U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: Florida

Last updated December 04, 2012

  FY2013 FY2012
State Rank 14 13
State Spending on Tobacco Prevention $64.3 million $62.3 million
% of CDC Recommended Spending
($210.9 million)		 30.5% 29.5%

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Florida spend $210.9 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Florida currently allocates $64.3 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 30.5% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Florida 14th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Florida’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 4.0% of the estimated $1.6 billion in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Background and Recent Developments: Florida’s tobacco settlement payments were initially governed by a 1999 law, which allocated the payments to several trust funds, the largest being the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund for Children and the Elderly. During the program’s first full year, $70 million was provided for tobacco prevention under then-Governor Lawton Chiles (D). After the first four years of the program, between 1998 and 2002, Florida reduced youth smoking rates by 50 percent among middle school students and 35 percent among high school students, according to the Florida Department of Health. Despite its success at reducing youth smoking, funding for the tobacco prevention program came under attack every year. To restore funding for tobacco prevention, a coalition of public health organizations called Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education, gathered signatures to place a state constitutional amendment on the November 2006 ballot. The amendment passed with 61 percent of the vote and requires Florida to spend 15 percent of the funds paid to Florida in 2005 under the Tobacco Settlement, adjusted annually for inflation.  In FY2013, $64.3 million was allocated to the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation program, a $2 million increase from FY2012.    

In addition, Florida is receiving $3.2 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

  • $1.9 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 12-month grant for the period beginning April 2012 (from annual appropriations).

  • $1.3 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law for the period beginning August 1, 2012.