Jump to full article: Grand Forks (ND) Herald, 2009-04-30
Author: Janell Cole, State Capitol Bureau
Intro: 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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