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Editorial: N.J. should restore funds for anti-smoking programs to save lives, cut healthcare costs 

Here's a suggestion for the state Legislature's #8220;to do" list: Restore the state's commitment to anti-smoking programs that have the potential to save lives and healthcare costs.

The recent report "Up in Smoke" from the American Cancer Society found the state has raised about $5 billion in tobacco revenues over the last five years, yet has spent just 0.08 percent of that on programs to help smokers quit.

The vast sum stems from New Jersey's taxes on tobacco products, including a $2.70 levy on each pack of cigarettes, as well as revenue from a 1998 settlement with big tobacco companies that lied for decades about the dangers of smoking. The money distributed annually to 46 states was intended for investment in tobacco-control efforts . . .

If taxes the state already collects on tobacco products are not enough to pay for the comprehensive programs and outreach, the Legislature must consider increasing those taxes.

Increasing the cost may convince smokers who are on the fence that it's time to stop; the extra revenue certainly will aid those who have made up their minds and just need some help to quit.

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FISCHER: Guest Viewpoint: Smoking is a burden on health care  

I would like to address online comments made in response to the Dec. 24 letter to the editor titled "Tobacco prevention funds pay off in time."

A common misconception is that smoking pays for "kiddy health care." "Kiddy health care" is what some people call the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) . . .

In contrast to the $2.2 billion that the state received from tobacco in 2010, that same year $8.2 billion was spent in New York to cover health care costs directly caused by smoking, with $5.4 billion coming from the Medicaid program. If smoking ceased and we no longer used Medicaid money to treat smoking-related diseases, New York would have $3.2 billion more to fund "kiddy health care," not the other way around.

The current budget of the New York State Tobacco Control Program is $41.4 million. This represents less than half of what the program received four years ago. Although New York has raised $10.5 billion in tobacco revenue over the past six years, less than 4 percent has been spent on tobacco control programs. . . .

The key message is that tobacco use not only takes a terrible toll on the health of our family and friends, it also costs taxpayers a large amount of money. Each household in New York has a tax burden of $884 per year in state and federal taxes from smoking-caused government expenditures — a fact too often forgotten when people think only of the revenue that tobacco provides.

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Idaho panel sets priorities for tobacco money  

State lawmakers want to use $5.7 million from a nationwide tobacco settlement for smoking cessation programs and substance abuse treatment.

Idaho currently gets money annually from the 1998 settlement with the nation's five largest tobacco companies. The money goes into an account called the "Millennium Fund," and lawmakers allocate 5% each year to spend on smoking prevention and related health programs.

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Mo. AG says tobacco payment loophole causing big problems 

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster says the state legislature's inaction on a tobacco payment loophole has placed the state in "terrible and unnecessary peril."

For a third time, Koster is asking the legislature to repeal a flaw in the state's tobacco escrow statute, writing to each member of the Legislature on Jan. 25. Koster says a state law related to the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement allows companies that pay concentrate their sales in Missouri to recover almost the entire amount they put into an escrow fund designed to help with medical costs caused by smoking.

The other 45 states that signed the MSA have taken care of this issue, Koster says. Tobacco companies must either sign the MSA or put funds in escrow accounts.

"Missouri stands alone in its coddling of these non-signatory cigarette producers," Koster wrote.

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Missouri Attorney General Calls on Legislature to Pass Bill Closing Tobacco-settlement Loophole  

For the third consecutive year, Attorney General Chris Koster is calling on the Missouri General Assembly to pass a law to close a critical loophole in the tobacco master settlement agreement Missouri and 45 other states signed in 1998. Missouri is the only state left that has not closed the loophole – a situation that could potentially cost Missouri past and future settlement funds of more than $1 billion.

A state law related to the settlement agreement requires tobacco companies that did not participate in the settlement to set aside funds in escrow each year that could pay states’ claims against the companies in the future. But a gap in the law’s drafting led to unintended consequences, allowing companies that concentrate their sales in Missouri to recover almost the entire amount of the money they put into escrow at the end of each year. While every other state of the 45 states participating in the settlement has corrected this error, Missouri’s legislature has failed to act year after year

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Mo. AG urges changes to tobacco escrow law  

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is renewing a call for lawmakers to change a state law related to a 1998 settlement with big tobacco companies . . .

At issue are state laws that require companies not participating in the settlement to pay money into escrow funds based on the amount of cigarettes they sell.

The escrow accounts are intended to cover any future lawsuits. But Koster says Missouri's law contains a loophole that allows much of the escrow money to be refunded to the tobacco companies.

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Idaho panel recommends spending $5.7 million in tobacco settlement money on treatment programs 

State lawmakers want to use $5.7 million from a nationwide tobacco settlement for smoking cessation programs and substance abuse treatment.

Idaho currently gets money annually from the 1998 settlement with the nation's five largest tobacco companies. The money goes into an account called the "Millennium Fund," and lawmakers allocate 5 percent each year to spend on smoking prevention and related health programs.

The committee that shepherds the fund voted 8-2 on Wednesday to recommend spending on a dozen programs, with the largest payment at $2 million going to the state Department of Health and Welfare.

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EDITORIAL: New York state's tobacco tax strays from target  

New York is among the most aggressive in its efforts, prohibiting smoking in public places and raising taxes to make the purchase of each pack painful. Yet with all that money coming in, the state continues to cut back on the amount it spends on this effort. Most of the money from those taxes and from a settlement with the tobacco industry has always gone to other causes, but, in recent years, the state had diverted even more.

It's not too much to expect the Cuomo administration to maintain spending levels on anti-smoking efforts, especially when they pay off in the long run by reducing the amount everyone has to pay in increased health-care costs.

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Tobacco lawsuit helps Oregon balance budget 

As the Oregon Legislature convened Wednesday for the start of a month-long legislative session, key lawmakers proposed spending much of a $56 million dollar legal windfall to avoid cutting services for the sick and needy.

Three legislators in charge of writing the state's financial plan suggest taking three-quarters of the income from a court victory over tobacco giant Philip Morris, roughly $41 million, to shrink a $200 million spending gap. They'd use budget maneuvers and service cuts to cover the rest of the deficit.

"Philip Morris' unwilling contribution to our state coffers came at a very opportune time," said Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, a co-chair of the Budget Committee.

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• Judge Won't Revive Challenge To Master Tobacco Deal  

A New York federal judge on Monday refused to revive cigarette maker Grand River Enterprises Six Nations Ltd.'s antitrust suit challenging the $200 billion master settlement between state attorneys general and the nation's largest tobacco companies.

U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan shot down Grand River's bid to vacate his decision granting summary judgment to the states on the cigarette company's Sherman Act claims, despite Grand River's allegations that newly discovered evidence would have influenced his findings if he had had access to it.

The suit, filed by Grand River in 2002, stems from a 1998 deal between 46 attorneys general and 19 participating tobacco companies, including Philip Morris Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Lorillard Tobacco Co. and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. The cigarette makers agreed to make annual payments to the states in part to help fund high health care costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses under state Medicaid programs.

The settlement contains provisions that give states incentives to enact so-called escrow statutes directed at manufacturers that did not participate in the settlement, in order to create a resource available to the states in the event they sue and obtain a judgment or settlement against a nonparticipating manufacturer.

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FEINBERG: Anti-smoking gains in jeopardy  

Now the bad news. This historic public health success will be jeopardized unless the state continues to invest in the comprehensive, science-based programs that have brought down smoking rates. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget proposes to slash another $5 million from the tobacco control programs that have proven so effective in driving down smoking rates, thereby also reducing health care costs for taxpayers.

It gets worse. More than half of the funding for New York's Tobacco Control Program has been cut over the past four years, even though the state collects an eye-popping $2.3 billion from tobacco tax revenues and lawsuit settlements.

The governor now proposes extending those tobacco taxes to cigars and loose tobacco, a great idea . . .

It's a question of fairness. If state government raises billions of dollars in revenue from tobacco and proposes to raise even more tobacco tax revenue, isn't there some obligation to fund proven programs that help smokers quit and make sure young people and other non-smokers don't ever start?

Consider this: Poor New Yorkers remain addicted, and continue to pay tobacco taxes, at higher rates than others.

The horrible toll of tobacco-related death and disease is also concentrated in traditionally marginalized communities. . . .

Now is not the time to rest on our laurels. It is instead the time to keep our efforts going strong. It is a matter of life and death.

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When Newt championed Wall Street  

In Gingrich’s administration, you could forget about states taking action against corporate malfeasance, such as the coordinated action against Big Tobacco in the 1990s. At the time Gingrich lamented the tobacco settlement, in which the cigarette makers were forced to yield to a coordinated assault by state A.G.s. “This blackmail model of Attorneys-General championed by New York’s Eliot Spitzer, which mugs companies without going to court, is a job killer,” he said. “These practices must be stopped.”

Gingrich moved on to another longtime item on Wall Street’s wish list, “litigation reform,” aka “tort-reform.”

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Legislator takes another stab at closing tobacco company’s tax ‘loophole’  

State Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, has introduced a bill this session that he says would remove "a big tax loophole" for one Florida-based tobacco company.

A similar bill was introduced last year, but a threat that Gov. Rick Scott would veto the bill eventually killed it.

Senate Bill 1414 would impose "a fee on the sale, receipt, purchase, possession, consumption, handling, distribution, and use of non-settling manufacturer cigarettes that are required to have a stamp affixed or stamp insignia applied to the package of cigarettes on which tax is otherwise required to be paid."

The measure would seek fees, more specifically, from Dosal, a tobacco company based in Miami that was not part of the 1997 Florida Tobacco Settlement Agreement. Because the company is not part of that settlement, it has been exempt from paying the same taxes and fees that other tobacco companies are paying, Altman argues. . . .

Dosal allegedly fought against last year's bill with help from a West Palm Beach-based tea party group.

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Lung association group backs tobacco tax for Idaho  

According to an annual report by the American Lung Association, Idaho made some improvements in 2011 to help prevent disease and underage smoking, but it says the state fell short in a few areas.

A press release sent out Thursday suggests Idaho can do a better job with legislation, including raising the cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack. The release also charges that tobacco has caused trouble for Idahoans, reading "Tobacco causes an estimated 1,509 deaths in Idaho annually and costs the state's economy $685,273,000 in health care costs and lost productivity."

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Tobacco commission to end Phase I indemnification program 

The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission recently confirmed that 2012 will mark the end of the Phase I Indemnification Program.

Since 2000, the tobacco commission has made available $309 million to Virginia's tobacco growers and owners, thereby fulfilling its statutory obligation.

On April 29, 2010, the commission announced that it was nearing the end of its indemnification obligation and expected the 2012 payment to be the final distribution of Phase I Indemnification funds.

At its Jan. 10 meeting, the commission resolved that upon the end of its 2012 payment distributions, it will cease to operate an indemnification program, and that as of July 1, 2013, any unclaimed indemnification funds will be reallocated to economic development efforts.

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