§ 23-71-1. Legislative findings and purpose.
(a) Cigarette smoking presents serious public health concerns to the state and to the
citizens of the state. The surgeon general has determined that smoking causes lung
cancer, heart disease and other serious diseases, and that there are hundreds of thousands
of tobacco related deaths in the United States each year. These diseases most often
do not appear until many years 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 obligati
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§ 23-71-1. Legislative findings and purpose.
(a) Cigarette smoking presents serious public health concerns to the state and to the
citizens of the state. The surgeon general has determined that smoking causes lung
cancer, heart disease and other serious diseases, and that there are hundreds of thousands
of tobacco related deaths in the United States each year. These diseases most often
do not appear until many years 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 to provide medical assistance
to eligible persons for health conditions associated with cigarette smoking, and those
persons may have a legal entitlement to receive the medical assistance.
(c) Under these programs, the state pays millions of dollars each year to provide medical
assistance for these persons for health conditions associated with cigarette smoking.
(d) It is the policy of the state that financial burdens imposed on the state by cigarette
smoking be borne by tobacco product manufacturers rather than by the state to the
extent that those manufacturers either determine to enter into a settlement with the
state or are found culpable by the courts.
(e) On November 23, 1998, leading United States tobacco product manufacturers entered
into a settlement agreement, entitled the "Master Settlement Agreement,� with the
state. The Master Settlement Agreement obligates these manufacturers, in return for
a release of past, present, and certain future claims against them as described in
the settlement agreement, to pay substantial sums to the state (tied in part to their
volume of sales); to fund a national foundation devoted to the interests of public
health; and to make substantial changes in their advertising and marketing practices
and corporate culture, with the intention of reducing underage smoking.
(f) It would be contrary to the policy of the state if tobacco product manufacturers who
determine not to enter into a settlement could use a resulting cost advantage to derive
large, short term profits in the years before liability may arise without ensuring
that the state will have an eventual source of recovery from them if they are proven
to have acted culpably. It is thus in the interest of the state to require that the
manufacturers establish a reserve fund to guarantee a source of compensation and to
prevent the manufacturers from deriving large, short term profits and then becoming
judgment proof before liability may arise.