Iowa AG Awards First Opioid Settlement Grants After Delay Criticism

The Iowa Attorney General's office on Thursday awarded more than $1.6 million to five organizations in the first wave of grants from its share of the state's opioid settlement fund, ending a stretch of more than a year in which no dollars from that portion of the fund had reached any community program.

The awards, announced by Attorney General Brenna Bird, are the first disbursements from the roughly $20 million her office expects to control through June 30, 2030, under legislation passed in 2025 that directed 25 percent of Iowa's opioid settlement money to the attorney general for programs, services, and initiatives addressing the addiction crisis. The office began accepting applications in March and said it will continue reviewing them on a rolling basis.

Where the first wave of funding is going

The largest award, $919,480, goes to St. Vincent dePaul in Des Moines, which provides re-entry services at the Polk County Jail, two community locations, and a sobering center. A re-entry kiosk staffed at the jail offers immediate access to transportation, shelter coordination, benefits assistance, and harm reduction resources, alongside childcare, job placement, and recovery services, according to the attorney general's announcement.

Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health received $317,344 for its North Iowa Justice Support Program, called "Bridge to Recovery," which works directly with jail inmates through peer-to-peer support and life-skills planning. The county has a high percentage of overdose deaths compared with other Iowa counties, the attorney general's office noted.

"We are working on designing a peer support program where we use individuals with lived experience to go into our local jail and treatment centers and recovery centers and let them know that there is hope and we'll provide them with the help, tools, and guidance that they need," a Cerro Gordo Public Health representative told Gray Media's Iowa State Capitol Bureau.

The Warming Shelter in Sioux City was awarded $304,218 to serve people experiencing homelessness who have substance use issues, funding assessments, case management, and coordination with treatment and healthcare providers. The Boys and Girls Club of Central Iowa received $57,000 for its SMART Girls and Passport to Manhood prevention programs, which equip children ages 6 to 18 with skills to resist peer pressure related to substance use. The Johnson County Sheriff's Department received the smallest award, $6,660, to purchase a smoke-free narcotic and paraphernalia incineration unit.

A distribution process under political pressure

Thursday's awards land after months of friction over the pace of spending. Iowa has received $365 million in total settlement funds from litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies; the state controls $186 million of that amount, with the remaining $179 million flowing directly to counties. Of the state share, the Department of Health and Human Services manages 75 percent, while the attorney general's office oversees 25 percent.

In July, Iowa Senate Democrats publicly criticized Bird for failing to distribute any of the money under her office's control more than a year after lawmakers authorized the spending, calling the delay a bottleneck preventing communities from accessing addiction resources. Bird's office responded at the time that it had built its distribution process "from scratch with the goal of fiscal responsibility and meaningful impact."

Bird told reporters Thursday that the settlement money arrives in installments rather than as a lump sum. "Not all of that money has currently been received by the state yet. So last I checked there was a little over $9 million, and so these grant awards today, we'll come out of that fund, but that settlement money is paid in over time, so over time it's expected to be $20 million through 2030," she said, according to KTIV.

The timing also carries electoral weight. Bird is up for reelection in November, and her Democratic opponent, Nate Willems, called Thursday's announcement a positive step that is nonetheless long overdue. "The Attorney General's Office has sat on these funds for over a year, while other state agencies quickly distributed millions to support prevention, treatment, and recovery programs," Willems said in a statement, adding that the office is still holding more than $18 million in additional funding.

Overdose deaths falling as funds begin to flow

Bird framed the grants as a tool to sustain recent progress. According to Iowa HHS figures cited by the attorney general, 125 Iowans died from an opioid-related overdose last year, a decrease of nearly 50 percent compared with 2023. Many of the funded organizations focus on prevention, which Bird said will help keep that number down.

"We can win the war against opioid addiction in Iowa with the help of many community partners," Bird said in the announcement. "I am happy to award this first wave of grants to five deserving organizations. We want to work with every corner of the state."

More awards expected before year's end

The attorney general's office said additional awards will be announced before the end of the year, and organizations with programs addressing addiction can still apply through the Iowa Department of Justice website. Applications are reviewed as they arrive rather than in fixed cycles, a structure the office says is meant to move money toward workable programs without further delay.

For communities where treatment capacity remains thin, the first wave offers a template: jail-based re-entry support, peer programs for people leaving incarceration, homeless services with connections to care for opioid use disorder, and youth prevention. Whether the remaining funds reach similar programs at a faster pace will likely remain a live question through the November election and beyond.