U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: New York

Last updated December 05, 2012

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that New York spend $254.3 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  New York currently allocates $41.4 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 16.3% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks New York 21st among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  New York’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 1.8% of the estimated $2.3 billion in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Background and Recent Developments: The 1998 settlement stipulated that the state of New York receives 51.2 percent of the tobacco settlement payments; with New York City receiving 26.6 percent and the counties outside New York City sharing the remaining 22.2 percent. The formula for disbursing payments to New York City and the counties is based on the localities’ mandatory contributions to Medicaid costs. New York City’s base-lined budget for FY2013 includes $7.9 million for tobacco prevention and cessation programming, a $2 million decrease from FY 2012.  

New York’s tobacco settlement funds are folded into the state’s general fund and allocated through the annual budget process. In FY2010, due to revenue shortfalls, funding for tobacco prevention and cessation was cut by 30 percent, from approximately $80 million to $55.2 million.  The FY2013 budget enacted by the Legislature and Governor Cuomo (D) allocated $41.4 million to the tobacco control program, equivalent to that of FY2012, but a $17 million cut from the FY2011 funding level.  While the state’s fiscal crisis caused budget cuts across state programs, the tobacco control program experienced disproportionately larger cuts than those endured by almost any other state program. 

New York is spending less than the CDC-recommended amount on tobacco prevention despite the fact that the state is receiving more tobacco-generated revenue than ever before as a result of a $1.60 per pack cigarette tax increase, bringing the state tax to $4.35 per pack, and increases to the taxes on other tobacco products, which went into effect in July, 2010.

In addition, New York is receiving $3.1 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).

• $1.2 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law for the period beginning August 1, 2012.