Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Tobacco Settlement Spending Part Of Tuesday's Ballot

Spending Arkansas' portion of the tobacco settlement will be up to the voters of the state in the Nov. 7, General Election.

However, the public won't get much of a say under proposed initiated act 1, other than it favors the state's plan or doesn't.

According to information from the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Office, the act creates programs addressing tobacco-related health issues.

These programs target tobacco-prevention and cessation, state needs, biosciences institute and Medicaid expansion.

The act also establishes a means for monitoring and evaluating the programs it creates, along with directing funds from the settlement for each program.

Under the prevention and cessation program, the act, if passed, will create community programs aimed at curbing youth smoking.

It also proposes to deliver chronic disease programs, enforce youth tobacco control laws, fund support of local grassroots coalition activities (without naming which coalitions will be involved), provide counter-marketing campaigns against smoking and develop programs to help those who want to quit smoking, while monitoring and evaluating these programs.

Under the "state needs," the act proposes to establish the Arkansas School of Public Health, open an area health education center in Helena to serve Crittenden, Phillips, Lee, St. Francis, Chicot, Monroe and Desha counties, but saying nothing about such centers for the rest of the state.

Other "state needs" under the proposal are education in preventative care, along with early diagnosis and treatment for the elderly through the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging; and funding the Minority Health Care Commission for minority health education, outreach and screening.

Funds from the settlement will be transferred into the tobacco settlement cash holding fund, with the first $100 million received in 2001 to be placed in the Arkansas Health Century Trust Fund, where it will be invested for the future. The State Board of Finance will oversee this fund, with earnings to pay the board's management costs , along with future health-related uses as determined by the Arkansas Legislature.

This fund will get no more than the first $100 million. All other monies will be directed to other programs.

Should the state get more than $100 million in 2001, the other money will be placed in the Tobacco Settlement Program Fund.

In addition, in 2002, the money Arkansas gets from the settlement will be placed into this fund, as will all future monies.

These funds will be used on health-related programs previously listed by the act.

However, the first fund to see a dime will be the Tobacco Settlement Debt Service Fund. It will receive the first $5 million, after the Health Century Trust Fund gets the initial $100 million. It gets $5 million a year to be used to retire revenue bonds issued to finance construction projects to support research and the delivery of health programs.

From then on, under the act, the settlement program fund gets the rest allegedly to be used on health-related programs.

Once the bonds have been paid off, what had been spent on them will be diverted to health programs, with the amount spent on each program to be a percentage of the total balance in the settlement program fund.

According to the Extension Service information, a new commission will be created to oversee the use of the money coming in from the settlement.

The Tobacco Settlement Commission will have five members who will be the directors or designees from the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority; the Department of Education; the Department of Higher Education; the Department of Human Services; and the Arkansas Department of Health.

Along with these five, four members will be appointed. Two will be from the health-care profession, with one selected by Senate President Pro-Tempore and the other picked by the Speaker of the House. Two citizens will be on the panel as well, with one being named by the governor and the other by the Attorney General.

This commission will monitor and evaluate programs paid for with the settlement money, and see the money from the settlement is used to fund health-related programs.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and the leaders of the states Democratic and Republican parties agreed the money should be used for healthcare.