who assisted with the litigation. Morrisey guessed that will be in the next few weeks and money will start being disbursed this year.
Vienna resident Chad Emrick said people are concerned about having a say in where drug rehabilitation facilities and group recovery homes are established in communities. Wood County saw its number of residential treatment beds increase from 30 in 2017 to 283 in 2021, giving it a higher percentage of the total in the state than its share of the population. Both Parkersburg and Vienna have adopted ordinances regulating where both large and small residential facilities can locate.
Morrisey said the Legislature is grappling with the issue but his office doesn't have much jurisdiction, outside of its Medicaid fraud control unit. He encouraged local law enforcement representatives in attendance to report such suspected fraud.
"I want people to get the help they need," Parkersburg Police Chief Matthew Board said. But the rapid expansion "opens up the door for patient brokering and Medicaid fraud."
Morrisey also discussed his office's efforts to defend state laws like those dealing with the Hope Scholarship program, charter schools and a ban on transgender student-athletes competing in sports for a gender other than their biological sex at birth.
"We take seriously the rule of law and not picking and choosing what laws we defend," he said. "If the attorney general's office is making political decisions or deciding which laws it's going to enforce, that's corrupt."
Morrisey also touched on litigation against the federal government, including a successful challenge of the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gases, which he said was "able to stop the Biden Green New Deal" from a regulatory perspective.
"Problems, I think, are best resolved when they're done at the local level," Morrisey said. "When the feds overstep their bounds, I sue them."
About 20 people attended the roundtable discussion, with Morrisey saying he appreciated the turnout and the questions asked.
"It helps me every time I come (here) to learn more about what's going on so I can do a better job as your attorney general," he said.