Court upholds tobacco SAN FRANCISCO >> A federal appeals court struck down a challenge to how Hawaii is spending the $1.38 billion in tobacco settlement funds it is receiving over 25 years.
fund expenditures
Associated Press
Yesterday's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the rights of states to spend the settlement funds at their discretion.
The court sided with a host of other federal appeals courts that have addressed the topic. The San Francisco-based court, ruling 3-0, said federal legislation allows the states to spend funds obtained from the historic 1998 accord with the tobacco industry in any way they want.
Hawaii residents federally insured by the Medicaid health plan sued to get a piece of the pie. But the appeals court said tobacco settlement funds may be used "for any expenditures deemed appropriate by the state."
Under Hawaii legislation effective July 1, Hawaii is allocating 24.5 percent to a budget reserve fund, 35 percent for a children's health insurance program, 12.5 percent to the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund and 28 percent to pay bonds for a new medical school facility at the University of Hawaii, according to the court.
Forty-six states, including Hawaii, settled a lawsuit with the tobacco industry, which agreed to pay them billions.
Hawaii is one of the worst states in the country for use of the tobacco settlement funds for smoking prevention, according to a national group.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has listed the state among the "most disappointing" for meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for spending tobacco settlement funds.
Others that made the list were Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
However, Gov. Ben Cayetano recently cited a study that found Hawaii was among the top four states for the amount of tobacco settlement money spent per capita on tobacco-control programs.
The finding was contained in a Yale School of Medicine study published in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"Even amidst fiscal difficulties, Hawaii has been a leader in using money we received from the tobacco settlement to reduce smoking and improve health," Cayetano said. "We spend three times more per capita than the average state to curb tobacco use."
