U.S. State and Local Issues

Spending on Tobacco Prevention: Washington

Last updated November 29, 2011

Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Washington spend $67.3 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Washington currently allocates $750,000 a year for tobacco prevention and cessation.  This is 1.1% of the CDC’s recommendation and ranks Washington 42nd among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Washington’s spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 0.1% of the estimated $620 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Recent Developments: Historically, Washington funded tobacco prevention largely through the Tobacco Prevention and Control Account, which included a portion of the revenue raised by a 2001 voter-approved 60-cent per pack cigarette tax increase. The ballot initiative dedicated the new revenue to the state’s Basic Health Plan, to tobacco prevention and cessation, and other existing programs that were already funded with tobacco tax revenue. The initiative required the state to spend at least $26.24 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation beginning July 1, 2002.  In the 2009 legislative session, the Washington State Legislature changed this law and diverted tobacco tax money to the general fund.  After June 30, 2011, the Tobacco Prevention and Control Account had no remaining funds to sustain the program.

In FY2012, the state’s tobacco prevention program was essentially eliminated as the state will spend only $750,000 on tobacco prevention efforts.  These funds will be spent on compliance checks and retailer education.  Also in FY2012, the state will spend about $1.9 million to cover tobacco cessation quitline treatment for Medicaid enrollees.
As a result of the dramatic funding cut, Washington will no longer fund anti-tobacco media campaigns or local tobacco prevention and cessation programs in schools or through local governments or community organizations.

The near elimination of the state tobacco prevention program comes as declines in adult smoking have slowed and the most recent data show a slight uptick in the state’s adult smoking rate – from 14.9 percent in 2009 to 15.2 percent in 2010.

Washington is spending almost nothing on tobacco prevention despite the fact that the state is receiving more tobacco-generated revenue than ever before as a result of a $1.00 per pack cigarette tax increase, to $3.025 per pack, and increases in the tax rates on other tobacco products effective May 2010.

In addition, Washington is receiving $2.1 million in federal funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control:

• $1.4 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).

• $119,408 from the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the new health care reform law. 

• $521,393 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.