Lift the veil: Using public records to investigate opioid settlement spending

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Ed Mahon of Spotlight PA and Kate Giammarise of WESA

Why We Decided to Partner

Ed Mahon�(he/him)�Spotlight PA

www.spotlightpa.org

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Kate Giammarise�(she/her)�90.5 WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR News Station

www.wesa.fm

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In Luzerne County, Pa., Pam Keefe keeps harm reduction supplies in the trunk of her car. (Ed Mahon / Spotlight PA)

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“They need to spend it on harm reduction, and they need to spend it on people not dying. They need to get people into treatment and get them into housing and things like that, but not jail — definitely not jail.”

— Pam Keefe, advocate in Pa.

Big Hopes, Big Conflict

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“That buden shouldn’t fall on the taxpayers out of our general fund budget. And, quite frankly, we don’t have spare money to throw around to increase the number of law enforcement officers out there.”

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— Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce. He proposed spending settlement funds on two detectives for opioid investigations, along with guns, vests, and vehicles for them.

Pennsylvania and the opioid epidemic

• 5,158 drug overdose deaths here in 2022 (78.4% involved fentanyl.)
• $1.07 billion expected from J&J/drug distributor settlements
• Pa.’s 67 counties receive 70% of our opioid settlement money.
• Places that sued (including some counties) receive 15%.
• Legislature/governor control 15%.

Drug overdose victims are remembered at the Pa. Capitol in August 2023. (Ed Mahon / Spotlight PA)

Pennsylvania: How Our Reporting Started

• First conversation was with a group of mothers (including Pam).
• Started reporting in late February 2023.
• Had trouble getting basic answers.
• Filed more than 100 open records requests in initial weeks.

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Pam Keefe’s daughter, Michalene Dougherty, died from a drug overdose in 2018. (Ed Mahon / Spotlight PA)

Story #1: A Billion Dollar Question: Policing or Treatment? (April 2023)

• Pa.’s former attorney general and current governor, Josh Shapiro, said the money was “specifically earmarked for treatment.”
• Counties had other plans.
• Widespread confusion and uncertainty.

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• Lancaster County wanted to spend $275K a year on a drug task force.
• Luzerne County District Attorney proposed spending money on two deputy coroners, plus two detectives — along with guns, vests, and vehicles for them.

Or as John Oliver later said …

"This current $50 billion in settlement money has rules on how it can be spent. Unfortunately, they're both very complicated and not nearly strong enough. ...Governments could attempt to justify almost any purchase."

“I think it really comes down to how those decision makers decide to wield their power.”

— Tricia Christensen of the Community Education Group.

Pam Keefe holds a box of Narcan. (Ed Mahon / Spotlight PA)

So what’s allowed?

So … who has the power?

Story #2: Billion-dollar decisions made in secret (June 2023)

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• 13-member oversight board gets all Pa. opioid settlement money first, then distributes it.
• Responsible for ensuring counties spend the money properly.
• Can withhold and ultimately cut funding.
• Makes other financial decisions.

“We here in New Jersey are going through the same thing, with all levels of government putting a veil up between them and the public. I don’t know how to change that dynamic. It seems as the stakes get higher, so do the walls.”

— an attorney and advocate, 06/01/2023

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Reaction

What About State Open Records Laws?

• The order creating Pennsylvania’s trust does not mention Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law.

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• Our state’s Office of Open Records ruled it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the trust.

“While there are significant policy concerns supporting the claim the Trust should be considered an agency subject to the RTKL, we are constrained to follow the definitions of agency under the RTKL that were established by the General Assembly.”

�—Kyle Applegate, Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, 09/19/2023

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“The trust receives billions of dollars that gets distributed to state and local agencies, making it exactly the kind of entity that the Right-to-Know Law should cover. Because the OOR found that the law doesn’t apply to the trust, this issue certainly deserves scrutiny by the General Assembly and possibly the courts.”

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— Erik Arneson, the other former executive director of Pa.’s Office of Open Records

“Despite my respect for the OOR, it made a huge mistake last month, with implications far beyond whether records are public. …They are absolutely performing a governmental function—and hiding the ball from citizens and government entities— undercutting its mission of restoring healing and hope.”

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—Terry Mutchler, the first executive director of Pa.’s Office of Open Records

So … how do we inform the public?

• Trust isn’t covered by the open records law. BUT counties are.
• We knew counties had to file the same spending report/form with the Trust by March 15.
• We had done RTKs of dozens of counties before.
• We built a big spreadsheet.
• Used identical language.
• Filed 77 requests in one day!

Reports started rolling in ….

• About three dozen public agencies provided the reports within the initial days.
• Two counties denied the requests … but provided the forms after an appeal to the state Office of Open Records.
• We obtained and published more than 60 reports.
• Families, advocates, and other reporters have used the reports.

Using DocumentCloud and DataWrapper to present the records

• Spotlight PA has more than 100 partners. Updating each of those is hard.
• We used an embedded database. (DataWrapper has a free version.)
• Every time we uploaded new records, we re-published the database, and it automatically updated on each partner website.
• I use the database pretty much dailly in my reporting.

“Because you guys are doing the hard work, tracking them down, putting them in a central spot, we then have the benefit of being able to look and see where counties are spending money on behalf of children and families.” — Cathleen Palm, child welfare/protection advocate in Pa.

Tips from Pennsylvania

1. Talk to people with first-hand experience of substance use, families.
2. Carefully read the documents: Exhibit E, plus your state’s oversight requirements and distribution rules.
3. Compare your state’s approach to Johns Hopkins’ 5 Principles (save lives, use evidence, youth prevention, racial equity, transparency).
4. Consider partnerships with other media.
5. Opioid epidemic is bleak. Money offers hope AND highlights existing conflict. It’s an opportunity to rigorously examine proposed solutions.

Story ideas from Pennsylvania

1. Policing vs. Treatment
2. Syringe services are a core strategy of Exhibit E. But they face many restrictions.
3. How powerful is your state opioid board? How much does it involve the public?
4. Look at money to jails for medications for opioid use disorder, body scanners, and other things.
5. KFF has a ton of great stories that can be localized. (Youth prevention, business interests, etc.)

Records to request / other resources

1. Spreadsheets of payments.
2. Communications between smaller government agencies and your state opioid board/agency overseeing the funds.
3. Guidance from your state opioid board / agency.
4. Spending proposals, bids, contracts, grant applications, the basics.
5. Create your own databases!
6. Find out forms are used!

Transparency’s Impact

• Discovered Allegheny County lost out on $822K because of confusion.
• County faced deadline to get municipalities signed up.
• “I know it’s been a hot minute, but ... Thank you for alerting us to the fact that we were missing a step in this settlement process. The mayor has requested that this item be included on council’s agenda for the November 1 meeting.” —McKeesport city official

Questions

Attendees at Philly Story Fest turned open records requests into paper airplanes as part of the art installation Clear Black Box at the Bok building. (Photography by Colibri Workshop)

Ed Mahon

Email: emahon@spotlightpa.org

Social: @edmahonreporter

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Kate Giammarise

Email: kgiammarise@wesa.fm

Social: @KateGiammarise