Clear the Air

And gone if not reported out of committee to the floor in one chamber of the West Virginia Legislature by Monday and passed by one of the legislative chambers by Wednesday. The legislature missing this opportunity will keep West Virginia’s tobacco tax as the 8th lowest in the nation.

Failure to pass the tobacco tax this year means tens-of-thousands of kids will not see price as a deterrent and will begin using tobacco products and many will be addicted for what will be a shortened life. The same can be said for the nearly 20,000 current users who would have quit had the tax increase been implemented.

Also lost will be over $100 million in revenue which could have been utilized to prevent and treat chronic disease in West Virginia and expand health coverage to low-income working people in the state.

There’s still time but it is quickly passing.

Contact you legislators and Governor Manchin in the next 24 hours and ask that they meet this deadline and keep the tobacco tax legislation alive by passing the bill from one chamber next week.

If the health impact does not move them then perhaps the full scope of the 4.6% budget cuts the Governor has announced should be fully understood before the tobacco tax is taken off the table this year.

Action now is critical because if not passed by the House or Senate by Wednesday the legislation is dead for this session.

Tags: 2009 Session, tobacco tax, West Virginia Legislature

The following tobacco-related bills were introduced today, Monday, February 23rd, in the West Virginia Legislature:

HB2746 - Raising the excise tax on cigarettes and all other tobacco products.

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 tax, West Virigina Legislature

Percent decrease in youth smoking ~ 10.7%
Kids in West Virginia kept from becoming addicted adult smokers ~ 13,200
Current adult smokers in the state who would quit ~ 9,200
Smoking-affected births avoided over next five years ~ 2,700
West Virginia residents saved from premature smoking-caused death ~ 6,600
5-year health savings from fewer smoking-affected pregnancies & births ~ $4.6 million
5-year health savings from fewer smoking-caused heart attacks & strokes ~ $6.1 million
Long-term health savings in state from adult & youth smoking declines ~ $318.4 million

Projections are based on research findings that each 10% cigarette price increase reduces youth smoking rates by 6.5%, adult rates by 2%, and total consumption by 4% (but adjusted down to account for tax evasion effects). Revenues still increase because the higher tax rate per pack will bring in more new revenue than is lost from the tax-related drop in total pack sales. These projections are fiscally conservative because they include a generous adjustment for lost state pack sales (and lower net new revenues) from new smuggling and tax evasion after the rate increase and from fewer sales to smokers or smugglers from other states. Kids stopped from smoking and dying are from all kids alive today. Long-term savings accrue over the lifetimes of persons who stop smoking or never start because of the rate increase. All cost and savings amounts are in 2004 dollars.

Tags: tobacco control, tobacco tax, West Virginia

On Monday, February 23rd, the tobacco tax bill which was recommended by an interim committee will be introduced in the West Virginia House of Delegates. The bill will call for a 65 cent per pack increase in the excise tax on cigarettes and a raise from 7 percent of the wholesale price to 14 percent for all other tobacco products.

The proposed legislation will be referred to the Health and Human Resources Committee and then to Finance.

The tax legislation is part of a package of bills recommended by Select Committee D after a year-long study of health care in West Virginia. Passage of the tax is essential to funding other proposed pieces of this package.

More importantly, raising the tobacco excise tax in West Virginia will reduce the number of young people who begin using tobacco products and will serve as a huge incentive for current tobacco users to quit. Research shows an overall 4 percent reduction in tobacco use with every ten percent increase in the price of the product.

Supporters of this bill should contact House members on Monday by telephone urging their support of the tobacco tax legislation (HB2746). You can identify your members and their Capitol phone number by entering your zip code here. Legislators need to hear there is a large amount of grassroots support to provide this important legislation the momentum it will need to be considered.

Please make your phone call today - even if you do not personally reach your legislators leave them a message requesting that they support the tobacco tax bill (HB2746).

Tags: 2009 Session, Action Alert, tobacco tax, 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

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

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