Kentucky Receives Over $105 Million from Tobacco Settlement

Kentucky received $105,477,754.14 as the state’s share of this year’s Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) payment, Attorney General Russell Coleman said on Tuesday.

In 1998, Kentucky was among 51 states and territories who reached the MSA with four major cigarette manufacturers. The historic agreement resolved dozens of state lawsuits against the tobacco companies for Medicaid and other health costs related to smoking. In addition to the annual compensation, the MSA seeks to reduce underage smoking and decrease new smokers. Each state determines how the settlement funds are used.

Here in Kentucky, half of the funds received under the MSA are allocated for agricultural diversification through grants distributed by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. The rest of the money is split evenly between the Early Childhood Development Fund and the Kentucky Health Care Improvement Fund. The General Assembly’s Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee oversees all agricultural grant application decisions and monitors the expenditures of the other funds.

Read the source article at Grant County News Online