Nurseweek/Healthweek|Officials undecided on how to spend California's tobacco 'money'

Officials undecided on how to spend California's tobacco 'money'

Posted 11-30-98

State, county, and city officials won’t have an easy job deciding how to spend California’s $24 billion share of the landmark tobacco settlement reached earlier this month.

In announcing the deal, state Attorney General Dan Lungren said he hoped the money would be spent on health programs to benefit the young. The settlement will be disbursed over the next 25 years, but it is not yet earmarked for any particular cause. "Each administration will have to decide the most appropriate way to spend the money," said Bill Maile, a spokesperson for the attorney general.

Some guidelines for the disbursement of the money have been decided, however. Fifty percent is slated for the state’s general fund. Forty-five percent will go directly to California’s 58 counties, and the remaining 5 percent will be divided among the state’s four largest cities—Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco, state officials said.

City and county officials have suggested using the money to pay for teen anti-smoking programs and advertising, to expand children’s health insurance, and to enforce the state ban on smoking in bars, restaurants, and other workplaces. Officials are also recommending using a big segment of the settlement to fund public clinics and hospitals that treat sick smokers.

Some public health advocates maintain that every cent should go to treatment and prevention. "States should not look at this as a windfall, but as a down-payment toward reversing years of sickness and disease caused by tobacco and averting even higher health costs down the road," said Bill Novelli, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Some state officials and public health representatives have criticized the settlement, claiming California should receive a bigger sum based on its population. Multibillion dollar tobacco settlements in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, and Mississippi have yielded payments twice as high per capita, critics say.

San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne, the first local official in the country to sue the tobacco industry, says the deal isn’t perfect, but it’s a good step in improving public health. "I am confident we have gained more ground against the industry in the settlement than we would have achieved in court," Renne said.

The deal alone isn’t enough, she added. "There is no question that the agreement is not the final word on tobacco reform. It is going to be up to Congress to show the kind of leadership that public health requires to fully implement tobacco reform."