Clear the Air

On Friday, February 20th at 9:00 the House Judiciary Committee will take up consideration of H.B.2360 - Insuring that tobacco products are not sold in any packaging other than the original.

The purpose of this bill is to insure that tobacco products are not sold in any packaging other than the original factory wrapped package and to insure that cigarettes are not sold individually.

Delegates Patti Eagloski Schoen & Don Perdue

This legislation was introduced by Delegate Schoen and Delegate Perdue and would prohibit the sale of tobacco products in any form other than an original factory wrapped package; require that cigarette packages shall not contain fewer than twenty cigarettes, and; prohibit any person or business entity from selling single cigarettes (”loosies’) or packages of cigarettes that do not display the federally mandated health warnings.

Any person or business found guilty of any of these provision would be charged with a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $250.

Some of these provisions had been contained in the original Master Settlement Agreement but have since expired.

The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia has endorsed this legislation and is urging its passage.

Tags: tobacco control, West Virginia Legislature, youth access

15th Annual Tobacco-Free Day at the Capitol
Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sponsored by the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia

Join tobacco control and prevention advocates from throughout West Virginia at the State Capitol on March 31st to help educate our policymakers and advocate for healthy, tobacco-free communities.

West Virginia has the third highest smoking rate in the nation and leads the nation in smokeless tobacco use and smoking among pregnant women. Yet our tobacco excise tax rate ranks 42nd in the country and the state tobacco control programming receives only a fraction of the funding recommended by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The toll of tobacco in West Virginia is a public health crisis that must be addressed by our elected officials. However, this will only happen if they know it is a concern of voters - like you!

West Virginia Tobacco-Free Day will feature exhibits and displays from various organizations and community groups from all over the state who are working to fight back against tobacco’s grip on our people, economy and health care system. There will also be plenty of time to visit your legislators and see first hand your government at work.

Joining us will be about 450 young people from across the state who are active in the RAZE program working to protect their generation from tobacco addiction.

For more information or to register for the event contact Cinny Kittle. Pre-registered participants will be invited to join in a conference call the day before the event for a briefing on the status of key tobacco and health issues.

Please show your support for a healthier West Virginia by joining us for all, or part of, Tobacco-Free Day on March 31st.

Tags: advocacy, RAZE, Tobacco-Free Day, West Virginia Legislature

The following tobacco-related bills were introduced today, Friday, February 13th, in the West Virginia Legislature:

HB 2360 Insuring that tobacco products are not sold in any packaging other than the original.

Bills are listed here for informational purposes only and no endorsement is to be implied. Clear the Air will review bills more in depth as they begin to move. To track these bills yourself visit the West Virginia Legislative website Bill Status page.

Tags: 2009 Session, bills introduced, tobacco, West Virginia Legislature

Updates to this blog, tobacco-related news items and a wide variety of tobacco control information can be at your fingerips by following us on Twitter.

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends. Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS, or through third-party applications - many of which are designed for smart phones like Blackberry or iPhone.

If you don’t yet have a Twitter account signing up is a fast process and will take just a couple of minutes.

After you get your account just pay us a visit at TobaccoFreeWV and click “Follow”.

Tags: grassroots, tobacco control, Twitter

Governor Manchin’s budget proposal to the West Virginia Legislature contains current level funding for tobacco prevention and education programming of $5,687,358. The budget was presented in last night’s State of the State address.

While encouraging that this important area of public health funding is remaining stable in the Governor’s proposed budget it falls very short of the $27.8 million recommended by the Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention in Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007. West Virginia has made great strides in tobacco control, with very limited resources, but an investment closer to CDC’s recommended funding level would enable statewide implementation of the full range and scope of prevention, education, cessation and enforcement programs which have been proven effective.

Tags: CDC, funding, tobacco control, West Virginia Legislature

Governor Joe Manchin III in his State of the State address, Wednesday, February 11th:

“Currently, West Virginia covers a smaller percentage of our eligible working people under our Medicaid system than all but two other states. While federal Medicaid eligibility is set at 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, West Virginia only covers Medicaid-eligible parents who make less than 35 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which is less than $6,160 per year – and we don’t even cover single members of the working poor at all. We need to change that if we are to help low-income working West Virginians move toward better-paying jobs with healthcare.

“To that end, I have asked our Medicaid office to apply for a federal waiver to design a program of basic medical and preventive care coverage using the medical home concept that has worked well for the agency in the past. We will first use this program to expand health care coverage for working West Virginians, both individuals and parents, whose salaries are at or below 50 percent of the Federal Poverty Level but with the goal of achieving coverage for those with salaries up to 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

“This is such an important step toward addressing our state’s growing healthcare concerns and unmanaged healthcare costs that, if necessary in the future, I will propose an increase in our state’s cigarette tax to pay for its continuation.”

Tags: Governor Manchin, tobacco tax, West Virginia Legislature

The following tobacco-related bills were introduced today, Wednesday, February 11th, in the West Virginia Legislature:

SB 32 Granting municipal courts jurisdiction over juveniles violating tobacco use laws.

SB 62 Increasing penalties for underage use or possession of tobacco.

SB 88 Creating Transition Program for Tobacco Farmers.

SB 115 Prohibiting smoking in motor vehicle when child under 14 is present.

Bills are listed here for informational purposes only and no endorsement is to be implied. Clear the Air will review bills more in depth as they begin to move. To track these bills yourself visit the West Virginia Legislative website Bill Status page.

Tags: 2009 Session, bills introduced, tobacco, West Virginia Legislature

A legislative committee which has focused on health care redesign over the past year passed out seven recommended pieces of legislation today, one of which calls for an increase in the tobacco excise tax.

Select Committee D of the West Virginia Legislature acted on proposing legislation calling for an increase from 55 cents per pack to $1.20 per pack excise tax on cigarettes and a raise in the tax on all other tobacco products from the current level of 7 percent of the wholesale price to 14 percent.

This legislation will now move to be introduced in the Regular Session of the Legislature which begins Wednesday.

Tags: 2009 Session, Roadmap to Health, tobacco tax, West Virginia Legislature

On Tuesday, an interim committee of the West Virginia Legislature will be considering legislation recommending an increase West Virginia’s tobacco excise tax on cigarettes from the current level of 55 cents per pack to the national average of $1.20 per pack.  This measure will likely be quite contentious as the legislative session proceeds with the tobacco industry lobbying hard, as they always do, to defeat any proposal which might dampen their ability to peddle a dangerous, toxic and addictive product.

Increasing West Virginia’s excise tax this year is vital to the health of our state and its citizens in two ways.

First,  raising the cost of tobacco products is a proven strategy to reduce the use in virtually every age group and demographic. Studies, and experience in state after state, show that higher cigarette taxes are one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking among both youth and adults. Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes will reduce youth smoking by about seven percent and overall cigarette consumption by about four percent.

Secondly, increasing the excise tax on tobacco products will generate the increased revenues needed for West Virginia to provide health coverage to more of our people and move forward implementing a host of health reforms outlined in the Roadmap to Health Report. This report, which has been a year in the making and has involved hundreds of citizens and stakeholders throughout the state, says “West Virginia spends 13 percent more per person on health care than the national average. Moreover, the growth in spending is slightly higher in West Virginia compared to the national average. Over 14 percent — some 254,000 — West Virginians were uninsured during 2007.”

Only by making health care more available, affordable and geared towards preventing disease before it occurs can these statistics be changed. Many of the proposals which have been developed during through the Roadmap to Health Project are critical to addressing these problems but can not occur without a means of funding. An increase in the tobacco excise tax will provide those needed funds. Every state that has significantly increased its cigarette tax has enjoyed substantial increases in revenue, even while reducing smoking. These funds have helped other states fund essential services like health care and tobacco prevention programs. Contrary to tobacco industry arguments, cigarette tax increases are a reliable source of revenue for states.

West Virginia’s tax on cigarettes currently ranks 40th in the nation. No surprise we have the second highest death rate from tobacco related illnesses.

Now is the time for our citizens and our elected officials to stand up to the special interests of the tobacco industry. Now is the time to put the health of our people first. Now is the time to provide the access to care and preventive services West Virginia’s need to grow and prosper.

Now is the time for a tobacco tax increase in West Virginia.

Tags: health care, Roadmap to Health, tax, tobacco, West Virginia, West Virginia Legislature

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed, and President Obama has just signed,  important legislation to provide health insurance for children funded through a 61.66 cents per pack increase in the federal tobacco excise tax. The legislation will provide health care coverage for approximately 4 million more children in the country.

The SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) legislation previously had passed both chambers of Congress only to be vetoed by then-President Geore W. Bush.

The tobacco tax increase will have a dramatic impact on public health. According to projections from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids the tax will result in:

- Increase in total number of kids alive today who will not become smokers:
1,992,000

- Number of current adult smokers in the US who will quit: 1,020,000

- Number of smoking-affected births avoided over next five years: 248,000

- Number of total smokers saved from future smoking-caused death: 905,000

- 5-year health care savings from fewer smoking-affected pregnancies & births:
$423.2 million

- 5-year health care savings from fewer smoking-caused heart attacks & strokes:
$493.3 million

- Long-term healthcare savings in the US from adult & youth smoking declines:
$44.5 billion

For West Virginia this will result in:

- Fewer kids becoming tobacco-addicted adults: 17,100

- Fewer current adult smokers: 10,600

- Future smoking deaths prevented: 8,200

- Future state health care savings: $400 million

- Medicaid share of future health savings: $96.7 million

These projections are based on research findings that a 10% cigarette price increase reduces youth smoking rates by 6.5%, adult rates by 2%, and total consumption by 4%. Kids stopped from becoming addicted adult smokers or from dying from smoking are from all kids alive today. Reduced adult deaths is from current adult smokers. Future healthcare savings accrue over the lifetimes of persons who stop smoking or never start because of the cigarette tax increase. Savings are in 2004 dollars. The Medicaid Share of Future Health Savings amounts for each state represent the future reductions to total healthcare expenditures by each state’s Medicaid program.

Tags: Federal Policy, health care, SCHIP, tobacco tax