Tobacco.org

• Senate leaders brokered tobacco decision 

A pending crisis cast a pall over the Legislature as it limped to a close Monday night: Would the session adjourn without appropriating money for a tobacco program voters had mandated? And would that send the issue to court?

In the end, a meeting between Senate Majority Leader Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck, and Measure 3 Chairwoman Heidi Heitkamp ended the weekslong stalemate and the threat of a court fight.

“The broker here was Bob,” Heitkamp said Tuesday. “I don’t know how you could say it any other way.”

Stenehjem asked Heitkamp and other Measure 3 supporters to a meeting in his office Monday evening. They agreed on bill language stating the tobacco control program wouldn’t be able to tap into the state Water Resources Trust Fund for its money – a possibility skeptical lawmakers said lurked in the measure.

In return, legislators would appropriate money for the tobacco program just as voters directed in November.

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• Comedian may be charged for smoking at Bismarck show 

A popular comedian could face charges in Bismarck for a regular part of his routine.

Ron White, the Scotch-swilling, cigar-smoking Blue Collar Comedy Tour comedian, performed at the Belle Mehus Auditorium on April 30. But prior to that, a Bismarck citizen tipped off police that part of White's routine might run afoul of a Bismarck city ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places.

Gary Semmel, 55, wrote a letter dated April 17 to the Bismarck Police Department, letting them know White smokes a cigar during his act, which seems to be at odds with the city ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places, Sgt. Dwight Offerman said.

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• ND anti-tobacco money included in budget 

Conceding defeat in a bitterly contested struggle over tobacco funds, House Republicans agreed Monday to provide $12.9 million to two new committees in charge of developing a comprehensive plan to fight smoking.

"This isn't an easy pill to swallow," Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, the House majority leader, told House Republicans during an impromptu Capitol meeting late Monday night.

Most House GOP legislators have opposed state support for the nine-member advisory board and a three-member executive committee formed by Measure 3, a ballot initiative that North Dakota voters approved last November.

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• Lawmakers scramble to resolve tobacco issue 

The brouhaha over the anti-smoking Measure 3 continued Friday while lawmakers looked for ways to come to a compromise and a proposed constitutional amendment sold as an alternative to the voter-approved ballot initiative got another legislative makeover.

Meanwhile, the nine-member advisory committee established by Measure 3 decided on Friday that they would pursue legal action if the Legislature did not fund the initiatives established under the law that promotes tobacco cessation, which passed with 54 percent of the vote in November.

"What this would do is prepare us for future action if it's needed," said Kathy Mangskau, who chairs the anti-smoking executive panel.

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• LETTER: ANDRIST: Good public policy not shenanigans 

The Forum’s Thursday editorial, “ND voters were clear on tobacco” is exactly right. The North Dakota House should have passed the Senate bill that implemented and funded Measure 3.

That said, I introduced Senate Bill 4038 because I sincerely believe Measure 3 was flawed, that it has at least one unconstitutional provision, that voters might not have been aware that there is expected to be $125 million involved in this tobacco-cessation effort.

Voters are stuck with an up or down “yes” or “no” on ballot measures. . . .

Forum readers need to know that most of us in this body are not constantly dealing in shenanigans and that most of us are seriously devoted to enacting and securing the best public policy.

Likewise, most of us have a strong commitment to the will of the voters. The power to initiate and refer is a precious heritage in populist North Dakota.

Whether or not SB4038 gets to the voters, they can count on my support to do the will expressed in the ballot box.

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• IN THE MAIL: Carlson works against own district’s wishes 

As a Grand Forks resident, I am not directly represented by Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, and so I wondered how it is that this one legislator from Fargo can undo my vote for Measure 3 and thwart the will of the majority of North Dakota voters.

What kind of person does that? Who is this Al Carlson who arrogantly ignores 165,000 voters?

Well, I did a little checking and found out that in 2006, when Carlson was re-elected to the North Dakota Legislature, he got only 2,903 votes or 52 percent of the votes cast. By contrast, some 3,998 voters in Carlson’s district voted to support Measure 3 in November.

That’s right: In his own district, 1,000 more voters supported Measure 3 than supported Carlson’s re-election bid. . . .

on pretty much all tobacco-control issues, Carlson takes the side of the tobacco industry over the constituents in his district, Fargo and the public health community. Shame on him.

Now, the only mystery left for me to resolve is: Why do Republican house members (with the notable exceptions of Bismarck Reps. Bob Martinson and George Keiser) support Carlson’s pro-tobacco industry policies over the public-health interests of the people?

I don’t know. That is something voters should ask their legislators directly. I intend to ask mine.

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• Senate OKs sending tobacco fund issue to voters again  

The Senate agreed Wednesday to ask North Dakota voters if they don’t have second thoughts about what to do with some $125 million in tobacco settlement funds coming to the state from 2008 to 2017.

Senators approved, by a 24-23 vote, a proposed constitutional amendment that could undo the statewide tobacco control program that voters passed last November, known as Measure 3. It still needs to go to the House for a hearing and vote.

The amendment would lock up the tobacco funds in a trust, with only the interest available for 10 years, and that interest would be disbursed to a variety of public health programs at various public health districts, which may or may not include tobacco control programs.

Measure 3, on the other hand, had dictated that all $125 million must be used for tobacco use prevention and to help smokers quit . . .

Passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution 4038 came despite protests of some lawmakers who said the measure had been rushed through a public hearing mere hours after being introduced Monday.

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• Dr. Terry Dwelle, N.D. state health officer, letter: Department helped curb smoking rate 

Recent letters about the Legislature’s actions regarding Measure 3 wrongly characterized the North Dakota Department of Health as being under the influence of the tobacco industry. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Department of Health has worked very diligently over the years to reduce the toll of tobacco use on the youth and adults of North Dakota. We have consistently relied on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s best practice guidance for tobacco control.

We have worked with local tobacco control coordinators across the state to counter the influences of the tobacco industry. . . .

Neither I nor my staff have ever met with or been influenced by representatives of the tobacco industry. As state health officer, I support any efforts to reduce the impact of tobacco on the citizens of our state. The deadly effects of tobacco use on our friends and family members must be countered with as many resources as we can muster.

The employees of the Department of Health and our local partners have dedicated their lives to protecting the health of every North Dakotan from the dangers of tobacco use. I am very proud of the work they do every day.

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• House Majority Leader Al Carlson, Bismarck, letter: Flawed Measure 3 demands legislative action 

We have never been against SB 2063, the implementation of Centers for Disease Control standards or the level of funding. We’ve opposed only the wasteful provisions of the bill, namely spending money on an executive committee to oversee a control advisory committee that would work with the State Health Department. . . .

The amendments we support will protect these important projects and programs while maintaining the integrity of SB 2063.

As sworn officeholders, we are charged with reviewing, debating and amending proposed legislation so it best serves the people of this state. North Dakota’s initiated measure system is an important one, but so is the legislative process. The legislature is a check on executive power, a check on judicial power and also a check on the power of initiated measure.

North Dakotans have elected representatives to make sure that bad legislation is not slipped passed the voter. We understand that we have to deal with the health costs of smoking. What we object to is the “all or nothing” mentality our opponents maintain and the smoke screen tactics used to cloud the issue and push a poorly conceived, wasteful, bureaucratic solution to a problem which can be handled by our well-qualified health department.

The authors are Republican representatives in the North Dakota House.

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• Higher tobacco tax, bar smoking ban on North Dakota agenda 

North Dakota’s newly formed anti-tobacco committee wants a $2-a-pack state cigarette tax and a smoking ban in all public places, an early draft of its agenda shows.

BISMARCK – North Dakota’s newly formed anti-tobacco committee wants a $2-a-pack state cigarette tax and a smoking ban in all public places, an early draft of its agenda shows.

The idea of raising North Dakota’s cigarette tax, which is now 44 cents a pack, has not come up in the 2009 Legislature. The tax has not changed since 1993.

Any state tobacco tax increase would come on top of a newly increased federal tobacco excise tax, which jumped this month from 39 cents to $1.01 a pack.

The committee’s work has been the recent focus of a money fight in the North Dakota House. Republican lawmakers argue the panel is unnecessary, even though voters endorsed a November ballot initiative to establish it. Measure 3 won approval from 54 percent of the voters last fall.

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• Proposal to change ND tobacco measure falls 

The Legislature’s implementation of a voter-approved tobacco measure was thrown into question Thursday when the House killed a bill appropriating money for the programs.

The vote to kill Senate Bill 2063 was 69-24.

The Legislature must appropriate money to the tobacco control programs that voters OK’d in November when they passed Measure 3. Without the Legislature’s appropriation, the programs can’t be started. The money to be appropriated is already flowing into the state from the national tobacco settlement.

Backers of Measure 3 applauded Thursday’s vote because they opposed amendments the House majority attached to the measure on Wednesday. They said the House defied the voters’ wishes by putting the new tobacco programs in the state Health Department and by proposing to spend tobacco funds for other purposes.

Measure 3 as passed by 54 percent of the voters called for a special executive committee appointed by the governor to administer the money and the programs.

The Senate passed SB 2063 in February exactly as the measure called for, but House amendments abolished the committee.

“We’re pleased with the outcome, absolutely,” said Kathleen Mangskau, chairwoman of the committee, after the House vote to kill SB2063. “We want to thank the Legislature for rejecting the amendments and voting to save lives and save money.”

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• Tobacco groups blast House changes 

House members, insisting they’re improving what voters approved, voted 57-34 along party lines Wednesday to amend Senate Bill 2063. The bill enacts into state law the dictates in Measure 3, which 54 percent of voters approved and which called for $18 million in 2009-11 for programs to cut down on smoking in the state.

The funds come from the national tobacco settlement the state participated in 11 years ago.

Measure 3 backers said the House amendments gutted the bill.

“This is a travesty,” said one, Dr. Jim Hughes of Bismarck, shortly before the House voted.

“This is not what the voters voted for,” said former Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp,

The House amendments eliminate a tobacco program governing committee called for in the initiated measure and will end the program in eight years. Instead of the committee managing the program, it will be in the state Health Department. . . .

Supporters of the amendments include Rep. Gary Kreidt, R-New Salem, who said during Wednesday’s House debate that the changes make the bill “better than what the people asked for.” He sponsored the amendment that the House Appropriations Committee adopted Tuesday and sent to the full House.

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• ND House readying change to tobacco measure 

Supporters of a ballot initiative to discourage tobacco use are fighting efforts in the North Dakota House to change some of the measure's key provisions only six months after voters endorsed them.

"The people of North Dakota voted ... and they basically told us what they wanted," said Rep. Lee Kaldor, D-Mayville. "Why? Because we have not performed in the past. We have not done the job that we have been expected to do."

Advocates of overhauling the measure said their proposed changes were in keeping with the initiative's intent to discourage tobacco use, and said the measure's new version would avoid wasting money on unneeded administration.

"We're not spitting in the face of the voter," said Rep. Frank Wald, R-Dickinson. "We're simply doing what we think is right."

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• N.D. House OKs change in tobacco measure 

The North Dakota House has changed the bill that enacts a tobacco control program voters OK’d in November, over the protests of lawmakers and initiative supporters who said the vote would usurp the will of the people.

The vote on the amendments in Senate Bill 2063 was 57-34. The full bill will be voted on Thursday in the house.

The bill enacts Measure 3, which passed with a 54 percent majority in November. The House Appropriations Committee made the changes on Tuesday.

Supporters of the changes included Rep. Gary Kreidt, R-New Salem, who said the changes make the bill “better than what the people asked for.” . . .

Supporters of the change said it avoids setting up a new government bureaucracy while still funding the tobacco programs in the initiated measure.

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• ND LEGISLATURE: Voters' will on tobacco plan being gutted, group says 

The North Dakota House Appropriations Committee is defying the will of voters by gutting a bill that enacts a tobacco control initiative passed last year, backers of the measure said this morning.

The House panel’s changes will be voted on by the full House later today and backers of the initiative say they are fighting the changes. The committee voted Tuesday to make the changes.

The argument is over Measure 3, which passed last November with 54 percent of the vote. . . .

Organizers of Measure 3, including Heidi Heitkamp of Mandan, said the House committee voted to get rid of the tobacco control governing committee that was mandated in the measure, among other changes.

“It will no longer be what the voters voted for,” said Sharon Buhr of Valley City, who backed the measure last year.

“This is a travesty,” said Dr. Jim Hughes of Bismarck.

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