U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: South Carolina

Last updated November 29, 2011

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that South Carolina spend $62.2 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  South Carolina currently allocates $5.0 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 8.0% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks South Carolina 31st among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  South Carolina’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 2.3% of the estimated $213 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Recent Developments: Under a 2000 agreement between the legislature and then-Governor Jim Hodges (D), South Carolina securitized its future tobacco settlement proceeds by selling them to investors in exchange for a smaller lump sum payment. The $910 million raised was transferred into four trust funds. The legislature appropriates money from the trust funds annually for programs. From 2003 until 2011, no tobacco settlement funds were dedicated to tobacco prevention.  

In 2010, the legislature passed a 50-cent cigarette tax increase that raised the cigarette tax to 57 cents, effective July 1, 2010.  The law specified that $5 million of that new tax revenue should be spent on tobacco prevention and cessation programs in FY2011. However, the legislature ultimately authorized the Department for Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to spend just $1,250,000 of that.  The legislature has authorized that the full $5 million be spent on tobacco control programs in FY2012.

In addition, South Carolina is receiving $1.2 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a 12-month grant for the period beginning April 2011 (from annual appropriations).