http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/category/settlements.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20090630/NEWS01/90630004 http://tobacco.org/news/286513.html Mississippi lawmakers late Monday approved the state's second cigarette excise tax increase of the year, and Gov. Haley Barbour said he will sign it into law.????The plan adds 25 cents a pack on cheaper cigarettes made by companies that did not participate in the state's 1997 settlement of a massive lawsuit against big tobacco firms. Barbour had asked legislators to approve the tax, which is set to take effect Wednesday.????The large companies have lobbied for the new fee on their competitors, saying the makers of cheap cigarettes have a financial advantage by not paying millions of dollars a year for the settlement.?? AP Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2009/06/28/opinion/doc4a45917e4eb31447280148.txt http://tobacco.org/news/286463.html If not immediately, then sometime soon Mississippi legislators need to plug a hole that gives plug tobacco, other forms of tobacco and off-brand cigarettes an unfair pricing advantage.????Gov. Haley Barbour has said he might include supplemental tobacco fees in a special session call, perhaps this week. We won't know until the governor -- who has the power to control topics when lawmakers meet outside their regular dates -- prepares his letter setting the agenda. . . .??????Altria, of course, wants the levies leveled in the name of price competitiveness. But lawmakers should add a fee to makers of nonsettling brands because it doesn't make sense to, in effect, subsidize cigarette companies inflicting the same amount of harm on the state's people but not paying a penny in damages.????As for tobacco in other forms -- snuff, dip, chewing and etc. -- Barbour wants to do what the federal government and several states have done -- shift to a weight-based tax method that more closely equates the tax on smokeless tobacco with smoking tobacco.????The overall revenue difference to the state would not be great. It's just a matter of equalization. And it should be done.???? Vicksburg Post Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/jun/28/smokers-may-soon-pay-more-cheaper-brand-cigarettes/ http://tobacco.org/news/286427.html Smokers who buy non-premium brand cigarettes would start paying an extra 43 cents a pack starting Wednesday in Mississippi under legislation approved in the opening hours today of a special session called to adopt a $6.01 billion state budget.????The state faces a shutdown of all but essential and constitutionally mandated services at midnight Wednesday unless legislators adopt a budget and it is signed by Gov. Haley Barbour.????The legislature adjourned June 3 without reaching agreement on a 2010 budget. That meant they could reconvene only at Barbour's call and on his terms. . . .??????Mississippi received more than $1 billion in the 1990s and is due to get $100 million a year in perpetuity from big tobacco in settlement of a lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general.????Barbour has said that gives the smaller cigarette companies, who did not participate in the lawsuit, an unfair advantage, and they should have to pay a higher tax.????House members raised the 25-cent a pack tax proposal to 43 cents a pack and sent the measure to the Senate, where some members argued big tobacco was behind the proposed tax increase because it was losing market share to the smaller, cheaper tobacco companies.????"Don't you think that just kids are buying these cheap cigarettes," said Sen. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez.????"And don't you think kids aren't buying these expensive cigarettes."???? Memphis Commercial Appeal Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090625005890&newsLang=en http://tobacco.org/news/286355.html Fitch Ratings affirms four and downgrades one class of tobacco settlement asset-backed bonds from California County Tobacco Securitization Agency (Stanislaus County Tobacco Asset Securitization Authority) series 2002 and 2006, as follows:?? . . .??????The various actions are based on the level of stress each class is able to withstand as indicated by Fitch's new breakeven cash flow model. The model indicates, for each class of bonds, the level of the annual Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) payment percent change the trust would be able to sustain and still pay the bond in full by the legal final date. The base case 'B' corresponds to a 1% increase in the MSA payment received by the trust every year. The 'BBB' category corresponds to an annual MSA payment decline of 1.25%. The cash flow model accounts for the amount of the latest reported MSA payment that the transaction has received, the capital structure, the reserve account, and the bonds' legal final dates.????The bond payments are also tied to the tobacco companies making MSA payments. Business Wire brian.bertsch@fitchratings.com Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090625006064&newsLang=en http://tobacco.org/news/286349.html Fitch Ratings affirms 11 and downgrades two classes from Children's Trust Fund Tobacco Settlement (Puerto Rico) asset-backed bonds series 2002, 2005 and 2008, as follows:????Tobacco Settlement asset-backed bonds current interest serial bonds????--$11,315,000 due May 15, 2010 affirmed at 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable;?? Business Wire brian.bertsch@fitchratings.com Puerto Rico Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090625006081&newsLang=en http://tobacco.org/news/286348.html Fitch Ratings affirms two and downgrades one class from Michigan Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority, tobacco settlement asset-backed bonds, series 2008, as follows:????--$114,860,000 series 2008A turbo current interest bonds due June 1, 2042 affirmed at 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable;????--$29,874,650 series 2008B taxable capital appreciation turbo term bonds due June 1, 2046 affirmed at 'BBB'; Outlook Negative;????--$57,673,814 series 2008C capital appreciation turbo term bonds due June 1, 2058 downgraded to 'BB' from 'BBB-'; Outlook Negative. Business Wire brian.bertsch@fitchratings.com Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/hartford_cty/news_wtnh_hartford_smoking_help_limited_200906241745_rev1 http://tobacco.org/news/286250.html Connecticut is ranked dead last in a program to stop smoking, spending less than two-percent of our tobacco revenue on smoking programs. Medicaid does not cover any programs to help stop smoking and the state's quit line was shut down.????Grace Bechard, of Waterbury, smoked at least a pack a day for over 50-years and started pretty early on.?? . . .??????But never, not once, did she get help from the state. In fact, she didn't know that was even a possibility. It was something the Attorney General said we should be ashamed of.????"We have missed a historic opportunity to save lives and save dollars," said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.????Connecticut was one of the first states to go after big tobacco companies. Attorney General Blumenthal was among the Attorney Generals . . .??????"It was not a requirement of the settlement or of the lawsuit that any of the money be spent on specific smoking prevention or cessation programs," said Jeffrey Beckham.????Beckham is the undersecretary of the State's Office of Policy & Management. And he's right; we're not required to spend any of that money on programs to stop smoking. . . .??????One of the major tobacco companies has been lobbying hard in-state, calling legislators and trying to get them to pull all the money from the stop smoking programs this year.????It is unclear what will be included in this year's final budget.???????? WTNH-DT Channel 8 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bradenton.com/opinion/story/1530130.html http://tobacco.org/news/286244.html ??One of the great failings of this year's legislative session came home to roost last week -- well deserving of a Chiles family condemnation. And ours.????Gov. Charlie Crist and the state Legislature pulled $700 million out of the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, a trust enshrined in state law as a "perpetual source" of funding in support of health and education programs for poor children and senior citizens.?? . . .??????There's little doubt that this new raid will only add to the cynicism among voters over politicians. The Lawton Chiles Endowment withdrawal is only a one-year answer to a continuing budget problem. Instead of legislators who follow the path of least resistance, Florida needs visionary leadership working toward long-term solutions.????Legislators also have a duty to rebuild the endowment, though because of term limits that responsibility will likely fall on the next band of politicians. We expect -- and encourage -- the Chiles family to keep reminding them. We'll lend our voice to that, too.?? Bradenton Herald /personas?plckUserId=@Nyx.Key Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/221638-tobacco-bill-thrills-blumenthal http://tobacco.org/news/286187.html One state attorney general is hailing President Obama's recent signing of a tobacco bill as a victory for he and his colleagues.????The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed Monday by Obama, gives the Food and Drug Administration more power in regulating the sale, advertising and content of cigarettes, which is just fine with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.????Blumenthal is one of a few attorneys general left who were also in office when the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was signed in 1998.????"This law is a singular, historic triumph for attorneys general who battled Big Tobacco to a settlement that would have established FDA regulatory authority, never approved by Congress, in the 1990s," Blumenthal said. . . .????????"The federal government -- once a tobacco enabler -- will now be a fierce enforcement partner," Blumenthal said.?? Legal NewsLine john@legalnewsline.com (JOHN O'BRIEN) Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/central/story/Former-Arizona-official-to-attend-tobacco-bill/1oDj-nsRRUSxGTciZ5x6Iw.cspx http://tobacco.org/news/286105.html After receiving an invitation from the White House, former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods will attend a Rose Garden signing ceremony on Monday.????President Barack Obama is set to sign into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Approved by Congress earlier this month, it increases federal regulation of tobacco products and imposes new restrictions on tobacco advertising.????"I'm honored President Obama offered me a chance to attend this important bill signing ceremony," Woods said. "For too long tobacco companies have used deceptive practices in producing and marketing cigarettes. It was a long, hard battle against Big Tobacco, but I think this is the final victory. This bill finally enacts the reforms we negotiated in 1996 and will be an important tool in the fight to regulate tobacco products and advertising." . . .????Woods plans to twitter during his visit at http://twitter.com/GrantWoods.???? KNXV-TV ABC 15 /mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=22461@knxv.dayport.com Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090621/COL0412/906210309/1171/OPINION/NPM tax is a sop to Altria Big Tobacco http://tobacco.org/news/286020.html discussions of another cigarette tax hike this year - this time just on the tobacco manufacturing companies or "non-participating manufacturers," or NPMs, that weren't a party to the state's tobacco settlement - should come with a giant asterisk.????No one can explain that fact better than Brian Perry of Capstone Public Affairs, which represents Altria but does not lobby for it. Perry wrote in a recent blog entry the truth about this new tax on the NPMs. What's the truth? The truth is that this tax on the NPMs isn't about solving the state's revenue problems and it's not particularly about forcing cigarette makers to bear a portion of the state's public health care burden, either.????It's about market share. It's about making it more expensive for "cheap" cigarette companies (Little Tobacco) to compete with Altria and the other "Big Tobacco" companies who settled Mississippi's tobacco lawsuit in the 1990s. . . .????????But if the state taxes NPMs for a portion of the state's public health care burden for paying to treat smoking-related illnesses for the poor - and it should levy that tax - lawmakers and Gov. Haley Barbour, who once represented the company that eventually became Altria (Philip Morris), should at least call that new NPM tax what it is - a political sop to Big Tobacco.????Altria didn't pay to advertise on behalf of taxing the NPMs because its executives are, well, altruistic. ?? Jackson Clarion-Ledger ssalter@clarionledger.com ( Sid Salter ) Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.idahostatesman.com/LOCALNEWS/story/809449.html http://tobacco.org/news/286019.html ??That's what Nancy Caspersen set out to correct when she founded Quit and Live Inc., a company that helps smokers finally kick the butts. But, a cut in state funding means her smoking-cessation classes in Boise will end.????"I had 85 people on the waiting list for the Boise class," Caspersen said. "How am I going to reach those 85 people?"????She's been running the classes with money from the Idaho Millennium Fund. The Legislature created the fund with money Idaho received after tobacco companies settled a lawsuit alleging they targeted minors with their ads.????The fund was meant to provide money for programs that promoted not smoking or that helped people quit. It has since expanded to include other drugs.????"The funding was cut nearly in half this year, which means less money for contractors like me to runour classes," said Caspersen, a registered nurse and tobacco cessation specialist. The Idaho Statesman /personas?plckUserId=@Nyx.Key (NATE KNIFE) Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090619/NEWS01/90619030/1002/sports/County-dipping-into-jail-funding--but-officials-say-it-won-t-delay-Whitewater- http://tobacco.org/news/285985.html llion set aside for the proposed Whitewater jail to keep other capital projects going, but a county supervisor and the chief finance officer say it won't delay the detention center.????The county is opting to use $126 million to buy an office building in Riverside for the district attorney and other departments.????The money was set aside in 2007, the county's part of a multi-state tobacco lawsuit settlement. It has been touted as the funding source for the first phase of the 7,200-bed jail proposed for land along Interstate 10.????County executives say it was more prudent to use an account that is collecting little interest than to borrow the funding and pay it back at a high cost to taxpayers. Palm Springs Desert Sun Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009906200309 http://tobacco.org/news/285984.html ??Riverside County is dipping into the $300 million set aside for the proposed Whitewater jail, a move that county officials say won't delay the project, despite the district attorney's recent assertion.????The county is opting to use a portion of the money to purchase a $126 million, 10-story building in Riverside, which it will use for the district attorney and other department offices.????The money was set aside in 2007, the county's part of a multi-state tobacco lawsuit settlement. It was touted as the funding for the first phase of the 7,200-bed jail proposed for land along Interstate 10.????The tough economy has limited the money communities get from the state and other sources, forcing many government leaders to find new ways of financing capital projects.?? Palm Springs Desert Sun Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edped-smoking-tobacco-062009062009jun20,0,439079.story http://tobacco.org/news/285980.html It's been decades since America discovered Big Tobacco's dirty little secret: Smokers couldn't get enough of their products because of the highly addictive, and deadly, nicotine packed inside. And those ads, many aimed at hooking new generations of young smokers early, didn't hurt their efforts, either.????Now, decidedly hip to tobacco's insidious and devastating effects, federal and state governments have enacted sweeping measures . . .????The tax has proved a deterrent to many would-be smokers in the many states that have hiked it. Yet it took the tax's promise of raising almost a billion dollars to help close the state's $6 billion deficit to get Florida's lawmakers to boost it -- for the first time in two decades. . . .???? We'd rather a heightened tax and other measures that could help wipe out smoking had been motivated by the benefits they'd have on the public's health. That would be impossible, however. This year, the Legislature also raided a state savings account of $700 million that's supposed to fund children's health programs.?? . . .??????But the irony, and symbolism, that the legislation will be signed into law by a president who freely acknowledges he is still struggling with his own efforts to kick the habit demonstrate how stubborn nicotine addiction can be and how critical its eradication is. . . .????Sure, Big Tobacco will make do by steering more of its business to still-avid smokers overseas. But this legislation, once passed, will put far fewer Americans in its clutches.????And for residents of states like Florida, whose lawmakers haven't done their share to snuff out smoking, it'll benefit them all the more.????It'll be banner day, for all Americans, when Mr. Obama signs it.?? Orlando Sentinel Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT