U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: Mississippi

Last updated December 05, 2012

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Mississippi spend $39.2 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Mississippi currently allocates $9.7 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 24.7% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Mississippi 17th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Mississippi’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 3.7% of the estimated $261 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Background and Recent Developments: Under a court order issued in December 2000 by the Jackson County Chancery Court, the court with jurisdiction over Mississippi’s tobacco settlement agreement and subsequent litigation, $20 million of Mississippi’s annual settlement payments were directed to the tobacco prevention program launched by the parties and the court in 1997. Under a 1999 law, the rest of the annual settlement payments were deposited into a Health Care Trust Fund, with interest available for expenditure only for health care purposes. The state tobacco prevention program, run by the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, was highly successful at reducing youth smoking rates. However, Governor Haley Barbour (R), the state Division of Medicaid, and the Health Care Trust Fund filed motions to vacate the 2000 order and direct the $20 million away from tobacco prevention and into the fund. In May 2006, citing the lack of agreement between the legislative and executive branches regarding funding for tobacco prevention, the Jackson County Chancery Court granted the governor and treasurer’s motion, denying the tobacco prevention programs access to further funding. In June 2007, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the December 2006 order from the Jackson County Chancery Court that determined only the Mississippi Legislature could appropriate funds to tobacco prevention programs.

In FY2013, Mississippi will spend $9.7 million on tobacco prevention and cessation, slightly less than what was spent in FY2012 and FY2011. Funding has remained relatively constant in recent years, though it continues to be substantially lower than the CDC-recommended amount.

In addition, Mississippi is receiving $2.3 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

• $1.1 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).

• $265,938 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law for the period beginning August 1, 2012. 

• $900,951 from the Food and Drug Administration for enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, including the provision regarding tobacco sales to minors.