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<br />KITTITAS COUNTY <br />Board of County Commissioners <br /> <br />STAFF REPORT FOR AGENDA SESSION <br /> <br />DATE: August 6, 2024 <br /> <br />ACTION REQUESTED: Request to Adopt a Resolution Accepting the Kroger Co. <br />Multi-State Opioid Settlement Agreement. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: Since July 2018, Kittitas County has been a participant in <br />the national opiate litigation against opioid pharmaceutical <br />supply chain participants for their misuse, abuse, and over- <br />prescription of opioids. As a result of zealous efforts to <br />hold these defendants accountable for misrepresenting the <br />risks and benefits associated with opioids, and for <br />distributing and promoting dangerous quantities of opioids, <br />settlement has been reached with supermarket pharmacy <br />Kroger Co., and its subdivisions and affiliates. <br /> <br /> Kittitas County may opt into the settlements reached with <br />Kroger. If all 37 local litigating governments participate in <br />the settlement, as they did for the prior opioid settlements, <br />cities and counties as a whole will receive $24 million <br />payable over 11 years. <br /> <br />On April 5, 2022, the Board of County Commissioners <br />entered into the One Washington Memorandum of <br />Understanding Between Washington Municipalities. Under <br />the MOU and under interlocal agreements with Asotin, <br />Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Kittitas, Walla <br />Walla, Whitman, and Yakima counties, Greater Columbia <br />Behavioral Health, LLC, (GCBH) has been designated as <br />the Greater Columbia Region Opioid Abatement Council <br />for purposes of receiving, managing, distributing, and <br />administering Opioid Funds allocated to Asotin, Benton, <br />Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Kittitas, Walla Walla, <br />Whitman, and Yakima counties. Moneys distributed to <br />GCBH would be available for “Opioid Remediation” <br />including care, treatment, and other programs and <br />expenditures designed to (1) address the misuse and abuse <br />of opioid products, (2) treat or mitigate opioid use or <br />related disorders, or (3) mitigate other alleged effects of the <br />opioid abuse crisis, including on those injured as a result of <br />the opioid abuse crisis. <br />