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Subcommittee weighs cut to tobacco cessation funding as Maryland health officials urge retention
Summary
DLS recommended reducing the fiscal 2026 Prevention and Health Promotion Administration tobacco cessation allowance by $5.7 million to meet a statutory minimum; Maryland Department of Health officials and public-health advocates argued the cut would undercut local cessation and youth-prevention work and urged keeping or restoring funding.
The Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Social Services on Feb. 5 heard competing recommendations over tobacco-cessation funding in the Maryland Department of Health's Prevention and Health Promotion Administration (FIPA). Naomi Camaro of the Department of Legislative Services said DLS recommends trimming the fiscal 2026 allowance by $5,700,000 in general funds to meet the statutory baseline for mandated tobacco-cessation funding.
Camaro told the subcommittee the governor's fiscal 2026 allowance includes $24,000,000 for tobacco-cessation programs but noted a budget provision requires the governor to include at least $18,250,000 annually. "The governor must include at least $18,250,000 annually in the budget," she said, and DLS recommended reducing the fiscal 26 allowance to that mandated level.
Maryland…
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