NOTE: The following minutes for the Tobacco Task Force Meeting on August 25, 1999 have not been reviewed by the Task Force. These minutes may be amended before they are approved by the committee.

The Tobacco Prevention, Cessation and Control Task Force met on Wednesday, August 25, 1999, beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Room 11 of the State House in Montpelier, Vermont.

The following members were present: Rep. Ann Seibert, Chair; Sen. Helen S. Riehle, Vice-Chair; Rep. Karen B. Kitzmiller; Sen. Elizabeth Ready; Attorney General William Sorrell; Jan Carney, Commissioner of the Department of Health; Doug Dows, Department of Education; Brian Flynn; John Hughes; Kay Perkins; Philine Taormina.

Public Hearing Process: The contractor Richard Watts and the committee discussed the process for public hearings that will be used to develop a draft of the committee's report to the General Assembly. It was tentatively decided that regional hearings would be held in Springfield (may be changed to Brattleboro), Rutland, Barre, St. Johnsbury and St. Albans. Since the final report is to be filed with the General Assembly by November 15, 1999, these hearings should be held prior to October 15. There was general discussion of the groups to be targeted by hearing notices and the type of "flyer" and internet information that should be developed to capture and focus public interest for the hearings. Details concerning these hearings will be worked out by Watts and the Public Hearing Subcommittee (Seibert, Kitzmiller, Sorrell, Flynn, Hughes and Taormina) and presented to the full committee for approval. The subcommittee will meet on September 1, 1999 at 1 p.m. by conference call to address these issues.

Litigation Settlement Fund: Stephen Klein and Maria Belliveau from the Joint Fiscal Office provided information on the status of the Tobacco Litigation Settlement Fund. Currently the fund balance is $9.87 million. By June 30, 2000, this amount should increase by an additional $24 million or so with the release of additional settlement moneys. Since $17 million has already been appropriated, there should be $17 or $18 million in the fund at the beginning of FY 2001. If one-third of all settlement moneys received thereafter is placed in the fund and the principal is not depleted, it is reasonable to expect that the funds will grow to an estimated $110 million by 2009.

It was decided that a subgroup would meet with the Governor to discuss future appropriations from the Settlement Fund.

There appeared to be general support for recommending that goals for the use of fund moneys be defined and that short-term indicators and time-frames be developed to measure the outcomes/success of programs.

Board Organization: The committee revisited, and reaffirmed, its decision to recommend that tobacco prevention, cessation and control programs supported by settlement funds be administered by an independent board developed on the Housing and Conservation Trust Fund model, with possible refinements (e.g., operating board concept; student representation on board). There was discussion of the types of activities that would be within the board's purview. This discussion will be continued at a later meeting.

Legislative Oversight: No decision was reached on the issue of a structure for legislative oversight.

Programmatic Goals: There was some discussion about the CDC programmatic goals. The Health Department is conducting a survey in which people are asked to rate these goals.

Linkage with Alcohol and Drug Programs: There was considerable discussion of this issue. Although there were differing approaches to linking tobacco programs with alcohol and drug programs, the sense of these discussions seemed to be: that fund moneys should be used in ways that promote the goal of reducing tobacco use; that there should not be any overarching mandate to integrate tobacco programs with alcohol and drug programs, but there should be flexibility to coordinate tobacco programs with alcohol and drug programs, when appropriate.

Respectfully submitted,

Claudia Horack Bristow

Legislative Counsel