Committee clarifies Exhibit E: prevention and reentry are allowable; enforcement funding discouraged

Committee members reviewed Exhibit E, the guidance the county is using to determine allowable uses of opioid settlement funds. Chair Dale Weyhill said Exhibit E is meant to steer funding away from punitive uses such as paying officers on duty, while allowing reentry services and prevention work.

Michelle Rider framed the moral argument for prevention: "this money only exists because the pharmaceutical companies lied to people and they died or their lives were destroyed," she said, urging the committee to avoid using settlement dollars for punitive enforcement that would further harm people. Marlene Collett agreed Exhibit E permits prevention and reentry programming and emphasized the need to present the RFP priorities in a way that aligns with those constraints.