Utah Attorney General Jan Graham on Friday heralded a $206 billion settlement between 46 states and big tobacco as "a monumental win for each and every state."
Utah stands to recover $836 million - 61/2 times what it sued four major tobacco companies for in 1996. The settlement will be paid over 25 years, with the first payment of $10 million expected early in 1999. Thereafter, payments to Utah will be about $30 million a year.The state's next step is to submit the settlement agreement to U.S. District Judge Dee Benson and ask that the court enter the final consent decree.
Graham said the most pressing issue ahead is deciding how Utah will spend its settlement funds. In a prepared statement issued Friday, Graham said she will advocate a "specific spending plan."
"By law, that is not my decision and belongs solely to the Legislature and the governor. I will, however, be actively urging them to dedicate a significant amount of this money to the goal of our lawsuit: curbing the harm tobacco does to young people," Graham said.
"Of 100 teens who pick up cigarettes, 70 will still be smoking five years later; 33 will die of a smoking-caused disease. That puts our challenge in perspective."
The negotiated tobacco deal won unanimous support from the states, as each signed on before the Friday deadline. Utah was one of the first states to accept the proposal.
Mississippi, Florida, Texas and Minnesota have already settled claims against tobacco companies for a total of $40 billion.
The tobacco companies issued a statement Friday indicating they will sign the settlement Monday.
The agreement calls for the tobacco companies to make payments to the states over 25 years and finance antismoking programs in exchange for resolving remaining state health-care claims for smokers.
In exchange for payments, the states will drop lawsuits that had posed an enormous legal and financial threat to the tobacco industry.
The tobacco companies also will spend $1.7 billion to study youth smoking and finance antismoking advertising and accept curbs on marketing practices that critics say appeal to children.
Those practices include putting cartoon characters in ads, advertising on billboards and putting cigarette brand names on shirts, hats and other merchandise.