Three advocates for opioid mitigation, each of whom has had a family member die from an overdose, released a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul urging her to quickly constitute the Opioid Settlement Board (OSB) before the final budget agreement.

Linda Ventura, of Thomas’ Hope Foundation; Avi Israel, of Save the Michaels; and Ashley Lafountain are the three signatories to the letter which was released on Monday. 

Israel is an OSB member appointed by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Over the weekend, Hochul announced that she both signed a critical chapter amendment increasing the number of Opioid Settlement Board members from 19 to 21, as well as appointed two members to the board: Anne Constantino, president and CEO of Horizon Health Services, and Debra Pantin, the president and CEO of the Outreach Development Corporation.

The complete board has not been announced, nor has it met.   

The urgency of the advocates’ letter is due to the governor’s executive budget, which proposes to spend $265 million in settlement funding.

The letter claims the governor has received no input from the Opioid Advisory Board, nor does she have any specific spending plan. 

Additionally, the governor’s proposal does not require that the OSB meet before the money is spent. It’s possible, say the advocates, that the money could be spent on things other than addressing the 5,700 overdose deaths that are occurring in New York state annually.

The advocates argue that the final budget needs to include language that protects this money from being spent until the OSB has had an opportunity to develop, review and approve a spending plan.

The Opioid Advisory Board was created by the Legislature in 2021 to oversee and recommend programming for money the state receives from the opioid settlements.

There has been no response from the Hochul administration to an emailed request for comment.