State of Illinois
91st General Assembly
Legislation

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91_HB4209eng

 
HB4209 Engrossed                               LRB9111227DJcd

 1        AN ACT concerning tobacco proceeds.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section   5.   The  Tobacco Product Manufacturers' Escrow
 5    Act is amended by changing Section 5 as follows:

 6        (30 ILCS 168/5)
 7        Sec. 5.  Findings and Purpose.
 8        (a)  Cigarette smoking  presents  serious  public  health
 9    concerns to the State of Illinois and to the citizens of this
10    the  State.   The Surgeon General has determined that smoking
11    causes  lung  cancer,  heart  disease,  and   other   serious
12    diseases,  and  that  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of
13    tobacco-related  deaths in the United States each year. These
14    diseases most often do not appear until many years after  the
15    person in question begins smoking.
16        (b)  Cigarette  smoking  also  presents serious financial
17    concerns for the State of  Illinois.   Under  certain  health
18    care  programs,  the  State  may  have  a legal obligation to
19    provide medical assistance to  eligible  persons  for  health
20    conditions  associated  with  cigarette  smoking,  and  those
21    persons  may have a legal entitlement to receive such medical
22    assistance.
23        (c)  Under these programs, the  State  pays  millions  of
24    dollars  each  year  to  provide medical assistance for these
25    persons  for  health  conditions  associated  with  cigarette
26    smoking.
27        (d)  It is the policy  of  the  State  of  Illinois  that
28    financial  burdens  imposed on the State by cigarette smoking
29    be borne by tobacco product manufacturers rather than by  the
30    State  to the extent that such manufacturers either determine
31    to enter into a  settlement  with  the  State  or  are  found
 
HB4209 Engrossed            -2-                LRB9111227DJcd
 1    culpable by the courts.
 2        (e)  On  November 23, 1998, leading United States tobacco
 3    product manufacturers entered into  a  settlement  agreement,
 4    entitled the "Master Settlement Agreement", with the State of
 5    Illinois.   The  Master  Settlement Agreement obligates these
 6    manufacturers, in return for a release of past, present,  and
 7    certain  future  claims  against  them  as  described  in the
 8    Agreement, to pay substantial sums to the State (tied in part
 9    to their volume of sales);  to  fund  a  national  foundation
10    devoted  to  the  interests  of  public  health;  and to make
11    substantial  changes  in  their  advertising  and   marketing
12    practices  and  corporate  culture,  with  the  intention  of
13    reducing underage smoking.
14        (f)  It  would  be contrary to the policy of the State of
15    Illinois if tobacco product manufacturers who  determine  not
16    to  enter  into  such a settlement could use a resulting cost
17    advantage to derive large, short-term profits  in  the  years
18    before  liability  may  arise without ensuring that the State
19    will have an eventual source of recovery from  them  if  they
20    are  proven  to  have  acted  culpably.   It  is  thus in the
21    interest of the  State  of  Illinois  to  require  that  such
22    manufacturers  establish a reserve fund to guarantee a source
23    of  compensation  and  to  prevent  such  manufacturers  from
24    deriving  large,  short-term  profits   and   then   becoming
25    judgment-proof before liability may arise.
26    (Source: P.A. 91-41, eff. 6-30-99.)

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