Arizona received more than a billion dollars as the result of a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis, but Attorney General Kris Mayes on Thursday said she is “extremely concerned” about how those funds are being spent.
“I’m absolutely extremely concerned that the opioid funding that was swept from my office last year is being misspent, I believe that it is,” Mayes told ABC15 during a press conference.
To address a budget deficit last year, Governor Katie Hobbs and Republicans struck a deal to dip into the $1.14 billion of the opioid settlement fund and allocated more than $100 million dollars to the Arizona Department of Corrections.
The funds from the Opioid Settlement Fund can only be used for specific purposes involving opioid remediation, otherwise Arizona risks losing the fund entirely. At the time, Mayes raised similar concerns as she did on Thursday regarding how the money is being spent.
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“It is clear from both the Governor's budget and the legislature’s budget that they intend to try and sweep another 40 million dollars this year and I think it's gross, I think it's offensive to the people of Arizona,” Mayes said.
Democratic State Senator Eva Burch, who is resigning from her position this week, called on the legislature to audit the Opioid Settlement Fund and how the money is being used at the Department of Corrections — something Mayes said she supports.
“This is about saving lives, and stuffing hundreds of millions of dollars into a budget backfill for the department of corrections is not saving lives,” Mayes said, adding that she’s “got some serious decisions to make.”
When asked whether she is considering a lawsuit, Mayes responded, “It’s not off the table.”
In a statement to ABC15, the Governor’s office said, “We have been working productively with the Attorney Generals’ office staff and planned to continue doing so,” adding that “if the attorney general has specific concerns, we encourage her to bring them to our office.”
ABC15 reached out to the Arizona Department of Corrections about providing specifics on how the money they received is being spent and whether they support an audit but did not hear back.
