PHOTO BY JARED STRONG/IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird touts the Billion Pill Pledge as an effective part of the state’s crusade against the opioid crisis.

Iowa Senate Democrats criticized the state attorney general’s office Thursday for not distributing money from the Opioid Settlement Fund to organizations focused on opioid addiction treatment and prevention services.

Iowa has received $365 million in settlement funds through several lawsuits led by the state AG’s office against opioid manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and other parties related to the opioid crisis. The state has control over $186 million of this settlement, with the remaining $179 million of funds going directly to Iowa counties. This funding is being released between fiscal years 2021 through 2039.

For the state’s portion, lawmakers established the Opioid Settlement Fund in order to distribute funds in 2022, and in 2025, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law House File 1038, a measure allocating this funding. While earlier versions of the measure had legislators designating specific organizations to receive money, the 2025 law directs the settlement money to be distributed by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and state attorney general’s office.

Iowa HHS is set to control 75% of the funds and the AG’s office controls 25% — an amount that the AG’s office stated represents about $20 million by June 30, 2030.

While some funds designated to HHS oversight have began to flow out to organizations providing opioid addiction treatment and prevention services in Iowa, Senate Democrats released a statement Thursday criticizing Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird for not disbursing money through the Opioid Settlement Fund more than a year after the law passed.

“For over a year now, Attorney General Brenna Bird has failed to distribute even a single cent of the millions of opioid settlement dollars appropriated to her office,” Iowa Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines said in a statement. “These funds are meant to help Iowans in need, but they’re just sitting in the attorney general’s coffers gathering dust.”

Petersen said not distributing these funds for support, recovery and prevention services means people struggling with substance abuse and addiction related to opioids are not getting the help they need.

“There are real Iowans suffering real consequences from the opioid crisis. They need the help these dollars can provide, but the attorney general is sitting on her hands,” Petersen said. “It’s long past time to send these resources to the places where they can prevent addiction and save lives.”

In a statement to Iowa Capital Dispatch, Jennifer Green, communications director for the AG’s office, said the attorney general and office staff are conducting meetings with “law enforcement, treatment facilities, care providers, and prosecutors across Iowa to hear about projects that will benefit the state and improve the lives of those dealing with addiction” as they make decisions on how to distribute the funding. But she said this process takes time.

“Determining who will receive awards is a thorough process that we do not take lightly,” Green said in a statement. “We built our distribution process from scratch with the goal of fiscal responsibility and meaningful impact, and we intend to deliver on that goal.”

Green said the office anticipates distributing awards “in the coming weeks” as the office’s team concludes current work to review submitted applications for the funding. She also noted that “unlike other grant administrators, our review and granting of awards will be made on a rolling basis until the conclusion of the guidelines established in HF1038.”

Questions about Opioid Settlement Fund distributions can be directed to opioid.funding@ag.iowa.gov, Green said.