American Lung Association of California • American Heart Association, Western States Affiliate • American Cancer Society, California Division • Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights • Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids • Next Generation California Tobacco Control Alliance

Health and anti-tobacco groups launch ad campaign to press Gov. Davis and Legislature to restore state’s tobacco control program and stop pro-tobacco budget companion bill

July 8, 2002

Contacts:
ALA: Paul Knepprath, 916-505-3099
            Andy Weisser, 818-703-6444
ACS: Theresa Renken, 916-448-0500
AHA: Lisa Rea, 916-716-7516
ANR: Cynthia Hallet, 510-841-3032
NGA: Traci Verardo, 916-554-0390

Sacramento, Ca -- Health and anti-tobacco groups stepped up their campaign to restore the state’s landmark tobacco control program by launching radio ads that urge Governor Davis and the Legislature to dedicate 15 cents of the new tobacco tax for tobacco prevention and cessation, and defeat a pro-tobacco budget companion bill that would rob tobacco tax funds to subsidize tobacco wholesalers and distributors.
(LISTEN to the "Just 15 Cents..." radio ad!)

The proposed state budget passed by the State Senate on June 29 would severely cripple California’s progress to reduce tobacco consumption, and the corresponding reductions in tobacco-related illnesses and premature death. The budget would cut the state's tobacco control program in half by eliminating the "Youth Anti-tobacco Program" and slashing the media campaign to correct "an accounting error." It would also nearly bankrupt the state’s tobacco settlement fund by selling off future tobacco industry payments in order to gain $4.5 billion for the 2002-03 state-spending plan.

Not one cent of the new 63-cent tobacco tax has been earmarked for tobacco prevention programs or to provide cessation services to smokers who want to quit. By allocating just 15 cents of the new tax, California could see its adult smoking rates drop considerably. The state’s adult smoking rate has remained stagnant at about 18 percent for the past several years, due to declining tobacco tax revenues and increasing tobacco industry marketing. Young adults, 18 to 24 years, have the highest rate of smoking among all adult groups, the result of strategic target marketing by the tobacco industry.

The 60-second radio spots remind the public that tobacco still kills more than 40,000 Californians every year and explain that Californians have a choice: we can continue to lead the nation in saving lives from tobacco, or we can fall behind… and let our children pay the ultimate price. The ads urge the public to call Governor Davis and tell him to spend cigarette tax money on tobacco prevention. The public can also visit a special campaign website at www.just15cents.com to send a free fax to Governor Davis.

The pro-tobacco Assembly Bill 1666 (Horton), a so-called budget trailer bill, has drawn the ire of the state’s leading tobacco control organizations. AB 1666 would rob Proposition 99 and Proposition 10 tobacco tax revenues to subsidize tobacco wholesalers and distributors and preempt local communities from passing tobacco retail licensing laws to reduce illegal sales of tobacco to children.

AB 1666 is a 28-page bill that establishes a new, complex scheme for licensing retailers who sell tobacco in order to combat tobacco tax evasion and tobacco smuggling. The bill earned a one-page staff analysis before being adopted by the State Senate on June 29 as part of the budget package. As such, AB 1666 has bypassed both policy and fiscal committee scrutiny in the Assembly, and is now before the full Assembly as part of the budget package.

With this budget and bad tobacco policy bill, California will lose ground to Big Tobacco. Recent figures show that the tobacco industry is spending nearly $1 billion annually in the California to market, advertise and promote their products. Cutting the state’s anti-tobacco campaign will mean needless disease and death, and a crop of newly addicted children and young adults.

The California Tobacco Control Program has effectively reduced cigarette consumption and smoking-attributable mortality caused by heart disease compared to the entire nation (New England Journal of Medicine, Dec. 14, 2000 and June 7, 2001). In the first 7 years of the program, there were 58,900 fewer heart attack deaths in California than in previous years. Budget cuts during the previous administration have proven to be deleterious to the health of California! When moneys from the program budget were diverted in the mid-1990's, the result was an estimated increase in 15,000 premature deaths.

Just 15 cents will finance, for the first time, state-of-the-art assistance in quitting tobacco for anyone in this state who seeks help to end their tobacco addiction. In other states, comprehensive cessation services, in conjunction with tobacco policy and prevention efforts, have been demonstrated to triple the successful quit rate for smokers.

(LISTEN to the "Just 15 Cents..." radio ad!)

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