U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: South Carolina

Last updated December 05, 2012

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 32nd among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  South Carolina’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 2.1% of the estimated $241 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Background and Recent Developments: In FY2013, South Carolina will spend $5 million on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. This funding level is equal to that of the past two years but remains a small fraction of the CDC-recommended spending for the state.

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 smoking prevention and cessation programs in FY2011. However, the legislature ultimately authorized the Department for Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to spend just $1.25 million of that. In FY2012 and again in FY2013, the legislature authorized that the full $5 million be spent on smoking prevention programs. This year’s appropriation came despite a proposed bill in the House that would have redirected a portion of the cessation funding to cancer screenings.

In addition, South Carolina is receiving $1.6 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

• $1.2 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).

• $437,014 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.