A state advisory council will urge the Idaho Legislature to use its opioid settlement funds to target rural communities next year as it considers a number of project proposals.
The Idaho Behavioral Health Council brings together Idaho’s three branches of government — legislative, judicial and executive — to provide recommendations to lawmakers about how to improve mental health and substance use issues statewide.
On Friday, the group provided its recommended priorities for the state’s opioid settlement fund — which was created from a nationwide settlement with opioid manufacturers and may be used for certain, approved mitigation for opioids. Last year, the Legislature approved spending $6.8 million of opioid settlement funds, according to a memo from the Division of Financial Management.
“In Idaho, we have pockets of service,” said Sara Omundson, director of the state court system and co-chair of the council. “And so one of the things that I think should be a priority for how we spend these funds is that we focus on services that are available statewide and specifically services that are available in rural and frontier areas.”
The majority of council members voted to recommend top prioritization of projects focused on prevention for high-risk populations, behavioral health support for first responders, and behavioral health workforce development.
The council solicited public input for uses of funds, and received 46 specific proposals for projects, said Cheryl Foster, project manager for the council. However, the council may only provide high-level recommendations for prioritization of topics, rather than for specific projects, Omundson said Friday.
The specific projects within those categories may be recommended by the governor in his budget proposal next year or by state agencies in their budget requests.
The Idaho Legislature will consider and decide how the funding will ultimately be awarded during the 2027 legislative session, which will begin in January.
As the council considered their priority topics, members also voted to include in its recommendations that, within each category, lawmakers consider projects that would be available statewide or targeted to rural and frontier areas.
Omundson noted that the state was also in the process of awarding federal Rural Health Transformation grant funding from the ‘Big Beautiful’ law passed last year.
“It is a category that I think we really need to have our eye on, and we’re seeing this nationally with the big grant … I think it’s timely that we recommend that they really focus on ensuring that we support those services that are going to be available either statewide or within our rural and frontier areas,” she said.
First responder support and prevention topped council’s priorities
Dave Jeppesen, former director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said typically when the Legislature has approved spending from the opioid settlement account, it does so as a one-time expenditure.
This means that ongoing programs might not be the best fit for it, he said.
“I’m just thinking about what’s the most efficient use of $2 million in the 12 months of fiscal year ‘28,” Jeppesen said. “ … I land somewhere around prevention, which feels like that’s an area that tends to get underfunded because treatment is so important.”
Idaho District Judge Gene Petty, who leads Canyon County Mental Health Court, highlighted support for first responders as another goal because of their high risk of suicide. Petty said there’s a section in the settlement agreement that allows funds to support first responders who are affected by their interaction with people with opioid use disorder.
Omundson said the criminal justice system is “also looking at workforce throughout the criminal justice system, and how that’s impacting first responders.”
“That has a direct tie into whether or not people choose to go into that profession or stay in the profession based on just the level of stress and trauma that they experience while on the job,” she said.
Jeppesen said first responders are a critical workforce for those supporting those with opioid addiction.
All eight council members present voted to place prevention programs for high-risk individuals and behavioral health support for first responders as top priorities. Five voted for workforce development as the third priority, and three members voted for treatment.
