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Wisconsin Tobacco Tax Increase Is Positive Step for Health, but Budget Disappoints by Cutting Funding for Tobacco Prevention Programs 

Wisconsin leaders have taken a positive step to protect the state's kids and taxpayers from the devastating toll of tobacco by increasing the state cigarette tax by 75 cents. However, it is deeply disappointing that despite this increase in tobacco-related revenue, state leaders approved a budget that cuts funding by more than half for critical tobacco prevention and cessation programs. This devastating cut will reduce the number of people who quit as a result of the cigarette tax increase and undermine successful programs already in place to protect kids and help smokers quit.

The budget cut will reduce the amount Wisconsin spends a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs to just $6.85 million a year. This is barely one-tenth of the $64.3 million that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Wisconsin spend each year on such programs. It is also just a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars the state collects each year from tobacco taxes and the 1998 state tobacco settlement.

It is penny-wise and pound-foolish to shortchange tobacco prevention programs.

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Shorewood Smoking Ban Takes Effect  

Shorewood's smoking ban went into effect on Wednesday, ending smoking in bars, restaurants, lobbies in public buildings, most work place, and certain areas of public parks.

"Shorewood is very proud to be a leader in offering safer, healthier workplaces and dining venues that will ensure we all can breathe clean, smoke-free air," North Shore Tobacco-Free Coalition coordinator Sue Marten said in a news release.

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AUDIO: More reasons to quit 

Wisconsin is just one year away from implementation of a statewide smoking ban and smokers will start paying even more for cigarettes in September.

Dr. Michael Fiore with the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention says those factors will likely encourage many people to quit for good, so they can save money or don't have to deal with the inconvenience of not being able to smoke in a tavern.�

However, smokers looking to kick the habit may have trouble getting help. The state budget increases the per pack cigarette tax by 75 cents, resulting in $700 million in excise taxes for the state each year. But the budget also cut back on funding tobacco prevention and intervention programs.

Fiore says smokers are being asked to help the state remain solvent while addicted to a drug, and we need to provide them with the resources to break free

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Shorewood smoking ban to be celebrated in bar  

Shorewood's new smoke-free status will be marked with a celebration at a bar.

The North Shore Tobacco-Free Coalition is offering food and door prizes from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Village Pub and Grill, 4488 N. Oakland Ave.

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Risser: the man behind the ban 

The idea solicited guffaws from older members when it was introduced by a new member in the state Senate in 1963. . . .

Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, wanted to ban tobacco sales to people under age 16. The idea that year got only one vote -- his -- in a committee test. . . .

First elected to the Assembly in 1956, Risser won a special election to the state Senate in 1962. He is completing 52 years of continuous legislative service. His service is the longest of any current legislator in the country. He is the fourth generation of his family to serve in the Wisconsin Legislature.

Risser, 82, has learned during his tenure that compromise can be the best solution. Tavern owners fought for years for an exemption to the smoking ban, but local communities eventually began enacting their own bans against smoking in workplaces, restaurants and taverns.

An immediate statewide ban would have been better, but Risser said no bill is perfect.

“The compromise can start saving lives and saving money for our taxpayers,” he said.

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Conference Committee slashes Tobacco Control Program even more 

The Wisconsin Senate early Friday passed its version of a state budget that raises taxes on smokers by $300 million, then slashes a successful program by 55 percent that is reducing youth smoking and helping smokers quit.

The Wisconsin Senate early Friday passed its version of a state budget that raises taxes on smokers by $300 million, then slashes a successful program by 55 percent that is reducing youth smoking and helping smokers quit.

Budget negotiators had already cut the program 40 percent – eight times more than the average cut for state agencies and programs. In secret negotiations again last night, Democrats who control the Legislature slashed another $5 million, leaving the program at only one-tenth of what the Centers for Disease Control recommends.

“Lawmakers also want to cut a half billion dollars from Medicaid – and tobacco-related diseases are the single most expensive cost to the Medicaid program,” said Maureen Busalacchi, executive director of SmokeFree Wisconsin. “So cutting the program that reduces smoking is not logical. How that math works is a mystery.

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Baldwin Bulletin 

Terri Franch, general manager at Tobacco Road in south Milledgeville, said that the new legislation has instantly created a great deal of uncertainty within the tobacco-selling community. To this point, French said that she has received very few answers, and her distributors do not know much more than she does.

"I don't think any of us know what it all means yet or where it could lead. But, I do know that it gives the government a whole lot of control to make decsions in the future," she said. "Right now, it's all speculation on what the government eventually might do."

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Iraq Veteran Attacks Nicotine Addiction 

Norma Brotz, 48 of Wisconsin, has tackled many tough tasks in her life, including a tour of duty in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. However, the toughest task she has faced might have been battling nicotine addiction since the 1980s. She finally got the help she needed in the form of varenicline from her doctor and coaching from the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line.

Brotz quit in the late '80s before starting again in 1991. She had seen ads for the Quit Line at Marshfield Clinic and in restaurants where she and her husband go for fish fries.

"With the Quit Line, they talked about things you can do and steps you can take to get ready to quit," Brotz said. "I determined my quit date, threw out my cigarettes and hid my lighters. The Quit Line helped prepare me." . . .

Brotz said she appreciated the offer to enroll in Operation Quit Tobacco, a program that helps all military personnel quit smoking or chewing. However, since she had already received varenicline from her physician, she only needed coaching from the Quit Line.

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UW-CTRI Staff Rose From the (Cigarette) Ashes at National Conference in Phoenix  

UW-CTRI employees and partners presented research findings June 10-12 in Phoenix as part of the National Conference on Tobacco or Health. Below is a list of UW-CTRI presenters and topics:

* Michael Fiore and Bruce Christiansen: "The 2008 PHS Practice Guidelines on Smoking Cessation: Opportunities and Challenges to Further Progress in Smoking Cessation," invited 90-minute sub-plenary presentation.

* Lezli Redmond, Robert Adsit, Vicki Stauffer, Michael Fiore: "Changing Practice, Changing Systems, Changing Lives: The UW-CTRI Outreach Program," 30-minute presentation.

* Paula Keller, Bruce Christiansen, Jill Lackey, Lezli Redmond, Cheryl McIlquham, Michael Fiore: "Increasing Consumer Demand for Tobacco-Dependence Treatment Among Medicaid Enrollees," 30-minute presentation.

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Neenah legislator Dean Kaufert pushes 'true' statewide smoking ban 

State Rep. Dean Kaufert claims the statewide smoking ban that's going into effect in July 2010 is flawed because it excludes Indian casinos.

"It's a fairness issue," said Kaufert, a Neenah Republican who has been contacted by constituents regarding the reach of the ban. "A statewide ban should truly be a statewide ban. There shouldn't be pockets where people don't have to comply with the state."

Kaufert said he may introduce legislation to include casinos in the ban, which was signed into law in mid-May by Gov. Jim Doyle and goes into effect July 5, 2010.

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BUSALACCHI : Wisconsin is going smoke-free: What’s next?  

Wisconsin is going smoke-free! Eighty-six legislators voted in favor of workers’ health and for safer workplace environments, including restaurants and bars. And that means bartenders, wait staff, musicians and others will experience fewer colds, runny noses, itchy eyes and other signs of respiratory distress, and more importantly, fewer cases of cancer, emphysema, heart attacks and other horrible diseases caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. All are indisputable benefits of smoke-free workplaces.

It’s been a long and important battle for SmokeFree Wisconsin, an organization that has worked with local communities and state leaders to bring smoke-free air to Wisconsin citizens for the past nine years. But now that Wisconsin is the 27th state to pass a smoke-free workplace law, what’s next for SmokeFree Wisconsin? Plenty.

We have and will continue to focus on policies that we know reduce youth tobacco use—such as raising the price of cigarettes and other tobacco products through higher taxes and funding prevention and educational programs. While the tobacco industry continues to target and addict youth by developing and marketing candy-flavored products that hook kids on new types of tobacco products, we must step up efforts to prevent tobacco addiction.

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Indian tribe not entitled to partial refund of state cigarette tax, Wisconsin Supreme Court holds  

Wisconsin Supreme Court held an Indian tribe is not entitled to a partial refund of the state tax on cigarette sales occurring in 2003 and 2004 on its land on the east side of Madison in Dane County.

Under Wis. Stat. Sec. 139.323, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) refunds 70 percent of the state excise tax on cigarettes that an Indian tribe collects for the state on its reservation or trust lands, provided that the land in question "was designated a reservation or trust land on or before Jan. 1, 1983."

In Ho-Chunk Nation v. Wisconsin Department of Revenue, 2009 WI 48, the court agreed with the DOR that the five-acre DeJope trust land was not "designated" until completion of the formal transfer of the land from the tribe to the federal government on Jan. 31, 1983. Writing in dissent, Justice David Prosser said the majority had given a meaning to "designated" that failed to account for the statute's legislative history.

Majority's statutory interpretation

Justice N. Patrick Crooks, writing for the majority, set out a timeline for the DeJope trust land.

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Ho-Chunk Nation v. Wisconsin Department of Revenue  

At issue is whether the land on which the relevant sales took place satisfies that portion of the statute. The land was approved for purchase in August 1982 and formally accepted by the United States government on January 31, 1983. The question on which this case turns is at what point a particular parcel of land "was designated . . . trust land" for purposes of Wis. Stat. § 139.323.

¶2 The court of appeals determined that land cannot be held in trust until formal acceptance occurs and that in order to satisfy the tax refund statute's requirements, land must be held in trust on or before January 1, 1983. Because formal acceptance of the property in question here did not occur until after that date, the court of appeals held that the claim for a refund was properly denied. This was the same result that had been reached by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR), the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission (the Commission), and the circuit court. The Ho-Chunk Nation sought review.

¶3 For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. "[R]eservations or trust lands" are also referred to in the sentence preceding the provision in question; a sensible reading of the statute (Wis. Stat. § 139.323) requires that the two references be read as identifying the same land. The grammatical construction of the sentence itself lends further support to our holding because "was designated" precedes both "a reservation" and "trust land" and means the same thing about each. Given that there is no basis in the federal regulations for recognizing a preliminary, unofficial status for reservations or trust lands, there is likewise no basis for reading this statute as intending to apply to land that has received only preliminary informal approval.

¶4 We therefore hold that in this context the phrase "was designated a reservation or trust land" is necessarily read as referring to the applicable formal process that must occur in order for land to be a reservation or trust land. Because the proper authorities had not completed the necessary steps for the property in question to be designated a reservation or trust land on or before January 1, 1983, and because that is required in order to qualify for the tax refund, the claim was properly denied.

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Court nixes Ho-Chunk's bid for cigarette tax refund 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state does not owe an Indian tribe thousands of dollars in cigarette tax refunds.

The Ho-Chunk Nation was seeking a partial refund on cigarette taxes collected by the state at its Dejope Gaming property in Madison for parts of 2003 and 2004.

The tribe argued it was owed the money under a state law allowing tribes to get refunds on 70 percent of cigarette taxes collected on tribal lands designated before Jan. 1, 1983. The exact amount the tribe was seeking wasn't immediately clear. Had it prevailed, the tribe was expected to seek similar refunds for other years.

The Supreme Court ruled 4-3 Tuesday that the five-acre gaming property was not formally designated as tribal land until Jan. 31, 1983, when the deed was approved.

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Opinions voiced as Shorewood smoking ban looms 

To hear Elias Chedid and Sam Triscari talk about them, smoking bans are about love and war.

Chedid, the non-smoking part-owner of Harry's Bar & Grill, initially opposed a smoking ban in Shorewood when it was proposed several years ago. But as the percentage of smoking customers continued to decline, he enacted a ban of his own at Harry's about a year ago.

The smoking regulars still come "and I've had a lot of hugs and kisses from everybody else," Chedid said.

Some folks at the American Legion, however, are downright combative about bans on an otherwise legal activity.

Triscari, one of the veterans who runs the bar and restaurant at the Shorewood post, says it's fine for business proprietors - but not the government - to prohibit smoking.

"These guys fought for choice and we won the war, and it's not illegal," said Triscari, 79, a Navy veteran and 60-year smoker. "You can't tell us we can't do this."

But that's what governments are doing.

Starting July 1, smoking in Shorewood will be prohibited not only in restaurants, taverns and other buildings open to the public, but also in parks. Bars and restaurants will be able to allow smoking outside their establishments.

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