Ballot Measure Would Devote Tobacco Suit Funds to Health

A well-financed statewide coalition is writing an initiative that would force state and local governments to spend all of the $25 billion in tobacco lawsuit settlement money on health care.

The group--which includes major doctor, hospital, nurse and consumer representatives--has met several times in the past month to discuss drafts of the initiative. The effort began within weeks of Gov. Gray Davis’ veto in late September of an Assembly bill (AB 100) that would have required the state to spend all of its $12.5-billion share of the tobacco settlement on expansion of health and health care services.

The initiative drive is also being fueled by decisions in several counties to siphon at least some of the settlement cash for causes unrelated to health care. The most egregious of those, according to coalition members, is a plan in Orange County to spend about 80% of the windfall on jail construction and debt retirement.

“I know of nowhere where the debate has assumed that level of arrogance,” said Steven Thompson, vice president of the California Medical Assn.

Organizers expect to finalize a draft and present it to the attorney general’s office by Friday to begin the approval process, which can take up to 60 days and must be completed before signature-gathering can begin. The group wants to have the initiative on the November 2000 ballot.

The tobacco settlement money will total $25 billion to the state and municipalities through 2025, with additional money after that based on tobacco sales and profits. The first installments should start arriving next summer as part of last year’s settlement of lawsuits filed by states, counties, cities, physician associations and others to recover money spent on smoking-related diseases and injuries.

Although the group’s members have agreed that 100% of the state’s portion of the settlement should be spent to expand health services, still at issue among members is how severely to limit the way California counties may spend their share.

Some advocates favor leaving no wiggle room for counties, while others think the initiative would be more politically salable if a super-majority on a board of supervisors had the flexibility to spend tobacco funds on other than health-related items.

“We have started to consider certain language and would like to finalize relatively soon,” said state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana), a key proponent of AB 100 who hosted a meeting at the Capitol last Monday to discuss a draft of the proposal.

A total of 419,261 valid signatures would need to be collected by April 21 to get the initiative on the ballot.

Both the California Medical Assn. and the state chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians have committed to raising $600,000 to fund the signature process, said Jim Randlett, a lobbyist for the emergency room doctors.

Participants in the discussions are the same groups that backed AB 100, said Dunn and Thompson. They include the California Medical Assn.; California Nurses Assn.; California Healthcare Assn.; California Teachers Assn.; the California chapters of the heart, lung and cancer associations; the American Assn. of Retired Persons, and the California Council of Churches.

Political observers said an initiative with that type of backing and that kind of money for gathering signatures must be taken seriously.

In his veto message, Davis called the bill “well-intentioned, but flawed” and insisted that the state government’s share--more than $500 million annually--go into the $63-billion general fund so the administration can have maximum fiscal flexibility.

Davis spokesman Michael Bustamante declined to take a position on the coalition’s effort, but said the governor “was pretty clear on his desire for maximum flexibility on those funds.”

Health care advocates, however, continue to maintain that the settlement money, which is supposed to compensate state and local governments for the costs of paying for tobacco-related diseases and medical care, should only be spent on health care and anti-smoking campaigns.