U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: Oklahoma

Last updated December 05, 2012

  FY2013 FY2012
State Rank 7 7
State Spending on Tobacco Prevention $19.7 million $21.2 million
% of CDC Recommended Spending
($45 million)		 43.8% 47.1%

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Oklahoma spend $45.0 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Oklahoma currently allocates $19.7 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 43.8% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Oklahoma 7th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Oklahoma’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 5.4% of the estimated $365 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Background and Recent Developments: Oklahoma's tobacco settlement funds are governed by a constitutional amendment which establishes a Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET). Under the measure, the amount of tobacco settlement payments deposited into the endowment, from which only earnings can be spent on certain broadly specified programs including health, cancer research and treatment, and tobacco prevention, increased from 50 percent in 2001 to 75 percent in 2007 and each year thereafter. The TSET Board of Directors determines how to allocate all earnings from the endowment. The legislature appropriates the remaining 25 percent of settlement payments, primarily to Medicaid.

Total state spending on tobacco prevention and cessation for FY2013 will be $19.7 million. The total includes approximately $16.9 million from the Oklahoma Settlement Endowment Trust, $2.2 million in state tobacco excise taxes and $600,000 from the general fund.

In addition, Oklahoma is receiving $2.0 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

  • $1.3 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).

  • $349,692 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law for the period beginning August 1, 2012. 

  • $350,529 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.