Idaho State Statutes - Idaho Attorney Directory

(a) Cigarette smoking presents serious
public health concerns to the state of Idaho ("state") and to the citizens of
the state. The surgeon general has determined that smoking causes lung cancer,
heart disease and other serious diseases, and that there are hundreds of
thousands of tobacco-related deaths in the United States each year. These
diseases most often do not appear until many years after the person in
question begins smoking.
(b) Cigarette smoking also presents serious financial concerns for the
state. Under certain health-care programs, the state may have a legal
obligation to provide medical assistance to eligible persons for health
conditions associated with cigarette smoking, and those persons may have a
legal entitlement to receive such medical assistance.
(c) Under these programs, the state pays millions of dollars each year to
provide medical assistance for these persons for health conditions associated
with cigarette smoking.
(d) It is the policy of the state that financial burdens imposed on the
state by cigarette smoking be borne by tobacco product manufacturers rather
than by the state to the extent that such manufacturers either determine to
enter into a settlement with the state or are found culpable by the courts.
(e) On November 23, 1998, leading United States tobacco product
manufacturers entered into a settlement agreement, entitled the "Master
Settlement Agreement," with the state. The Master Settlement Agreement
obligates these manufacturers, in return for a release of past, present and
certain future claims against them as described therein, to pay substantial
sums to the state (tied in part to their volume of sales); to fund a national
foundation devoted to the interests of public health; and to make substantial
changes in their advertising and marketing practices and corporate culture,
with the intention of reducing underage smoking.
(f) It would be contrary to the policy of the state if tobacco product
manufacturers who determine not to enter into such a settlement could use a
resulting cost advantage to derive large, short-term profits in the years
before liability may arise without ensuring that the state will have an
eventual source of recovery from them if they are proven to have acted
culpably. It is thus in the interest of the state to require that such
manufacturers establish a reserve fund to guarantee a source of compensation
and to prevent such manufacturers from deriving large, short-term profits and
then becoming judgment-proof before liability may arise.

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