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Reducing Tobacco Use in Nebraska 101 Webinar Series Starts with Tobacco's Toll on Nebraska

12/19/2011

 
Nebraskans interested in reducing tobacco use in Nebraska gained a deeper understanding of the toll of tobacco in Nebraska from a state and national expert on a webinar earlier this month.

Presenters on this webinar shared the toll that tobacco takes on Nebraska both in human and financial terms. 

Presenters Brenda Richards, Program Consultant, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health and Jeff Soukup, Program Manager, Tobacco Free Nebraska, Nebraska DHHS, shared the tremendous toll that tobacco takes on Nebraska. They shared that each year:
  • 2,200 Nebraska smokers die each year as a result of smoking
  • 36,000 youth aged zero to 17 alive today will die from smoking in the future, and that
  • 220 Nebraska non-smokers die each year from secondhand smoke.
The webinar is available by replay. To view the webinar, please register for the Tobacco's Toll on Nebraska webinar at the "Reducing Tobacco Use in Nebraska 101 Webinar Series" homepage.

Three other webinars are planned in the series, and registration is open for each of these webinars.

"A Program to Prevent Tobacco Use in Nebraska," with presenters Monica Eischen, CDC OSH Program Services Branch, Team Lead Program Consultant, and Judy Martin, Program Manager, Tobacco Free Nebraska, Nebraska DHHS, will take place at 10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT Tuesday, December 20, 2011. Presenters on this webinar will explore what programs to reduce tobacco use do, what the evidence is for their ability to reduce tobacco use and what's being done in Nebraska to reduce smoking and other tobacco use.

The "History of the Master Tobacco Settlement and Tobacco Prevention Spending in Nebraska," with presenters Madeleine Solomon, Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, and Rich Lombardi, American Communications Group, Lincoln, Nebraska, will take place 10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT Tuesday, January 31, 2012. Presenters on this webinar will explore the history of the national Master Tobacco Settlement, as well as the history of how the money Nebraska receives as part of that settlement has been spent, especially regarding reducing tobacco use.

"The Price of Tobacco Products and Consumption," with presenter Dr. Frank Chaloupka, Distinguished Professor of Economics & Public Health, and Director, Health Policy Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago will take place 10 a.m. CT/ 9 a.m. MT Tuesday, February 28, 2012. Dr. Chaloupka will explore the relationship between the price of tobacco products and smoking and tobacco use rates, sharing national research and Nebraska statistics.To register for each of the webinars, visit the "Reducing Tobacco Use in Nebraska 101 Webinar Series," homepage.

 

Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Bill Advances in Nebraska Legislature

05/02/2011

 

A bill that would help Nebraska keep payments from a national legal settlement with U.S. tobacco companies advanced on the floor of the Nebraska legislature last week, as reported by KLKN TV.

The bill, which advanced 38-0, is designed to help Nebraska secure its part of the health care money from a 1998 settlement with the four companies.

LB590, introduced by Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, would make a number of changes that would address issues resulting from the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between 46 states, including Nebraska, with the four largest tobacco companies in Nebraska.

LB590 would establish uniform licensing, stamping, and reporting provisions for tobacco product manufacturers, stamping agents, and wholesalers of cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco. It would also clarify and enhance enforcement pertaining to those distributing tobacco in this state. 

Tobacco companies have alleged recently that states are failing to collect escrow payments from companies that were not part of the settlement.

The escrow payments were required as part of the settlement to keep small manufacturers from having an unfair advantage.


 
 

Nebraska Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation News This Week

03/14/2011

 
Cigarette Tax Increase Proposal Generates Discussion
The proposal to increase the tax on cigarettes and tobacco products other than snuff, which has been brought forward by former hospital administrator Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, continues to be in Nebraska news this week.

Sen. Gloor said that the bill, which would increase Nebraska’s cigarette tax from 64 cents per pack to $1.35 would generate revene and deter tobacco use. The health consequences of smoking equate to $9.64 per pack, according to Gloor, as reported by the Kearney Hub, of comments made by Sen. Gloor at the Legislative Day for the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce at the state capitol.

The Hastings Tribune, The Beatrice Daily Sun, the Fremont Tribune, the Norfolk Daily News and the North Platte Telegraph and others reported on the March 4 hearing for LB436.

“It's important to know that this is one of the few taxes that you don't have to pay,” Gloor told the Revenue Committee at the bill hearing, as quoted by statepaper.com. “If you don't want to pay it, then don't smoke.”

At an AARP regional meeting in Grand Island Friday, March 11, AARP representatives handed out results of a poll of 404 Nebraskans who are 50 years old or older. The poll showed 56 percent of respondents favored increasing cigarette taxes. The poll has a five percentage point margin of error.

“This is the No. 1 public health issue in our state,” Gloor said.

Nebraskans discussed the measure by Twitter and in letters to the editor. @JaneKleeb said, “Increasing tobacco tax + creating oil pipeline safety regulations are supported by over 70% of Nebraskans, BUT will the #neleg pass bills?” Kyle Michaelis, @NewNebraska, said, “Some hike in cigarette tax may be reasonable but should not exploit weakness. Wrong to balance state's budget on backs of poor & addicted.”

Jeff F. Miller wrote in the Omaha World Herald, “Smokers should not be expected to pay for all of Nebraska's budget problems,” and that, as a smoker of 45 years, if the Nebraska Legislature raises the cigarette tax by $1.35 per pack, he will make a weekly trip to Iowa to buy my tobacco, and will fill up my gas tank while he is there. Letters in Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World Herald said that it's OK to spend cigarette tax revenue for reducing tobacco use but that they didn't want cigarette tax money used to fill a budget hole.

Nebraska Seizes Cigarettes from Tribal Smoke Shop
A Ponca Tribal spokeswoman said that Nebraska state officials seized $13,000 to $14,000 worth of cigarettes from a tribal smoke shop in Niobrara for failing to affix cigarette packages with a state cigarette tax stamp, as reported in the Lincoln Journal Star.

Since 2003, Nebraska has received $280 million to $300 million from the four largest tobacco companies as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement signed in 1998 by those tobacco companies and 46 states, including Nebraska.

A bill before before the Nebraska Legislature, LB590, would require tribes to make payments to Nebraska so the state can continue to receive money from that agreement.

The tobacco companies now are demanding that states force smaller tobacco companies, including those operated by tribes, to also make payments to the states for smoking-related medical costs. The state opposes those demands, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.

LB590 would provide a process for Nebraska to sign compacts with tribes to allow them to make tobacco payments to the state.
 

Revenue Committee Hears Bill Addressing Cigarette Taxation and the MSA

03/03/2011

 
Thursday, the Revenue Committee of the Nebraska Legislature heard a bill that would change provisions related to cigarette taxation.

LB590, introduced by Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, would make a number of changes that would address issues resulting from the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between 46 states, including Nebraska, with the four largest tobacco companies in Nebraska.

LB590 would establish uniform licensing, stamping, and reporting provisions for tobacco product manufacturers, stamping agents, and wholesalers of cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco. It would also clarify and enhance enforcement pertaining to those distributing tobacco in this state. 

“This is a complicated issue and a complicated bill,” Sen. Gloor told the Revenue Committee at the hearing. “If this bill does not pass there can be some fairly stern financial results for the state. If the court finds the state has not been diligent in enforcing this law we could lose future payments and potentially have to pay back millions of dollars now sitting in the Health Care Cash Fund.”

The Health Care Cash Fund was established as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement, and holds funds received by the state as a result of that agreement.

David Holmquist, Director of State Legislative Government Relations, Nebraska, for the American Cancer Society, and Kathy Siefken, Executive Director of the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, spoke in support of the legislation. Lance Morgan, CEO of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, and Mick Mines, representing the Nebraska Association of Tobacco and Candy Distributors, opposed the bill.