Tobacco Tax Improperly Used to Balance Budget, Judge Rules
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SACRAMENTO — A Superior Court judge has ruled that Gov. Pete Wilson and legislators improperly tapped voter-approved tobacco taxes to help balance the state’s budget.
Judge Roger Warren said the diversion of funds, about $160 million over two years, violated the provisions of Proposition 99, the 1988 ballot initiative that sharply boosted taxes on tobacco products, including a 25-cents-per-pack increase on cigarettes.
Under the terms of the initiative, 5% of the tax money was to go to smoking-related research, 20% to anti-smoking health education programs and the remainder to a variety of health programs.
A lawsuit filed jointly by the American Lung Assn. and the American Cancer Society contended that the state improperly used the funds for other purposes.
In one case, the state took $35 million from the health education account and diverted it to a children’s health disability program, the suit noted.
Warren scheduled a Jan. 19 hearing to determine how the diversion of funds should be corrected.
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