States
Step Up Spending To Fight Tobacco
By Maureen Cosgrove, Staff Writer
07/18/2000
Stateline.org
Ever
wonder how states are spending the millions of dollars pouring into
their coffers from the $206 billion tobacco settlement? According
to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a lot of
the money is funding programs to discourage smoking. In a new report,
NCSL says spending on these programs increased more than 400 percent
in 35 state legislatures across the country.
The
report, which covered appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 20001,
found that $754 million had been put toward tobacco use prevention
and smoking cessation programs. Before FY 2000, states had not appropriated
more than $140 million of general revenue for tobacco use prevention.
Despite
the record-breaking $145 billion verdict against the tobacco industry
awarded Friday in a Florida class-action lawsuit brought by smokers,
state legislators did not seem worried that tobacco payment money
would cease to flow in the future.
Forty-six
states and the District of Columbia are to share in a $206 billion
settlement of a separate lawsuit that sought to recover the public
health costs of smoking-related illness. Four other states reached
individual settlements with the tobacco industry.
"No
one here has mentioned or expressed any kind of nervousness about
the dependability of the tobacco money," Lee Dixon, director of
NCSL's Health Policy Tracking Service and author of the report told
Stateline.org.
Forty-four
states were surveyed for the report, including the four that settled
prior to the master settlement agreement reached in the fall of
1998 --Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi and Texas.
Six
states have not yet decided what to do with tobacco settlement money.
Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Oregon will let voters have a say
in the matter this fall. Missouri and Pennsylvania will likely to
defer their decision until the 2001 legislative session, the report
said.
The
report divides the $8.1 billion of appropriated tobacco money into
nine categories: healthcare services, tobacco prevention, long-term
care, research, education, child and adolescent programs, tobacco
growers, budget reserves and other. Legislatures across the country
enacted a total of 91 bills out of the 558 they considered.
Healthcare
services, a catchall category for healthcare excluding smoking cessation
and long-term care, saw 38 states earmarking more than $3.5 billion.
More
specifically, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi,
New York and South Carolina all contributed sizeable amounts to
increasing access to care. Washington put $153 million in an account
reserved for the state's Basic Health Plan, insurance for the working
poor who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but can't afford
private insurance. New Jersey is spending $100 million on a Medicaid
expansion program.
Other
highlights include: Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey all put money
toward prescription drug price relief for the elderly. Colorado,
Illinois, Kansas, Michigan and Maryland funded cancer research with
tobacco settlement money.
Alabama,
Florida and Kentucky funded child and adolescent programs. Georgia,
Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee and Maryland all allocated settlement
funds to assist tobacco growers. Virginia is devoting 80 percent
of its tobacco settlement dollars to help tobacco farmers.
Nevada
is helping public broadcasting stations develop digital signals
in return for their agreement to run tobacco prevention public service
announcements.
Ohio
is using $2 million for law enforcement.
North
Dakota appropriated some of its funds for flood control projects.
Illinois
used $315 million for property tax relief.
Minnesota,
New York and Wisconsin put more than $220 million each into their
respective general funds.
New
Jersey is using $86 million for its state employee health program.
