What do all these tobacco terms mean?

Where does all the tobacco money go?

Proposition 99
Prop. 99 was passed by the voters of California in November 1988. It added a 25 cent per pack tax on tobacco products. The San Mateo County Tobacco Prevention Program (TPP) receives about $172,000 annually from Prop.99. These funds are used to support staffing as well as contracts for community tobacco education.

Proposition 10
Prop. 1 0 was passed by the voters of California in November 1998. It added a 50 cents per pack tax on tobacco products. San Mateo County receives about $1 0 million annually from Prop. IO, however, no Prop. 1 0 funding has been made available to community groups and no specific commitment to tobacco education has been made. San Mateo County's Smoke Free Start for Families (SFSF) Program, funded by the Lucile Packard Family Founda- tion through Nov. 2000, is a pilot perinatal smoking cessation program that is being used as a standard all over the state of California. The Tobacco Education Coalition recommends that this program should receive future funding from Prop. IO.

Proposition 28
Prop. 28 is a ballot measure sponsored by "Cigarettes Cheaper" that would have wiped out the 50 cent per pack tax (Prop. IO) passed by the voters November 1998. Prop. 28 would also have prohibited any future tax on tobacco products in California. On March 711, 2000 California voters soundly defeated Proposition 28. Statewide, Prop. 28 was defeated by a vote of 72% "No" to 28% "Yes". In San Mateo County, the vote was even more lopsided with a 78% "No" vote.

Penal Code 308
PC 308 is a law written in the 1890's to limit youth access to tobacco products. Section (a) of PC 308 prohibits anyone from selling, giving, or furnishing tobacco products to anyone under 18 years of age. Section (b) was added in the 1990s to make it illegal for anyone under 18 to purchase, receive, or be in possession of tobacco products. An ongoing concern to tobacco education advocates in the lack of enforcement of PC 308a.

Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act of 1994
The STAKE Act provides for the proactive enforcement of PC 308a. The 1-800-5-ASK-4-ID number was created to provide the public with a contact if they want to report local stores that may be selling tobacco to people under 18. The STAKE Act also requires stores to prominently post STAKE Act signs at all points of sale (cash registers), ask for ID, and limits tobacco vending machines to adults-only locations.

Lawsuit Against the Tobacco Industry
In July 1996, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors decided to join San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and 1 0 other California cities and counties in the lawsuit against the tobacco industry in order to recover costs in treating tobacco related illnesses. This was a long battle which involved many subpoenas and requests for information by the industry. The TPP staff spent many hours collecting information, gathering evidence, and providing testimony in this lawsuit. In the end, the tobacco industry settled the lawsuits, resulting in a multi-billion dollar payment over 25 years. We can't really say we won because the case was settled, but our side certainly gained a financial and moral victory.

The following is how the settlement played out:
Mangini Settlement Funds
Named after Janet Mangini, the San Francisco activist who launched the lawsuit against the industry on the grounds that they specifically market their products to children, the Mangini Settlement received $10 million in a one-time settlement from RJ Reynolds. RJR also agreed to discontinue its Joe Camel campaign. The settlement funds were stipulated to be spent on tobacco education, enforcement, and media activities designed to lower youth tobacco use. San Mateo County was allocated $127,000 from the Mangini Settlement. Seventy thousand dollars ($70,000) were put in the Health Education budget for Fiscal Year 1999-2000 with the remaining amount to be budgeted during the Fiscal Year 2000-01.

Master Settlement Agreement
In Fall 1998, the tobacco industry signed the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with 46 states. The'MSA will bring $206 billion unrestricted dollars to the states over 25 years. The tobacco industry also agreed to not use youth-oriented marketing tactics and will fund a youth-targeted anti- tobacco campaign nationally. San Mateo County is slated to receive $10-12 million annually from the MSA. For Fiscal Year 1999-2000, $350,000 was allotted for tobacco education. The funds are being used to provide free tobacco cessation services, a youth theater program, and a comprehen- sive media campaign. An adult-oriented media education campaign is scheduled to educate the community about the effects of secondhand smoke.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Regulation of Tobacco
In March 2000, the Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 vote, ruled that the FDA lacks the power to regulate tobacco products. The root of contention is the 1938 federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which gave authority to the FDA to regulate certain consumer products as defined by Congress. Under this authority, the FDA determined tobacco to be a drug and in 1996 with support from the Clinton Administration, began to implement regulations that would reduce youth tobacco use. While the nine Supreme Court Justices all agreed that tobacco is the greatest single health hazard, they ruled that Congress did not give the FDA specific authority to regulate tobacco products.

The specific FDA regulations impacted by the Supreme Court ruling are: the prohibition of tobacco sales to anyone under 18, the requirement to check the ID of patrons who look under 27 years of age, and the limitation of tobacco vending machines to adults-oniy locations. This ruling is considered to be a huge tobacco industry victory and a major setback for the Clinton Administration's effort to curb tobacco use by teens. In order for the FDA to regulate tobacco as a drug, the US Congress would have to enact legislation that would give the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco.