Attorney General Andy Beshear has announced that Kentucky received more than $102 million in tobacco settlement money last week.
“For nearly 20 years the landmark Master Settlement Agreement has made a positive impact on the Commonwealth, supporting early childhood education, health programs, cancer research, and helping to aid our farmers and create sustainable farm-based businesses,” Beshear said. “Since the first payment in 1999, Kentucky has collected over $2 billion under the agreement, and is on pace to collect nearly $2.5 billion over the first 25 years of the agreement.”
On behalf of the state, Beshear’s office monitors and enforces the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) and the related statutes, in cooperation with other agencies including the Department of Revenue and the Office of State Budget Director.
Each state determines how the MSA funds are distributed and spent.
In Kentucky, the General Assembly has designated half of the MSA funds be invested in agricultural diversification through grants issued by the Governor’s Office of Agriculture Policy, which administers the Kentucky Agriculture Development Fund.
Andy Beshear
Under the MSA, the tobacco companies agreed to make annual payments, in perpetuity, worth approximately $208 billion to states and territories that are signatories to the agreement.
Since 1998, tobacco companies have had to compensate states for some of the medical costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses and restrict advertising and promotion of cigarettes in the United States. The payments are determined according to a formula calculated, in part, by the number of cigarettes sold by companies that agreed to join the settlement.
The three largest cigarette manufacturers – Philip Morris USA, RJ Reynolds and Lorillard (the latter two now merged as Reynolds American) – pay most of the MSA payment.
The Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee oversees the determinations on grant applications from the agricultural fund. Kentucky’s additional MSA revenues are used to help improve the health outcomes of Kentucky children and families.
Office of the Attorney General
