IDAHO TO TUCK AWAY TOBACCO SUIT MONEY

The state Senate voted Thursday to stash the first two payments from the nationwide tobacco settlement into a savings account, upsetting tobacco opponents who said the money should go for prevention and treatment.

The 31-3 vote followed the budget recommendation of Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, with only Democrats voting "no."

But Sen. Jack Riggs, R-Coeur d'Alene, spoke out against treating the money like other state funds. "This money was intended to be used in the health-related areas, including tobacco treatment and substance treatment," he said. "I didn't want this to pass and the money get lost." At issue is $32 million that the state is due in two chunks, one this spring and the next a year later. Riggs and Sen. Laird Noh, R-Kimberly, distributed a letter from a coalition of health groups urging that at least a quarter of the money go to combat tobacco use and its effects, especially in children. Caryn Esplin of the Idaho PTA said, "A key reason we got the tobacco settlement money was because it was obvious the tobacco companies were targeting children. So isn't it a logical place for the money to go?" Representatives of other health groups were upset they never got a chance to testify on the plan. The measure zoomed out of the Legislature's budget committee without a public hearing and easily passed the Senate. It's expected to pass the House and go to the governor next week. Kempthorne says the money isn't a sure thing and putting it in the "budget stabilization fund" now is just "prudent." The idea is to head off a law that would require the state to dump $16 million into that account this year if state revenues grow by 4 percent or more. Several plans to revise that law are in the works. The governor essentially traded $32 million the state does not have now and will not get in full for another 15 months. In exchange, he gets $16 million he needs to balance a budget that already squeezes support in critical areas like state aid to public schools. "This is a one-time proposal," said Kempthorne's press secretary, Mark Snider. "We'll be getting that money for years." But the handful of Senate Democrats objected. "What we end up with is we tend to lose track of where that money came from," said Minority Leader Clint Stennett of Ketchum. Riggs, who voted with the rest of the Republicans for the plan, said routing one year's worth of payments to the savings fund makes sense now, but he'd like to see a formal commission set up to decide how best to spend the settlement money over the long term to fight tobacco-related problems and promote health. Idaho is scheduled to get more than $700 million over the next 25 years. "I think we really have to look at it," Riggs said. "This is a significant amount of money."

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