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Senate reopens tobacco settlement fund to add cessation money and one‑time museum grants after floor amendment
Summary
On March 11, 2009 the Senate amended and passed a substitute to House Bill 4 44 to restore tobacco‑settlement cessation funding and adopt a floor amendment adding one‑time grants for two science museums and arts programming; the move split senators on statutory intent for tobacco funds.
Senator Hilliard presented a substituted House Bill 4 44 to reallocate certain tobacco settlement monies. The substitute restored $1.5 million to tobacco cessation public‑education programs that the committee had earlier reduced.
During floor consideration Senator Valentine moved a floor amendment (Amendment No. 1) that increased cessation funding by $500,000 (bringing total cessation funding to $2 million) and directed onetime appropriations of $800,000 each to the Leonardo Children's Museum and the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point, plus $400,000 to community assistance for the Shakespearean Festival. Valentine said the projects would promote education and outreach to children and could reinforce cessation goals through science and health education programming.
Senator Hilliard and other appropriators cautioned against using tobacco settlement monies beyond the program’s constitutional and programmatic intent, noting that the settlement account historically funded cessation, cancer treatment and other health programs and that the funds are limited. "If you're going to take money and spend on these projects, for heaven's sakes, don't take it out of the tobacco cessation program," Hilliard said during debate; he said the committee prioritized programmatic needs in a tight fiscal year.
Backers including Senators Morgan, Okerlund and Bramble argued the two museum projects and other cultural investments expand education and reach children—objectives consonant with cessation goals. Senator Valentine’s amendment passed on the floor (14–12), and the substitute bill as amended passed the Senate under suspension of the rules (25 yea, 4 nay, 0 absent).
The bill with the adopted floor amendment will be returned to the House for its further action. Sponsors warned that House concurrence was uncertain and that the move to allocate settlement funds this way could complicate conference negotiations.
The action demonstrates the competing priorities in a constrained budget: directing onetime, non‑recurring settlement receipts toward visibility projects versus preserving those funds for statutorily preferred health programs.
