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OCR Page 1 of 108TOBACCO-
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
legislation
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of this bill is: (1) to prevent children from using tobacco products; (2) to more effectively
inform the public of the dangers of using tobacco products; (3) to ensure that nicotine and tobacco
products are appropriately regulated by the Food and Drug Administration to better protect public
health; (4) to increase the price-per-pack of cigarettes to deter youth consumption; (5) to provide a
stream of revenue to finance smoking prevention, cessation and related health research initiatives; (6)
to require the tobacco industry to fund both Federal and State oversight of the tobacco industry,
enforcement efforts and a nationwide licensing system to prevent minors from obtaining tobacco
products; (7) to permit States to retain all monies recovered from the tobacco industry as a result of
litigation and settlements, including any federal share of Medicaid funds recovered, by permitting a
federal waiver of a delineated federal share of monies which are directed by States to supplement
health programs and smoking cessation and prevention; (8) to affirm the rights of individuals to access
to the courts, to civil trial by jury, and to damages to compensate them for harm caused by tobacco
products; (9) to provide a reasonable annual aggregate civil liability cap to those participating tobacco
manufacturers who enter a Protocol imposing and enforcing stringent marketing and advertising
restrictions on tobacco products; and (10) to establish a minimum federal standard for stringent
restrictions on smoking in public places.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION
The use of tobacco products poses a serious threat to public health. In the United States, over 400,000
people per year die from smoking related disease, including cancer, heart disease and emphysema. The
human and economic toll of tobacco use is enormous. The vast majority of tobacco users (90 percent)
take up the addiction in their teenage years. Three thousand youth begin smoking every day, one
thousand of whom will die prematurely from smoking-related disease. The American Cancer Society
calls youth consumption of tobacco a `pediatric epidemic.'
All Fifty States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories have
reached settlements of claims brought against the tobacco industry for recovery of the State taxpayer
borne costs of treating the smoking-related illnesses of their citizens. While those Settlement
Agreements provide substantial economic and injunctive relief to address the harm caused by tobacco
products, these Agreements could not and do not provide a comprehensive national solution to address
the public health problems associated with tobacco use.
On June 20, 1997, the state attorneys general, plaintiffs' attorneys and the industry reached an
agreement in principle to settle state and other civil suits. Under the settlement, the industry would
agree to tobacco advertising and marketing restrictions; nicotine and tobacco products would be
submitted to FDA regulation; the industry would agree to meet youth tobacco use reduction targets and
pay assessments for non-attainment of such targets; and the industry would pay up to $368 billion over
the next 25 years. In return, under the June 20th Proposed Resolution, the industry would receive
certain limitations on liability. However, comprehensive national legislation was required to
implement this agreement. The 105th Congress considered comprehensive legislation to implement the
goals of the June 20, 1997 Proposed Resolution; however, no legislation was ultimately enacted.
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