Texas tobacco settlement has gone up in smoke

Publication Date: 2005-01-20

• Author:Donna Bacchi
• Publication:Houston (TX) Chronicle

It has been six years since Texas cashed its first check from tobacco companies after suing the industry over Texas tobacco-caused public health costs...

What is Texas doing with the money it brings in from the tobacco settlement and through tobacco taxes? Even some lawmakers who oversee the drafting of the state budget mistakenly believe the settlement money is funding tobacco prevention programs.

The truth is this: Of the $1.1 billion in revenue Texas will collect from tobacco, the state will spend just 0.7 percent on tobacco prevention.