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Illinois Issues
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Up in Smoke? Small percentage of Illinois’ tobacco settlement money goes to anti-smoking initiative

Chicago’s public school kids should begin feeling better about themselves soon — if all goes according to plan. Thanks to a $2.2 million grant from this state’s tobacco settlement fund, Chicago plans by next spring to expand an existing holistic health program into all 491 of its public elementary schools.

The kids will learn how to resolve conflicts and stay fit. And, of course, they’ll learn about the dangers of smoking in the context of mental and physical health, says Sue Gamm, the school system’s chief officer of specialized services. “I think just to spend all of our efforts on ‘don’t smoke’ without really addressing how to keep yourself healthy is not effective,” she says. “Not smoking is part of healthy living.”

Chicago’s program is just one of many funded by Illinois’ share of the $205 billion national tobacco settlement. But it’s one of the few geared toward combating smoking. Still, legislators aimed more money this fiscal year than last fiscal year at anti-tobacco efforts and other health-related programs. And officials in Gov. George Ryan’s administration hope to see that trend continue.

Over 25 years, this state is expected to get about $9 billion as part of the 1998 deal between 46 states and the major tobacco companies. The states’ attorneys general sued the industry to recoup what the states spent to cover the health care costs of smoking. The settlement was perceived as a major victory for anti-smoking crusaders and state agencies that had been footing the bill. 

But three years into the payout schedule, Illinois and other states have devoted only a small portion of the money to anti-smoking initiatives. 

Of the $1.06 billion in tobacco settlement funds this state allocated during the current and past fiscal years, only $80.8 million, or 7.6 percent, was designated for anti-smoking initiatives, according to the state Bureau of the Budget. That includes $26.9 million for local health departments, $10 million for school-based clinics and $16 million for efforts to prevent teen smoking. Much of the rest was left for items popular with voters, such as pharmaceutical assistance for seniors and tax breaks.

“The tobacco settlement is turning into a supplemental piggy bank,” says state Rep. John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat and co-chair of the House Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Distribution Committee.

But 7.6 percent is still higher than the national average. The National Conference of State Legislatures in August reported that states have allocated an average of 4.9 percent of tobacco settlement funds to anti-tobacco efforts in fiscal year 2002, which began July 1. And the General Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative arm, concluded in June that states allocated an average of 6.8 percent of settlement funds to tobacco control in fiscal years 2000 and 2001.

And while more than 90 percent of the funds in this state are not being used specifically to combat smoking, some officials contend that the bulk of the money nonetheless is being used for “health-related” purposes. Deputy Budget Director Mike Colsch notes that $39.2 million of Illinois’ settlement funds was slated for medical research, including AIDS outreach, hepatitis C awareness and awards for “academic excellence.” Another $187.7 million was designated for Venture Tech, the state’s program for investing in health sciences, biotechnology and information technology programs. Those funds include $75 million for the University of Illinois’ post-genomics institute and $20 million for Northwestern University’s biomedical research facility. “If you’re defining ‘health-related’ as narrowly as only tobacco-use prevention, I suppose that the majority of the funds aren’t tobacco-use prevention,” Colsch says. “But the vast majority of the funds in fiscal year ’02, anyway you look at it, are health-related.”

Venture Tech, medical research, programs for the elderly and tobacco prevention projects together are slated to get $452.2 million, or 43 percent, of total allocations from settlement funds for the 2002 and 2001 fiscal years. Colsch estimates that about two-thirds of the money allocated for Venture Tech will not be spent until future fiscal years, as the projects are ongoing.

That 43 percent is also above the national average. States slated an average of 29.6 percent of their settlement funds for health services, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ report. And the General Accounting Office put that figure at 41.3 percent. That office says major areas of funding included education and social services, infrastructure and general purposes, including budget reserves.

 

Still, state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, another Chicago Democrat and co-chair of the House committee, says that while she’s happy to see funds dedicated to heath care generally, she wants more money aimed at grass-roots anti-smoking campaigns. “The real issue here is where this money should be reaching,” she says. “How does all this money actually trickle down to the most affected populations who have been disproportionately afflicted by tobacco — African-American men and women, and people living in poverty?”

The House committee was created in 1999 to study ways to spend this state’s tobacco settlement funds. In spring 2000, the committee proposed putting half the state’s settlement in the bank and allocating half for an array of health and social service objectives. 

The proposal passed the House, but the Senate failed to act on it. Last spring, lawmakers modified the proposal, but those changes were not fully incorpor-ated into the fiscal year 2002 budget.

 

Still, the Ryan Administration stresses that programs designed to combat smoking and items such as medical research, Venture Tech and programs for the elderly got more funding this fiscal year than last fiscal year.

Budget bureau spokeswoman Julie Dutton calls the $280 million for property tax relief and $225 million for the so-called rainy day fund, allocated in fiscal year 2001, “anomalies.” 

Further, she says $35 million for earned income tax credits, provided in both the current and last fiscal years, is scheduled to conclude in the next fiscal year.

“There were some circumstances that emerged early on in this funding pot that caused some skewing of the long-term picture,” she says. “It’s too premature to forecast the allocations for FY 2003, but I think we could be hopeful of extending that trend of bolstering health care aspects.”

 

 


 

 

Illinois Issues, November 2001

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