Nebraska Legislature Passes Legislation to Cut $970,000 from Tobacco Free Nebraska Program
This past week, the Nebraska Legislature sent to the Governor legislation that would, among other actions, cut almost $1 million from Nebraska's program to prevent smoking and tobacco use and help Nebraskans quit smoking and other tobacco products.
As amended by an Appropriations Committee amendment 35-0, LB378 would provide a number of fund transfers, including $970,000 from the Tobacco Control and Prevention Cash Fund to the Health and Human Services Cash Fund.
LB378 passed on final reading with emergency clause 43-0-6, and was sent to the Governor Wednesday, May 11.
For fiscal year 2011, Nebraska has allocated $2.9 million in state funds for the state's tobacco prevention and cessation program, about the same amount that was allocated in FY2010. Still, funding for this promising program remains substantially below the $7.0 million in state funds allocated in FY2001 and 13.3% of the CDC's recommendation.
Currently, Nebraska ranks 26th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs. Nebraska's spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 2.7 percent of the estimated $107 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
The governor has five days, excluding Sundays, to decide what to do with a bill. If the governor signs a bill or declines to act on it, the bill becomes a state law. The Governor may veto a bill, and he has the authority to strike specific budget appropriations (line-item veto). The Legislature may override any gubernatorial veto, although it takes a vote of 30 senators to do so.
Cigarette Tax Increases Hurt Smokers, Daily Nebraskan Writer Says
Cigarette taxes raise revenue and encourage some smokers to quit, according to Daily Nebraskan writer Chase Magnett, but government isn't the solution to the problem of smoking.
Magnett, who is a junior economics major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says that at the same time that the government is trying to reduce smoking by increasing cigarette taxes, it is subsidizing tobacco farmers.
A ten percent increase in cigarette taxes brings a 4 percent reduction in smokers, according to the writer. Magnett says that's not much of a reduction, and that government isn't the solution to reducing smoking.
Deaths from Smoking Remembered With Balloon Release
On Wednesday, Grand Island Senior High students remembered the 1,200 Americans who die each year from tobacco-related causes by releasing 1,200 helium-filled balloons from a former greenhouse area inside one of the courtyards at the high school, as reported by the Grand Island Independent.
GISH junior Reyna Raymundo, a member of SADD, told the Independent that the idea for the balloon release was born when she and fellow GISH student Holly Johnson attended a conference put on by No Limits.
No Limits is Nebraska’s first youth-led and youth-driven tobacco prevention movement. By using activism, Nebraska teens are coming together to minimize the tobacco industry’s influence in Nebraska.
Smoking Materials Should Be Properly Disposed Of, Firefighters Say
A home was lost this week in rural Kearney sparked by the improper disposal of smoking materials, according to the Kearney Hub. The home, valued at $250,000, was destroyed. No one was home at the time of the fire.
In the first five months of 2011, six Kearney families have lost their homes because of carelessness with smoking materials, according to the Kearney Hub. In 2010, four Kearney residents were displaced for the same reason.
Kearney volunteer firefighters responded with frustration.
“These are so preventable,” Trenton Snow, an assistant Kearney Volunteer Fire Department chief, told the Kearney Hub.
At the same time, about a dozen fires across Lincoln have been caused by improperly disposed cigarettes in the last few months. Firefighters in Lincoln worry Lincolnites are being too careless when it comes to lighting up, according to KLKN-TV.
The most recent fire was at the home of Rick and Jody Pettit at 3135 E. 101st St., rural Kearney. The home burned quickly because of winds and dry temperatures Monday, the Hub reported.
This past week, the Nebraska Legislature sent to the Governor legislation that would, among other actions, cut almost $1 million from Nebraska's program to prevent smoking and tobacco use and help Nebraskans quit smoking and other tobacco products.
As amended by an Appropriations Committee amendment 35-0, LB378 would provide a number of fund transfers, including $970,000 from the Tobacco Control and Prevention Cash Fund to the Health and Human Services Cash Fund.
LB378 passed on final reading with emergency clause 43-0-6, and was sent to the Governor Wednesday, May 11.
For fiscal year 2011, Nebraska has allocated $2.9 million in state funds for the state's tobacco prevention and cessation program, about the same amount that was allocated in FY2010. Still, funding for this promising program remains substantially below the $7.0 million in state funds allocated in FY2001 and 13.3% of the CDC's recommendation.
Currently, Nebraska ranks 26th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs. Nebraska's spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 2.7 percent of the estimated $107 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
The governor has five days, excluding Sundays, to decide what to do with a bill. If the governor signs a bill or declines to act on it, the bill becomes a state law. The Governor may veto a bill, and he has the authority to strike specific budget appropriations (line-item veto). The Legislature may override any gubernatorial veto, although it takes a vote of 30 senators to do so.
Cigarette Tax Increases Hurt Smokers, Daily Nebraskan Writer Says
Cigarette taxes raise revenue and encourage some smokers to quit, according to Daily Nebraskan writer Chase Magnett, but government isn't the solution to the problem of smoking.
Magnett, who is a junior economics major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says that at the same time that the government is trying to reduce smoking by increasing cigarette taxes, it is subsidizing tobacco farmers.
A ten percent increase in cigarette taxes brings a 4 percent reduction in smokers, according to the writer. Magnett says that's not much of a reduction, and that government isn't the solution to reducing smoking.
Deaths from Smoking Remembered With Balloon Release
On Wednesday, Grand Island Senior High students remembered the 1,200 Americans who die each year from tobacco-related causes by releasing 1,200 helium-filled balloons from a former greenhouse area inside one of the courtyards at the high school, as reported by the Grand Island Independent.
GISH junior Reyna Raymundo, a member of SADD, told the Independent that the idea for the balloon release was born when she and fellow GISH student Holly Johnson attended a conference put on by No Limits.
No Limits is Nebraska’s first youth-led and youth-driven tobacco prevention movement. By using activism, Nebraska teens are coming together to minimize the tobacco industry’s influence in Nebraska.
Smoking Materials Should Be Properly Disposed Of, Firefighters Say
A home was lost this week in rural Kearney sparked by the improper disposal of smoking materials, according to the Kearney Hub. The home, valued at $250,000, was destroyed. No one was home at the time of the fire.
In the first five months of 2011, six Kearney families have lost their homes because of carelessness with smoking materials, according to the Kearney Hub. In 2010, four Kearney residents were displaced for the same reason.
Kearney volunteer firefighters responded with frustration.
“These are so preventable,” Trenton Snow, an assistant Kearney Volunteer Fire Department chief, told the Kearney Hub.
At the same time, about a dozen fires across Lincoln have been caused by improperly disposed cigarettes in the last few months. Firefighters in Lincoln worry Lincolnites are being too careless when it comes to lighting up, according to KLKN-TV.
The most recent fire was at the home of Rick and Jody Pettit at 3135 E. 101st St., rural Kearney. The home burned quickly because of winds and dry temperatures Monday, the Hub reported.
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