We had an incredibly productive day in Albany yesterday! Several legislators did not know that Phil Steck and others have suggested using the Opioid Settlement Funds to infill federal funds stopped by
DOGE. Most legislators agreed with us that those funds should not be touched. We also had several legislators tell us that this idea has been discussed and there are some legislators supporting it and they appreciated us educating them on why that should not happen. Our own Assemblywoman and great ally, Donna Lupardo stopped by so we gave her the lowdown and she said she would hold the line.
Phil Steck even stopped by and we chatted. He told me setting tombstones up in the Capitol was “inappropriate” and that the Opioid Settlement Funds weren’t about the people who died. Gee, thanks for that Phil. Phil did inform us that OASAS is sitting on millions and millions of the Opioid Settlement Funds and he said, what you’re worried about is already happening. OASAS is already doing what they want with those funds. He said very little ofthe funds received by NYS have actually been spent and that we sh ould look into that. And so we will. He also said, “it’s not going to happen anyways,” I asked for clarification and he said, there isn’t enough support for his idea to use the funds, so they probably won’t be touched. I asked him if he would retract his suggestion to use them and he said absolutely not. He pushed the policy paper I was trying to give him back at me, but said he liked the drawing of himself, so he was keeping that. Ha!
Kathy and Brianna had a GREAT meeting with Assemblyman Brian Maher who committed to our Opioid Settlement Spending Pledge and asked to stay in touch. Assemblyman Maher was kind enough to chat during his lunch, speaking frankly about how to help. We also distributed 10 narcan kits and trained 5 people.
Big thanks to Ashley Lafountain for sounding the alarm on this issue and rallying the troops and to FOR-NY, Stephanie Campbell and MHA Dutchess County for coming out to support.
It was a very good day in Albany. We’ll be heading back 4/7/25. We hope you’ll join us!
