00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12                                                                                         
01 Relating to federal claims against funds obtained by settlement of state tobacco                                        
02 litigation.                                                                                                             
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
04  WHEREAS the State of Alaska settled its litigation against the tobacco industry on                                   
05 November 23, 1998; and                                                                                                  
06  WHEREAS the federal government has declined to bring its own lawsuit against the                                     
07 tobacco industry; and                                                                                                   
08  WHEREAS the federal government, through the Health Care Financing                                                    
09 Administration, has asserted that it is entitled to a significant share of the state settlement on                      
10 the basis that it represents the federal share of Medicaid costs; and                                                   
11  WHEREAS the federal government asserts that it is authorized and obligated, under                                    
12 the Social Security Act, to collect its share of any settlement funds attributed to Medicaid; and                       
13  WHEREAS the state tobacco lawsuit was brought for violation of state law under state                                 
14 law theories, and the state lawsuit did not make any federal claims; and                                                

01  WHEREAS the state bore all the risk and expense in the litigation brought in state                                   
02 court and settled without any assistance from the federal government; and                                               
03  WHEREAS the state is entitled to all of the funds negotiated in the tobacco settlement                               
04 agreement without any federal claim;                                                                                    
05  BE IT RESOLVED that the Twenty-First Alaska State Legislature respectfully                                           
06 requests the Congress to enact and the President to sign legislation to prohibit any federal                            
07 claim against money obtained by settlement of state tobacco litigation.                                                 
08  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                              
09 United States; to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S.                                     
10 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                       
11 delegation in Congress.