50-6a01. Findings and purpose.
50-6a01
50-6a01. Findings and purpose.(a) Cigarette smoking presents serious public health concernsto the state and to the citizens of the state. The surgeon general hasdetermined that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease and other seriousdiseases, and that there are hundreds of thousands of tobacco-related deaths inthe United States each year. These diseases most often do not appear until manyyears after the person in question begins smoking.
(b) Cigarette smoking also presents serious financial concerns for the state.Under certain health-care programs, the state may have a legal obligation toprovide medical assistance to eligible persons for health conditions associatedwith cigarette smoking, and those persons may have a legal entitlement toreceive such medical assistance.
(c) Under these programs, the state pays millions of dollars each year toprovide medical assistance for these persons for health conditions associatedwith cigarette smoking.
(d) It is the policy of the state that financial burdens imposed on the stateby cigarette smoking be borne by tobacco product manufacturers rather than bythe state to the extent that such manufacturers either determine to enter intoa settlement with the state or are found culpable by the courts.
(e) On November 23, 1998, leading United States tobacco product manufacturersentered into a settlement agreement, entitled the "master settlementagreement," with the state. The master settlement agreement obligates thesemanufacturers, in return for a release of past, present and certain futureclaims against them as described therein, to pay substantial sums to the state(tied in part to their volume of sales); to fund a national foundation devotedto the interests of public health; and to make substantial changes in theiradvertising and marketing practices and corporate culture, with the intentionof reducing underage smoking.
(f) It would be contrary to the policy of the state if tobacco productmanufacturers who determine not to enter into such a settlement could use aresulting cost advantage to derive large, short-term profits in the yearsbefore liability may arise without ensuring that the state will have aneventual source of recovery from them if they are proven to have actedculpably. It is thus in the interest of the state to require that suchmanufacturers establish a reserve fund to guarantee a source of compensationand to prevent such manufacturers from deriving large, short-term profits andthen becoming judgment-proof before liability may arise.
History: L. 1999, ch. 136, § 1; May 20.