U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: Nevada

Last updated December 05, 2012

  FY2013 FY2012
State Rank 44 50
State Spending on Tobacco Prevention $150,000 $0
% of CDC Recommended Spending
($32.5 )		 0.5% 0.0%

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Nevada spend $32.5 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Nevada currently allocates $150,000 a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 0.5% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Nevada 44th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Nevada’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 0.1% of the estimated $143 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Background and Recent Developments: Nevada’s programs are funded entirely through settlement payments, so funding levels change if the actual settlement payments are different than projected.  A 1999 state law divided Nevada’s settlement money into three trust funds: 40 percent to the Millennium Trust Fund for college scholarships, 10 percent to the Trust Fund for Public Health and 50 percent to the Fund for a Healthy Nevada. Initially, 20 percent of the money directed to the Fund for a Healthy Nevada was distributed to the tobacco prevention and cessation program; however, in 2007 this allocation was reduced to 15 percent.

In FY2013, the state will spend $150,000 on the Tobacco Helpline to help tobacco users quit. This is an increase compared to the last two years, when due to revenue shortfalls, there was no state funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs in Nevada.  During this time, the program survived with minimal dollars from the CDC, although many grantees, including local health districts, are no longer receiving funding from the state. 

In addition, Nevada is receiving $1.1 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

  • $852,583 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 12-month grant for the period beginning April 2012 (from annual appropriations).

  • $227,661 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law for the period beginning August 1, 2012.