Bucks County can spend a share of its $21.2 million opioid settlement money for the Public Defender’s Office, the Pennsylvania group that distributes and oversees the funds has ruled in a reversal of its earlier decisions – an action that could influence how counties across the state spend their funds.
Since its establishment in 2022 to oversee and distribute Pennsylvania’s share of national opioid settlement funds, the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust (Trust) has discouraged spending the funds on public defense. Fund instead were to be spend on eligible uses in accordance with the settlement.
But the Trust’s reversal of rejection represents a victory for some groups in the county: recovery and harm reduction organizations critical of law enforcement spending, local leaders who want more flexibility with settlement funds, and advocates who argue public defenders play a vital role in helping people dealing with addiction.
“Public defender’s officers are chronically underfunded compared to law enforcement agencies, compared to probation departments, compared to district attorneys’ offices,” said Niels Eriksen Jr., chief public defender in Bucks County. “We are barely keeping our head above water.”
In the spring of 2022, Bucks County created the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (OAC) to recommend proven, effective and targeted solutions with a focus on prevention and recovery.
The amount of settlement money headed to the public defender’s office could be about $200,000, based on Trust records. Bucks County has indicated a new public defender’s position could be established to handle only opioid use and substance use clients.
A defendant’s qualifications for coverage “is based on a client’s self-reported status or a previously assessed diagnosis from a treatment provider,” James O’Malley, a Bucks County spokesperson, has said to another reporting outlet. “The determination is not based on charges brought against a client.”
The quarrel that led to the change came out of the Trust’s rejection last August of Bucks County’s decision to spend about $200,000 in settlement funds on an assistant public defender.
Bucks County appealed, and Eriksen argued the Trust rules do not block counties from funding existing positions with settlement money and that public defenders play a vital treatment role in fighting the opioid epidemic.
“Unresolved legal issues drive a sense of hopelessness,” argued Eriksen.
Trust members reversed their position at a recent meeting.
Said Tom VanKirk, chief of the Trust, of Bucks County’s measure: “It is aimed at putting people into diversionary programs, which should be the goal and keeping them out of the criminal justice system.”