Missouri received an additional $156 million from its share of the 1998 tobacco settlement, but some question how the Show-Me State is spending those funds.
A two-year old lawsuit is pending in the state Appeals Court to force Missouri lawmakers to use settlement funds for cessation and prevention, instead of plugging it wherever they want to in the budget.
There are other legal concerns about the way Missouri is handling the funds. According to The Associated Press:
States that accepted the tobacco settlement also approved new laws to implement the agreement. One of those provisions set up an escrow fund and required tobacco companies that didn't join the settlement to pay into it to cover any future lawsuit judgments. The money from the escrow accounts would be returned after 25 years.
Besides covering the damages from potential lawsuits, the escrow is designed to prevent smaller tobacco companies that didn't participate in the agreement from dropping prices to undercut those that did.
Missouri is facing national arbitration over whether it has diligently enforced its laws, and the attorney general's office anticipates similar challenges annually. Attorney General Chris Koster said that unlike every other state, Missouri has not passed additional laws to help enforce the escrow.
Read The Associated Press story, "Mo. receives $156M payment from tobacco settlement"
Program manager Angela Wilson wants to hear your success stories in tobacco control. 


