Wednesday, November 10, 1999

Senate OKs tobacco money plan

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        × Measure passed on 17-16 vote BY SPENCER HUNT Enquirer Columbus Bureau

        COLUMBUS — The Ohio Senate narrowly passed a plan Tuesday that would spend nearly half the state's $10.1 billion tobacco settlement.

        The 12-year plan, which would commit $4.8 billion for school construction, anti-smoking programs and medical research, passed on an unusually close 17-16 vote. Four GOP lawmakers who wanted to use settlement money for tax relief voted against the wishes of Republican Gov. Bob Taft and Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale.

        “We would like to let the people of Ohio decide how they would spend this money, not us,” said Sen. Scott Nein, R- Middletown, one of those who opposed the measure. “This is the taxpayers' money and it should go back to them.”

        The bill may receive similarly rough treatment in the House, where a group of conservative lawmakers lost an effort earlier this year to approve a 5 percent cut in state personal income tax rates. That same group is now likely to demand tobacco money be used for tax relief.

        Sens. Dick Schafrath, R-Mansfield; Eugene Watts, R-Dublin; and Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, joined Mr. Nein and the Senate's 12 Democrats who voted against the bill. The Democrats had argued that the plan should extend 26 years instead of 12.

        Ohio will receive 26 annual installment payments from tobacco companies that settled a lawsuit filed by 46 state attorneys general in 1998. The suit sought to recover state taxpayer dollars spent treating smoking-related illnesses.

        Mr. Taft originally fielded a 26-year plan, but he agreed to 12 years in a compromise that committed $2.4 billion for school construction and $218.5 million to put new computers and Internet connections in classrooms. The state is under

        an Ohio Supreme Court decision to spend more on schools.

        The Ohio debate is irrelevant in some respects because lawmakers can't legally tell future General Assemblies how to spend the money. Advocates of the plan say it would still make it more difficult for future assemblies to spend the money on something else.

        In the House, Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, R-Reynoldsburg, wouldn't say if the bill would pass her chamber unchanged.

        “It's hard to tell. We'll have to see what the debate is over here,” Mrs. Davidson said. “I want to bring it over as quickly as possible and do the hearings on it next week.”

        Mr. Finan also refused to speculate on what will happen in the House. He said he still hopes to pass the plan before year's end.

        “I have no idea what will happen in the House,” he said. “The time to pass this bill is now.”

        Among Southwest Ohio lawmakers, Sen. Mark Mallory, D-Cincinnati, also voted against the plan. Sens. Louis Blessing, R-Colerain Township, and Doug White, R-Manchester, voted for it.

SETTLEMENT SPENDING BILL
        Here is a look at how the Ohio Senate would spend the state's tobacco settlement money over the next 12 years. Ohio expects to receive $10.1 billion over the next 26 years. The bill the Senate passed Tuesday would commit $4.8 billion for the following initiatives:

        • Tobacco use prevention: $1.2 billion.

        • Public health initiatives: $252.6 million.

        • Biomedical research: $493.3 million.

        • School construction: $2.4 billion.

        • Education technology: $218.5 million.

        • Crime lab funding: $25 million.

        • Tobacco farm supports: $228.7 million.

       

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