Oklahoma gets $77M in tobacco settlement funds
A state fund created to fight tobacco addiction and promote health and wellness has received more than $500 million from the tobacco industry since a 1998 settlement agreement with the tobacco industry, state officials said Friday.
Oklahoma received about $77.1 million from tobacco companies as part of its annual payment required by the Master Settlement Agreement. About $57 million, or 75 percent, was placed in the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, putting its total at nearly $558 million, Attorney General Drew Edmondson and state Treasurer Scott Meacham said.
“Public health was at the heart of our lawsuit against big tobacco,” Edmondson said, “and the tobacco trust will ensure that the bulk of the monies generated from the settlement are focused on this important issue. The trust will also provide a perpetual source of public health funding, which is crucial in hard economic times.”
Voters approved the trust fund in 2000. The constitutional amendment specifies that only the earnings from the trust fund are allowed to be spent on programs to improve the health and well-being of Oklahomans.
How the fund started
To date, the fund has generated more than $63 million in earnings, including $18 million last year.
This year’s payment to the state included the third allocation of Oklahoma’s share of the agreement’s strategic contribution funds. The funds were awarded to the state for the efforts by Edmondson’s office to prosecute the case. Oklahoma should receive about $26.8 million in strategic contribution funds each year for 10 years.
In 1996, Oklahoma became the 14th state to file a lawsuit against the tobacco companies, asking for restraints against the industry and monetary damages for state funds spent treating smoking-related illnesses. Oklahoma sought about $1 billion in damages.
In November 1998, Edmondson and seven other attorneys general announced they had, on behalf of the states, negotiated a settlement, which included changes in tobacco advertising, banning tobacco companies from targeting children, allocating funding for tobacco education efforts and providing the states annual payments based on the number of cigarettes sold in the country.
The total of payments to the states over 25 years was projected to be in excess of $206 billion, and payments will continue as long as cigarettes are sold.
Oklahoma’s share of the tobacco settlement is estimated to be $2.03 billion over 25 years.
BY MICHAEL MCNUTT