Study: Nationwide, 5 percent of tobacco settlement money used to prevent smoking

(Published Monday, August 13, 2001 7:55:11 AM CDT)

By Sarah Wyatt/Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. -- When the state attorneys general settled their lawsuits with the tobacco industry for the health costs of smoking, most anti-tobacco advocates hailed the opportunity for a major campaign against smoking.

In reality, only 8 percent of that money has been used to discourage smoking in Wisconsin, and the national average was even lower, at 5 percent, according to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that states spend at least 20 percent of their payments on smoking prevention to effectively cut future tobacco-related health expenses.

Since 1998, Wisconsin has received $290 million from the nation's landmark tobacco settlement. In the last budget, $23.5 million of that was allocated between 1999 and 2001 to the state's Tobacco Control Board for tobacco prevention.

More recently, the state Legislature approved spending $15.3 million for tobacco prevention in 2002-03 and $25 million a year after that, although the plan still needs the approval of Gov. Scott McCallum.

Carrie Sullivan, executive director of the SmokeFree Wisconsin coalition of health care groups, said Wisconsin has not lived up to the public's expectation that at least a quarter of the settlement money be used to fight tobacco use.

"What's happening in Wisconsin is a perfect example of what's happening in the rest of the country," she said. "It's been surprisingly easy for lawmakers to distance themselves from the reason that the payments are coming to the state, and the reason is because smokers were sick and dying."

The group is encouraged by the promise to spend $25 million each year for tobacco prevention in the next state budget, but lawmakers must be committed to keeping that promise, Sullivan said.

Anti-tobacco groups had hoped for at least $31 million per year in the budget, which was the minimum amount recommended by the Centers for Disease Control based on the state's share of the tobacco settlement.

But McCallum spokeswoman Debbie Monterrey-Millett said the budget makes a responsible commitment to reduce tobacco use.

"Sure, we'd always like to put more money into tobacco prevention, but this is what we can afford to do right now and maintain a balanced budget," she said.

As its share of the legal settlement with the tobacco industry, Wisconsin was scheduled to get $5.57 billion in payments through 2032.

However, the budget bill includes a provision to sell the state's 25-year tobacco settlement payments to investors for a one-time lump sum of about $1.3 billion. Most of the money would be invested, but legislators agreed to use $450 million from the sale to help balance the budget, which had a $761 million shortfall.

Critics questioned the legality of the plan and said the state would be shortchanging itself by selling off the payments.

Wisconsin is one of 17 states where lawmakers have considered selling their tobacco payments, according to the report.

Of the $21 billion doled out to the states between 1998 and 2001, the report found:

--36.1 percent was set aside for health care.

--26.0 percent went to bolster endowments or state budget reserves.

--9.5 percent was to be spent on schools or youth programs.

--5.0 percent was to go into tobacco prevention.

--4.5 percent was to be put into research.

--3.2 percent was to be used to assist tobacco growers and communities affected by the settlement.

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2001