Legislature(1997 - 1998)
04/14/1997 03:37 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
JOINT MEETING
SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL
SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL
SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 14, 1997
3:37 p.m.
SENATE MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Wilken, Chairman
Senator Loren Leman, Vice Chairman
Senator Johnny Ellis
SENATE MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyda Green
Senator Jerry Ward
HOUSE MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Con Bunde, Chairman
Representative Joe Green, Vice Chairman
Representative Brian Porter
Representative Fred Dyson
Representative J. Allen Kemplen
HOUSE MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Al Vezey
Representative Tom Brice
OTHER HOUSE MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Pete Kelly
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
DISCUSSION OF TOBACCO TAXATION, ENFORCEMENT AND LITIGATION,
INCLUDING THE LIGGETT TOBACCO GROUP SETTLEMENT PRESENTATIONS:
ATTORNEY GENERAL GRANT WOODS OF ARIZONA
ATTORNEY GENERAL BRUCE BOTELHO
COMMISSIONER KAREN PERDUE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL
SERVICES
(* First public hearing)
PREVIOUS ACTION
No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
KAREN PERDUE, Commissioner
Department of Health and Social Services
P.O. Box 110601
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Telephone: (907) 465-3030
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed tobacco use and public health.
GRANT WOODS, Attorney General
State of Arizona
1275 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Telephone: (602) 542-5025
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed anti-tobacco tools for decreasing
use and the Liggett tobacco settlement.
BRUCE BOTELHO, Attorney General
Department of Law
P.O. Box 110300
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Telephone: (907) 465-2133
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed status of tobacco litigation in
Alaska.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 97-30, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIRMAN GARY WILKEN called the joint meeting of the Senate/House
Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committees to order
at 3:37 p.m. Members present at the call to order were Senators
Wilken, Leman and Ellis and Representatives Bunde, Green, Porter
and Kemplen. Senators absent were Green and Ward; and
Representatives Vezey and Brice. Representative Dyson arrived at
3:51 p.m.
DISCUSSION OF TOBACCO TAXATION, ENFORCEMENT AND LITIGATION,
INCLUDING THE LIGGETT TOBACCO GROUP SETTLEMENT PRESENTATIONS
Number 0008
CHAIRMAN WILKEN announced the committees would hear discussion on
tobacco taxation, enforcement and litigation, including the Liggett
tobacco group settlement presentations. Chairman Wilken turned the
gavel over to Chairman Bunde.
Number 0022
KAREN PERDUE, Commissioner, Department of Health and Social
Services, stated that this meeting is part of the multi-prong
process to reduce tobacco use in Alaska. She stated that tobacco
tax, education, enforcement and litigation are the four-prongs of
the department's agenda. She reminded the committee that the
Alaska Medicaid Program is a fundamental health care program that
the state makes a commitment to each year. She continued that the
legislature is approving $350 million worth of funds for the
Medicaid program. The amount of funds that have been paid by
Alaskans for the health care of injured smokers is in excess of
$100 million over a 13 year period. She explained that the cost to
the Alaskan public to deal with the injuries of smoking and tobacco
use are great and is one of the reasons for the ligation. She
added that the ligation targets the issue of prevention of tobacco
use for Alaskan youths.
Number 0050
CHAIRMAN BUNDE introduced Attorney General Grant Woods and stated
that he was first elected in 1990, as Arizona's Attorney General
and re-elected in 1994 with 80 percent of the vote. He presides
over a staff of 850 employees including 300 attorneys and is the
chief counsel and law enforcement officer for the state of Arizona.
Attorney General Woods was named "Attorney General of the Year" in
1995. Chairman Bunde thanked Attorney General Woods for coming
before the committees to help Alaskans put in place an economic
barrier to stop youths from starting to smoke, as well as to
recapture the high costs that tobacco has brought to the state.
Number 0098
GRANT WOODS, Attorney General, State of Arizona, stated that he has
been attorney general for seven years. He declared that this issue
is the most important issue that he has been involved with, because
it is an important social problem that everyone in the country is
sharing. He continued that tobacco has been part of the country
since the beginning, however, years ago people did not understand
the negative health problems associated with tobacco. He stated
that the tobacco industry discovered the negative effects of
tobacco prior to letting the public know which is a part of the
basis for some of the lawsuits around the country. He stated that
there are five companies that are producing a product that, with
its intended use, will shorten its consumers lives and/or kill
them. He asserted that it is a unique characteristic, as they are
other products that may cause harm, but only through abuse, not
with the intended usage. He stated that tobacco has no positive
health effects and if used as intended it is almost assured that
negative health consequences will occur.
Number 0132
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS continued that the economic problems
associated with tobacco are severe. Alaska is on the higher end of
suffering health related problems for its citizens because of
tobacco and consequently, a good portion of those citizens are
going to require medical assistance. He stated that the tax payers
are the ones paying rather than the tobacco user or the tobacco
companies.
Number 0165
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that the solutions are in
Commissioner Perdue's four-prong approach. He referred to
education and stated that he has been in negotiations with the
Liggett Company, the fifth largest producer of tobacco products in
the United States. He declared that the company's largest concern
is counter marketing, as they are aware that education of the
negative effects of tobacco use of youths, can change their
behavior. He asserted that there will always be some kids who will
smoke and use drugs, but a large percent of youths can be prevented
from smoking just through education. He stated that two facts need
to be kept in mind; 440,000 Americans die every year from smoking
related illnesses and that if children do not smoke by the time
they turn 20, then they will probably not smoke for the rest of
their lives. He stated that 90 percent of the people that smoke,
started smoking as teen-agers. He stated that it is difficult for
children to understand all the problems related to smoking. In
addition to the fact that the tobacco companies spend $6 billion a
year in the United States in advertising, a good portion of it
aimed at teen-agers. He asserted that the reason being that the
companies lose 440,000 customers a year and need to pick up the
teen-age market, mainly because the companies will not get people
to start smoking after the teen-age years. He stated the goal is
to educate children better by hopefully using funds from the
tobacco industry and through a tobacco tax. He was hopeful that
the FDA would also eliminate tobacco advertising towards children.
He declared that 3,000 children today in the United States will
smoke for the first time and at least 1,000 will die due to
smoking.
Number 0228
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS urged, as a republican fiscal conservative,
that the committee pass the tobacco tax because it is a public
health situation. He believed that the people who smoke, as well
as the tobacco companies, ought to be funding the efforts to deal
with the problem that they are creating.
Number 0252
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that an economist of Phillip Morris,
has stated that if the tobacco tax was raised to $1 a pack across
the country, the result will be a 45 percent reduction of smoking
in the United States. He stated that if this holds true, the
health care costs would plummet in this country and in this state.
He stated that with this tax, the statistics indicate that teen-agers will quit
that other economists have come up with different numbers but
stated that the bottom line is that the tobacco tax will have an
impact on consumption.
Number 0271
CHAIRMAN BUNDE asked for the record, that it is Phillip Morris' top
management stating that if the taxes on tobacco are increased,
usage will go down and $1 increase would reduce usage by 45
percent, more among youths.
Number 0275
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS replied that it is correct. He stated that
if you look at all the economists' results, even the tobacco
institute itself, they indicate that an increase in tax will cause
the usage to go down, especially among youths. He affirmed that it
is a regressive tax but the health benefits would be skewed as
well, poor people will have more health benefits because they will
quit in larger numbers than wealthier people. He stated that from
a state leader's perspective, that is not so bad because those are
the people whose medical bills they are paying.
Number 0292
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that one argument is the tax will
cause the creation of a black market. He stated that in talking
with 21 other attorneys general, whose states have raised the
tobacco tax, have not seen this result. However, it is possible
but as of yet it has not been a problem. He explained that in
Arizona there is a large Native American community, and they have
not seen a large black market problem on the reservations. He
stated that Arizona has not seen a rise in organized crime related
to an underground movement to sell cigarettes at a cheaper price.
Number 0311
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS addressed the issue of enforcement as a tool
to stop teen-age smoking. He stated that logically it makes sense
but practically it does not. The reality is that every law
enforcement budget in the United States is strained and teen-age
smoking is an important problem but does not rate with the more
serious crimes. He asserted that it is impossible to put teen-age
smoking at a high enough priority where enforcement will actually
take place. He gave the example of the city of Phoenix, as there
has been one enforcement action in the 1990s.
Number 0330
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS addressed the issue of litigation. He
stated that he hoped the state was offended that the tobacco
industry sued them for thinking about suing the tobacco industry.
He advised that the tobacco industry does this, because they think
that they can pick on smaller states and intimidate them from
taking the industry on. He continued that the days the tobacco
industry wins in the court room, are over. The reasons being that
the truth is out as a result of the Liggett Tobacco Company's
agreement to turn state's evidence on the other four United States
tobacco companies. He advised that now it is not just attorneys
general, public health officials or every doctor in the United
States, stating that cigarettes cause heart disease, emphysema and
cancer and that nicotine is addictive; but a tobacco company. He
stated that Liggett has agreed that they have manipulated that
level of nicotine in cigarettes to make it difficult for consumers
to quit. The company has agreed to cooperate and will now be on
the plaintiffs' table in the lawsuit against the four remaining
tobacco companies. He explained that in the 1960s before there was
a warning, as to the medical consequences of smoking cigarettes,
the tobacco companies knew that their product caused the above
mentioned illnesses and/or death. He continued that the companies
knew that nicotine was addictive and that there was a possibility
that they could come up with a safer cigarette but did not inform
the American public, nor did they produce a safer cigarette. He
stated that he believes they conspired together to make sure no
company did that because it would destroy tobacco's market place.
Number 0350
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that the reality is that a number of
deaths from tobacco use did not need to occur if the tobacco
companies did the responsible thing and disclosed what they knew.
He informed the committee that Mississippi is going to trial in
July, Florida in August and Texas in September. As of last night
the total number of states that will be going into trial is 22. He
stated that the states are asking for $1 billion to $5 billion in
damages. He predicted that the states will win the lawsuits and
then the tobacco companies will be in financial trouble.
Number 0400
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS advised that Alaska move aggressively
forward to prevent harm to Alaska's youth. Education is very
important to inform youths of the reality of tobacco. He
reiterated that the tax will require the smoker to pay for the
problems caused by the product as well as offset the incidence of
the problem. He urged support of enforcement efforts and community
unity in this effort. He stated that Joe Camel is everywhere and
is as recognizable to the average six-year-old as Mickey Mouse,
which is wrong. He emphasized that lives are at stake and it is
the lives of the Alaskan teen-agers who are currently making the
decision about a product that could ultimately kill them.
Number 0431
BRUCE BOTELHO, Attorney General, Department of Law, thanked the
committees for this hearing and its active role on this issue. He
also thanked Attorney General Woods for his efforts in Alaska, as
an instrumental person in improving the department's management
practices. He reiterated the statement that this is a serious
social issue that requires a multi-faceted attack in order to bring
it under control. He explained that the tobacco industry has
chosen to sue Alaska, to prevent Alaska from joining with other
states against the tobacco companies. He informed the committee
that a motion has been filed to dismiss the case. He stated that
he is confident that there will be action on that in the near
future, as it is pending before Judge Sedgewick in Anchorage.
Number 0457
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO explained that the department has filed,
with the Governor's approval, a 150 page compliant against 12 of
the largest tobacco companies doing business in this state and in
the United States. He stated that the case has been filed in the
Alaska Superior Court and assigned to Judge Larry Weeks, presiding
judge for the first judicial district. He stated that the
complaint outlines the conspiracy, dating back to 1953, by an
industry that knew of the health hazards and the risk of tobacco
use, but went out of its way to suppress any scientific research,
which would demonstrate its harm to the public. He stated that
this has enabled the tobacco industry to not develop safer tobacco
products. He stated that this conspiracy shows that the tobacco
industry has manipulated the nicotine content in its products as a
way to hook and maintain its users as addicts. He referred to
research done by the industry itself, comparing the addictive
quality of nicotine to cocaine. He reiterated that the tobacco
industry targets youths in their campaigns, as 90 percent of six-year-olds iden
Botelho brought in a copy of Rolling Stone magazine to show a Camel
advertisement that enabled users to save money on Ticket Master
tickets with "Camel cash".
Number 0477
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO stated that with the information available
now on the effects of tobacco use combined with the Liggett
settlement, would prove irresponsible for Alaska not to join in.
Especially, with the opportunity for Alaska to recover public
monies that have been expended for the public's health and to help
remove marketing to youths. He informed the committee that he
intends to put out a request for proposals to private law firms so
that this matter will be dealt with on a contingency fee basis, the
consequence being to make sure there is no impact on the general
fund budget. This is an arrangement that has been worked out in
most states.
Number 0519
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO thanked Assistant Attorney General Dee
Schwartz and Assistant Attorney General Doug Gardner for their time
and work on this complaint.
Number 0526
CHAIRMAN BUNDE asked what Arizona is seeking in monetary damages
and what would Alaska be looking for.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS replied that they are still working on their
damages model. He advised to look at the state's population and
Medicaid claims. He stated that Arizona has sued the tobacco
companies for contributing to the delinquency of minors. If it is
illegal to sell tobacco to minors and it is proven that they are
advertising to minors to commit an illegal act, they should be
liable. He stated that the trial date is for October of 1998. He
assessed that Alaska probably could not get a trial date before
1999. He stated that the population of Arizona is about 3 to 4
million people. He stated that in addition to himself, two others
from his office and two outside lawyers are working on the issue.
The tobacco industry has hired eleven Arizona law firms, every
lobbyist in town and a public relations firm. He stated that it
was prudent that Alaska waited for the facts to be developed before
getting involved. He commended Alaska's participation.
Number 0554
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO stated that Alaska is perceiving in terms
of Medicaid coverage, over the last fifteen years, to be around
$150 million and is also considering additional counts, such as
contributing to the delinquency of minors and several accounts
pertaining to consumer protection and anti-trust statutes.
Number 0558
CHAIRMAN BUNDE stated that the manufacturer is being sued and asked
what the possibilities are of suing the distributor.
Number 0561
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO replied that it is a potential outcome but
at this point it makes sense to focus collectively on the
manufacturers themselves. He stated that Alaska is not in a
position financially to venture too far off the primary target.
Number 0572
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that there are a lot of possibilities
as the evidence unfolds, but in that case it would have to be a
provable existence of knowledge in regards to the harmful effects
and he stated that he was unsure if that exists. He suggested the
avenue of looking at the lawyers involved, as to their knowledge of
the crimes that were being committed and if so they should be sued
as well. He specified that Oklahoma has been the only state that
has sued the lawyers. He referred back to the Liggett case and
stated that they have not seen the most sensitive document because
the company has asserted it attorney client privileges. He stated
that the various judges are currently deciding whether those
documents are privileged or not. They will not be privileged if
the documents show evidence of crime or fraud.
TAPE 97-30, SIDE B
Number 0001
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that from Arizona's perspective if
the documents prove that lawyers perpetrated the fraud, they should
be sued as well.
Number 0012
SENATOR LOREN LEMAN asked how much the tobacco tax was increased to
in Arizona and when was it implemented. He asked what the results
have been.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS replied that the tax was decided by
referendum two years ago to be about 20 cents. He stated that the
statistics relating to the results are not in yet. He stated that
a vote of the people enabled the income from the tax to be directed
to specific areas. He stated that the tobacco industry has fought
every step of the way to avoid having the money spent on counter
marketing.
Number 0026
SENATOR LEMAN asked if he has the support of the legislature and
other branches in Arizona and pointed out that Attorney General
Woods was elected into his position.
Number 0033
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS responded that it depends on who you were to
ask. The legislature has not been involved in it, therefor it is
varied to the individual. He stated that his guess would be that
the majority of the legislators support the lawsuit. He informed
the committee that the governor has multiple views on the subject,
as he originally supported and requested the lawsuit but then
backed off the Medicaid plan and asked him not to pursue it. He
continued that the governor's last position is that they should be
able to win the case on the consumer fraud and anti-trust claims
and that the Medicaid plan is not needed. Attorney General Woods
explained that the governor and the Mississippi attorney general
are the only ones who take that view. He stated that the
republican governors that support the lawsuits are Tommy Thompson,
Rudy Giuliani, Christy Whitman and the Kansas governor. He
stressed that support has crossed party lines.
Number 0045
SENATOR LEMAN asked Attorney General Botelho if he will be
requesting punitive damages in this litigation.
Number 0050
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO replied that they will be seeking treble
damages under the anti-trust provision, a specific provision within
that section of the act.
SENATOR LEMAN asked if there was anything in HB 58 that is
currently drafted that would negatively impact this litigation.
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO replied the only issue that may be present
is if we were required to prove, in regards to Medicaid, on a
person by person basis and that would be an issue of the statute of
repose, as to how far back we could reach. He advised that he does
not see that as an issue because they are not restricted in terms
of consumer protection and anti-trust recoveries, however, it would
come into play under the negligence claim if it was to become an
issue.
Number 0057
SENATOR LEMAN responded that he did not think he concurred with him
on the statute of repose and deferred to Representative Porter to
respond to that. He asked were he could get a copy of the filing
and if a summary of it is available.
Number 0061
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO replied that a copy would be available to
the committee and there is a press release that summarizes the
case, very briefly. He encouraged the committee to read the first
10 to 15 pages of the complaint, as it gives a good overview of the
issue.
Number 0066
SENATOR WILKEN thanked Attorney General Botelho for his efforts and
hoped that the legislature will support him in the effort. He
said to Attorney General Woods, "I take great comfort in you
talking about being a republican and you too have identified the
fact that all of us support the choices of other people when they
make the choices to smoke. As an elected republican, ran on the
issue of a tobacco tax and am very comfortable because I, like you,
have identified that cost and I do not think I should participate
in those choices. So I thank you for reminding us and the public
that indeed it does cross party lines." He asked how he addressed
the issue to children in Arizona.
Number 0075
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS replied that they have contracted a small
public relations company and it appears their efforts are having an
impact on teen-agers. He continued that a lot of money has been
spent on advertising, targeted to teen-agers, about the negative
aspects of smoking. He stated that hopefully merchandizing by
tobacco companies will soon be banned. He stated that Arizona has
a counter merchandizing campaign in effect and is successfully
selling it, redirecting the money into more anti-tobacco efforts.
The key is having the advertising efforts on the teen-agers' level.
He explained the "ash-kicker" which is a mobile home that is taken
to various schools, that the students go through to see exhibits,
such as a smokers lung's, heart and brain. He stated that no
matter who the teen-ager is, no one walks out of there thinking
they want their lungs to look like that. He identified California
as having positive results, in that their anti-smoking campaign has
brought down the rate of teen-age smoking significantly. Governor
Wilson has just reinstated the campaign as it was suspended by the
powers that be. He advised that Alaska needs to actively have a
counter market campaign because it does work.
Number 0117
SENATOR WILKEN asked if in Arizona the program is run out of the
Department of Education or out of the Department of Health and
Social Services.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS replied that it is out of the Department of
Health Services.
Number 0119
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN asked, with 23 states having filed
lawsuits, if Alaska could take advantage of some of the briefs that
have been filed. He also asked if there is any thought that the
remaining states, with the exception of North Carolina, will file
litigation.
Number 0123
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that the first state to sue was
Mississippi and it was quite a battle but he agreed that North
Carolina and Virginia would probably not be candidates for this.
He stated that everyone is working together, anything in the
participating states will be shared with Alaska's attorney general.
He stated that what happens in the first three lawsuits is going to
be quite significant. If the states lost it would not fare well,
if the tobacco companies lost he was unsure as to what would
happen. He asserted that appeals would be unlikely because if the
judgements are in the amount of $10 billion, he raised the question
of how would they would be able to bond the appeal. He asserted
that the tobacco industry does not have that kind of money. He
stated that there is a possibility of a movement towards
settlement. He continued that if there was another way to solve
this issue, without suing, he would be open to it but as it stands
there is not and now it is a matter of the outcome of the first
three lawsuits.
Number 0164
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked if the litigation includes in the
damages, the court costs and if these costs would cause the tobacco
companies to have to raise the price of their products.
Number 0171
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS replied that domestic tobacco is important
to them but their future is non-domestic tobacco. He stated that
they are doing very well in the rest of the world. He stated that
the situation in China is unbelievable. He stated, however, he did
believe that losing the lawsuits would cause them to have to find
revenue.
Number 0184
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO stated that Alaska operates uniquely under
the "English Rule", which entitles parties to both their costs and
reasonable attorney fees. He informed that part of the recovery
that they will be seeking is the cost of the attorney fees.
Number 0190
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked "You think those will be elevated to the
supreme court or will we hear them or will these all be decided
among the courts?"
Number 0191
ATTORNEY GENERAL BOTELHO replied that there will be a lot of motion
practice as there is right now and a lot of attempts to test the
limits of the law, both before and after trial.
Number 0195
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN PORTER stated that Attorney General Botelho
and himself have been discussing tort reform for some time and are
continuing to do so. He pointed out that the statute of repose has
an exemption that deals with anyone who is committing fraud or
deceit and another exception that deals with anyone who is trying
to hide facts. He stated even if that statute was not in existence
product liability is exempted anyway. He stated that there is a
new expanded proposal for punitive damages that seems to fit this
bill perfectly.
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER stated that he has just finished reading
Runaway Jury and referred to the extra judicial activity that has
been occurring on both sides. He asked if Attorney General Woods
has encountered any of those activities in his preparation or in
previous trials.
Number 0223
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS responded that he read the book, after the
fact, but in Arizona he has not encountered anything relating to
that. He continued that the case is on the front line, in national
news, and to do some of those things in the face of tremendous
scrutiny would be difficult. He is concerned that any resolution
of the lawsuits would have to go through congress where the tobacco
companies have done very well in the past. The leverage is that
there could not be a resolution without the concurrence of the
suing attorneys general. He stated that he would not concur with
anything that does not fundamentally change the way the tobacco
companies do business.
Number 0233
CHAIRMAN BUNDE acknowledged the presence of Representative Pete
Kelly. He stated that there has been a poll in Alaska by a
respected pollster, that indicates 64 to 73 percent of the people
support the tobacco tax depending on the form and the details of
the form that the tax takes. He asked Attorney General Woods what
kinds of polls in Arizona have been performed.
Number 0238
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS stated that he can not remember all the
details but the tax passed and that is indicative of support of the
tax, despite the industry's expensive campaign against it. He
stated that they did see some "runaway jury" tactics in that
effort. He stated that he thinks the public understands that the
tobacco companies have not been straight forward and the users and
the companies should be paying, not the average tax payer. He
reiterated the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns to
youths. He stated that selling the product to adults after the
risks are identified is one thing, but selling it to youths has got
to stop.
Number 0268
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked if there was a media or Hollywood
approach to suppress smoking on screen.
Number 0284
ATTORNEY GENERAL WOODS responded that there have been approaches
but it ultimately has to be that the tobacco companies agree to
stop that. He stated that they have denied it happens, but product
placement is a big deal and cigarette smoking in movies is being
seen.
Number 0301
CHAIRMAN BUNDE thanked and applauded the efforts. He stated that
if there is any justice then the tobacco industry will not only be
faced with a "runaway jury", but perhaps a "runaway legislature".
ADJOURNMENT
Number 0305
CHAIRMAN BUNDE adjourned the joint meeting of the Senate/House
Health, Education and Social Services committees at 4:52 p.m.
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