This website was published on May 20, 2026 as a much-needed update to the original OpioidSettlementTracker.com (OST). The original OST was first launched in 2019 to track the opioid litigation, back when opioid settlements didn’t yet exist. A lot has happened since then: nearly $60 billion in opioid settlements were reached, states and local governments have been spending their settlements for several years, OST has generated several different resources and datasets through her many partnerships, and Christine has also learned how to vibe code.

OpioidSettlementTracker.com is independently researched, designed, and built end-to-end by Christine Minhee, an attorney who founded the site in 2019 and has run it independently since.

The legal analysis behind each state’s classifications, the per-share data validation, the categorization frameworks, the writing, and the front-end code were all built by Christine. Several pieces of OST’s work were produced in partnership with other organizations along the way; the consolidated version readers see today was assembled independently.

Some of the notable partnerships that contributed to the work surfaced on this site:

• OpioidSettlementGuides.com — co-produced with Vital Strategies in 2024, the encyclopedia of state opioid settlement spending processes that the Everything Table’s per-share decisionmaker and advisory council classifications build upon.
• KFF Health News — the 2023 and 2024 public-reporting analyses conducted with senior correspondent Aneri Pattani, which seeded the Everything Table’s Expenditure Reporting column.
• Legal Action Center — the 2024 “Opioid Settlement Community Grant Portals” resource that the Community Grant Tracker now updates and replaces.

Say what you will about AI: every single data visualization on this website was vibe-coded by Christine, who once worked as a technical writer but who otherwise has no coding experience.

The website itself is built on Squarespace 7.1. Backend data is managed in Google Sheets and surfaced through custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript embedded directly into each page. The interactive visualizations — including the Everything Table, the Community Grant Tracker’s donut and live-opportunities map, and a number of smaller widgets — were vibe-coded with the help of Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant.

For more on Christine’s background, press coverage, and other projects, see the About page.

The Everything Table is a state-by-state comparison of opioid settlement policy across six dimensions: Opioid Settlement Total, Ultimate Decisionmaker, Expenditure Reporting, Grant Availability, and Advisory Council. Each row represents one state (plus D.C.) and can be expanded to reveal a per-share breakdown.

Dashboard

How to read the donuts above the table and use them to filter.

The dashboard at the top of the Everything Table provides a national-level view of how opioid settlement funds are being decided, reported, granted, and advised on across all 50 states and D.C. It contains four interactive donut charts — one for each of the table’s badge columns: Ultimate Decisionmaker (the largest donut, foregrounded), and Expenditure Reporting, Grant Availability, and Advisory Council (the three smaller donuts beneath).

Each donut slice represents the percentage of opioid settlement monies nationally that fall into a given category. Slice sizes are weighted by each share’s dollar value, not by raw share count — meaning a category that controls more money appears larger, regardless of how many states or shares are involved.

Clicking a slice filters the table below to show only states with at least one share in that category. Filters across the four donuts combine additively — selecting one slice from each donut narrows the table to states matching all selected criteria. Clicking a selected slice a second time clears that filter. Hovering any slice reveals a tooltip describing what the slice represents and what percentage of settlement monies it accounts for.

For the three smaller donuts (Expenditure Reporting, Grant Availability, Advisory Council), legend items appear in the same normative order used elsewhere in the methodology — best to worst by accessibility, infrastructure, or council strength. For the Ultimate Decisionmaker donut, legend colors neither possess normative value nor imply ranking.

Colors on the three smaller donuts match the badge colors used throughout this methodology — green for the strongest categories, fading through light green and yellow to light red and red for the weakest.

The Table

How to read a row, what clicking does, and how to sort and search.

Each row in the Everything Table represents one state (plus D.C.) and contains six columns: State, Opioid Settlement Total, Ultimate Decisionmaker, Expenditure Reporting, Grant Availability, and Advisory Council. Five of these six columns can be expanded by clicking anywhere in the cell to reveal a per-share narrative breakdown.

For the badge columns (Expenditure Reporting, Grant Availability, Advisory Council), each cell displays a two-line, color-coded badge: the top line names the state-level category in bold, and the smaller italic line below it (the “qualifier”) indicates how broadly that category applies across the state’s shares (all shares, multiple shares, or a single share). Badge categories and their corresponding colors are described in the individual column sections below.

Clicking any expandable cell opens a child row directly below the parent, scoped to that column’s content for that state. The child row lays out the state’s intrastate shares vertically, with each share’s narrative content (and any source links) presented in its own row. Some narratives are accompanied by content authored more recently by OST, indicated in red — these are independent updates Christine has tracked since the underlying source’s cutoff date. Clicking the cell a second time (or the close button in the upper-right corner of the child row) collapses it.

All six columns are sortable. Clicking a column header sorts the entire table by that column; clicking the same header a second time reverses the sort order. The badge columns sort by rank, which means clicking a badge column header clusters states visually by color (best categories at the top, weakest at the bottom).

A search bar above the table accepts free-text queries and returns matching states across all column content, including the text inside child rows. Matched terms are highlighted in red wherever they appear.

Opioid Settlement Total

What this column displays and where the underlying numbers come from.

This column displays each state’s total reported opioid settlement allocation across all of the major opioid settlement agreements. Clicking the row expands a per-settlement breakdown showing which agreements contribute to that state’s total.

All settlement totals pull directly from OST’s Global Settlement Tracker, which has its own methodology section below. What counts as a “major” opioid settlement is described in the Global Settlement Tracker methodology.

Ultimate Decisionmaker

What this column captures and how each state’s parent row is built.

This column identifies the entity (or entities) holding final authority over how each opioid settlement share is spent. Bodies performing only ministerial or procedural functions are not classified as ultimate decisionmakers.

Because final authority is held by such different bodies across the country, this column does not use a fixed badge vocabulary. Each parent row instead displays up to four short descriptions, one per share, naming who decides for that share. Clicking the row expands a full, per-share narrative breakdown.

The narrative content largely derives from OpioidSettlementGuides.com (see the provenance note at the bottom of this section). In some cases, more recent content authored by OST appears in red — these are independent updates Christine has tracked since the Guides’ September 1, 2024 cutoff.

For at-a-glance national-level filtering, the dashboard’s Ultimate Decisionmaker donut above the table groups states’ shares into the following seven decisionmaker types:

Decisionmaker type	Description
Legislature	A state legislature holds final authority over how the share is spent, typically via appropriations.
Local decisionmakers	Counties, municipalities, or other local government officials hold final authority over how the share is spent.
Department of health	A state department of health (or equivalent agency) holds final authority over how the share is spent.
Advisory body	A settlement-specific advisory council, board, or committee holds final authority over how the share is spent.
Attorney general	A state attorney general’s office holds final authority over how the share is spent.
Legislature and DOH	Final authority over the share is held jointly by a state legislature and a department of health.
The “state,” misc.	Final authority rests with an ambiguous state-level arrangement that does its best to resist being known.

The state-by-state classifications in this column derive from OpioidSettlementGuides.com, the encyclopedia of state opioid settlement spending processes Christine co-produced with Vital Strategies in 2024 (which itself expanded upon a 2023 set of Guides for Community Advocates). The Guides are current as of September 1, 2024; OST has independently tracked updates to states’ decisionmaking structures since.

Expenditure Reporting

What this column captures, how each state’s badge is built, and how reporting quality and scope interact.

This column documents whether and how each state publicly reports its opioid settlement expenditures. It replaces OST’s original Expenditure Report Tracker.

Each intrastate share is assigned one of ten reporting categories, ordered below from most to least accessible by a general member of the public. The state-level badge reflects the strongest category observed across the state’s shares, paired with a qualifier indicating how broadly that coverage applies (all shares, multiple shares, or a single share).

Badge colors in this column reflect the reporting category’s tier, with one exception: the darkest green is reserved for top-tier reporting that covers all of a state’s shares. Top-tier reporting that covers only some shares appears in light green. Sorting, by contrast, blends scope with category, because this column is fundamentally a measure of coverage: a state that publishes basic expenditure data for every one of its shares is more transparent overall than a state that publishes a dashboard for only one share and leaves the rest unreported. A best-in-class report on a fraction of a state’s funds tells the public less than a modest report covering all of them.

Color	Category	Description
	Dashboard	An interactive, publicly accessible dashboard displays expenditure data for the share.
	Annual / periodic reports	A recurring annual, quarterly, or monthly report publishes expenditure data for the share.
	Awardee / project lists	A list of grant recipients or funded projects discloses how the share has been spent.
	Appropriations summaries	A legislative summary describes how appropriated funds from the share have been allocated.
	Spreadsheet / data files	A publicly available spreadsheet or data file reports expenditures from the share.
	Legislative / audit reports	A legislative or audit report describes how the share has been spent.
	Press releases	Official press releases or news announcements disclose grant awards or expenditures from the share.
	Appropriations statutes	An appropriations statute or budget document lists the share’s allocations in raw legislative form.
	Third-party / journalist reports	The state has not published expenditure data for the share; hard-working journalists and other third parties have stepped in to fill the gap.
	No centralized reporting	No centralized public reporting of the share’s expenditures has been identified.

This column is a direct descendant of the public-reporting analysis Christine conducted with KFF Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani in 2023 and again in 2024, which assessed states’ written promises to publicly report their expenditures and then checked whether they followed through. The categories above carry that work’s “Googleability” lens forward by focusing on whether a typical member of the public could reasonably find and understand an opioid settlement expenditure report.

Grant Availability

What this column captures, how each state’s badge is built, and why infrastructure quality outranks scope.

This column documents whether each state has established opioid settlement-funded grant opportunities for which community organizations are eligible, and how centralized and accessible those opportunities are. For deeper detail and a live feed of currently open opportunities, see the Community Grant Tracker, which has its own methodology section below.

Each intrastate share is assigned one of seven grantmaking infrastructure categories, ordered below from most to least accessible by a general member of the public. The state-level badge reflects the strongest category observed across the state’s shares, paired with a qualifier indicating which share(s) the winning status applies to.

Unlike Expenditure Reporting, Grant Availability sorts and colors by category first and scope second. The reason is that this column is fundamentally a measure of infrastructure: a dedicated opioid settlement grant portal that covers only one share is meaningfully different from a state with no grantmaking infrastructure at all. The presence and quality of the grantmaking pathway carry the primary signal; scope appears in the qualifier text below the badge.

Color	Category	Description
	Yes (dedicated portal)	A dedicated opioid settlement grant portal lists current and past funding opportunities for which community organizations are eligible.
	Yes (agency portal)	A general state agency portal hosts current opioid settlement-funded grant opportunities for which community organizations are eligible.
	Yes (past RFPs only)	Past requests for proposals or grant opportunities are documented, but no current portal hosts active opportunities.
	Up to each locality	Whether grant opportunities exist depends on individual local government decisions; no statewide grantmaking pathway has been established.
	Some evidence (no RFPs)	Some evidence of grantmaking activity exists, but no formal requests for proposals or grant opportunities have been identified.
	No (nonprofits ineligible)	Grant opportunities exist for the share, but community organizations and nonprofits are not eligible applicants.
	No evidence of grantmaking	No identified current or past grant opportunities have been funded by the share.

This column is a direct descendant of the community grant tracking work Christine launched in partnership with the Legal Action Center in 2024, the original “Opioid Settlement Community Grant Portals” resource. The categories above carry that resource’s purpose forward by focusing on whether a community organization could realistically find and pursue an opioid settlement-funded grant opportunity in any given state.

Advisory Council

What this column captures, how each state’s badge is built, and why council strength outranks scope.

This column documents whether an advisory council, board, or commission has been established to advise on or decide opioid settlement spending in each state, and how much actual power that body holds.

Each intrastate share is assigned one of five council role categories. The state-level badge reflects the strongest role observed across the state’s shares, paired with a qualifier indicating which share(s) the winning status applies to.

Like Grant Availability, Advisory Council sorts and colors by category first and scope second. The reason is that this column is fundamentally a measure of institutional power: a true decision-making council that governs only one share still represents a meaningfully different governance structure than a state with no council at all. The strength of the council carries the primary signal; scope appears in the qualifier text below the badge.

Color	Category	Description
	Yes (true decision-maker)	An advisory body makes binding decisions on how the share is spent, not merely recommendations.
	Yes (powers are mixed)	An advisory body holds different roles across shares — for instance, deciding for one share while advising on another.
	Yes (but advisory only)	An advisory body exists but holds only recommendatory, non-binding power over how the share is spent.
	Yes (but ministerial only)	An advisory body exists but performs only administrative or procedural tasks, with no influence on substantive spending decisions.
	No	No advisory body has been established to advise on or decide opioid settlement spending for the share.

The state-by-state classifications in this column derive from OpioidSettlementGuides.com, the encyclopedia of state opioid settlement spending processes Christine co-produced with Vital Strategies in 2024 (which itself expanded upon a 2023 set of Guides for Community Advocates). OST has independently tracked updates to states’ advisory body structures since September 2024.

The Global Settlement Tracker tallies the reported values of the major opioid settlements reached between U.S. state and local governments and pharmaceutical opioid manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consultants. It is the original and only public resource that tracks these state-by-state totals.

Scope: what counts as a “major” opioid settlement

OST tracks “The Majors” — the two-dozen-plus set of largest nationally operating pharmaceutical opioid manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consultants involved in U.S. opioid litigation. The term is a deliberate throwback to the Big Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998. Federal criminal or civil investigations and antitrust settlements with opioid-based abatement drugmakers are not tracked.

The pie chart

The pie chart at the top of the page visualizes each major opioid settlement’s reported value as a slice of the Global Settlement Total. Slice size is proportional to the settlement’s reported value. Clicking any slice opens a detail view for that settlement. The legend beside the chart can be used to filter the pie by specific companies.

The table

The table below the pie chart breaks each major opioid settlement into its component values: reported value, state/local share, tribal share, and finalization status. Each row represents one settlement.

Color-coding in the status column indicates settlement finalization:

Color	Category	Description
	Finalized	The settlement is fully executed and money is flowing (or has flowed) to the recipients.
	Pending	The settlement has been announced but is not yet finalized — negotiations, court approvals, or sign-on periods remain outstanding.

How tally calculations work

Where settlement values are reported as a range, OST uses the lower figure in tally calculations. The “reported value” of each settlement reflects the total amount eventually transferable to all plaintiffs involved over time — not just to state and local governments. The “state/local” column displays the portion flowing specifically to state and local governments, separate from amounts allocated to tribal sovereign governments.

A note on tribal opioid settlements

Native American tribes’ opioid settlements are tracked separately in the Global Settlement Tracker’s tally because the 574 federally recognized tribes are sovereign nations whose cases were procedurally — but not substantively — grouped with state and local plaintiffs in the federal opioid multidistrict litigation. For official updates on tribal opioid settlements, see TribalOpioidSettlements.com.

The Community Grant Tracker answers two opioid settlement grant-related questions: how are states publishing their opioid settlement-funded grant opportunities, and what funding opportunities are currently live?

The donut (left side of the page)

The donut on the left side of the page visualizes how all 50 states and D.C. are publishing their opioid settlement-funded grant opportunities. Each slice represents the percentage of opioid settlement monies nationally that fall into a given grantmaking infrastructure category. Clicking a slice reveals which states fall into that category; clicking a state then opens a full per-share breakdown of that state’s grantmaking activity.

The donut uses the same seven grantmaking infrastructure categories described in the Grant Availability section above.

The map and table (right side of the page)

The right side of the page tracks currently open grant opportunities funded by opioid settlement money. A map of the U.S. displays one pin per live opportunity, color-coded by deadline urgency. A sortable table below the map lists each opportunity in detail.

Pin and table-row color indicate deadline status:

Color	Category	Description
	Dated deadline	The opportunity has a published application deadline more than 14 days away.
	Closing soon	The opportunity’s published deadline falls within the next 14 days.
	Rolling / unlisted	The opportunity accepts rolling applications or has no published deadline.

Clicking a legend item filters both the map and the table to that category. Each table row contains the application deadline, the state where the opportunity is offered, the issuing entity, and a link to the application. The table is sortable by any of these columns and searchable by state, entity, or any text in the notes.

If a reader comes across a live opportunity not yet featured, OST welcomes tips at tips@opioidsettlementtracker.com.

This page updates and replaces the original “Opioid Settlement Community Grant Portals” resource Christine launched in partnership with the Legal Action Center on Juneteenth 2024. OST has independently tracked live grant opportunities since.

Special thanks to Rosemary Edwards, J.D. — Christine’s fabulous intern — whose research powered the state-by-state classifications.