Bill Text: NJ A3091 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Supplemental appropriation to DOH for $7,560,000 for anti-tobacco programs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-08 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [A3091 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A3091-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Supplemental appropriation to DOH for $7,560,000 for anti-tobacco programs.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Supplement to "An Act making appropriations for the support of the State Government and the several public purposes for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 and regulating the disbursement thereof," approved June 28, 2013 (P.L.2013, c.77).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. In addition to the amounts appropriated under P.L.2013, c.77, there is appropriated out of the General Fund the following sum for the purpose specified:
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46 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 20 Physical and Mental Health 21 Health Services DIRECT STATE SERVICES |
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03-4230 Public Health Protection Services ......................................... |
$7,560 |
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Direct State Services: |
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03 School Based Programs and Youth Anti-Smoking ....................................................... |
($5,760) |
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03 Anti-Smoking Programs .............................. |
($1,800) |
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In order to permit flexibility in the handling of the various appropriations for anti--tobacco initiative accounts hereinabove, funds may be transferred to and from the following items of appropriations: School Based Programs and Youth Anti-Smoking, and Anti-Smoking Programs. Such transfers are subject to the approval of the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting. Notice thereof shall be provided to the Legislative Budget and Finance Officer on the effective date of the approved transfer.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill appropriates $7.56 million for anti-smoking programs in the Department of Health, providing the same level of appropriation that these programs received in fiscal year 2010, prior to their elimination from the State budget.
The bill appropriates $5.76 million for school-based programs and youth anti-smoking, and $1.8 million for general anti-smoking programs. The bill also restores a language provision that would allow funds to be transferred between the two accounts, which was included in annual appropriations acts prior to the elimination of these two line items.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 11,000 lives are prematurely lost due to tobacco use in New Jersey each year. In addition, tobacco use costs the State more than $3 billion in health care bills annually, including nearly $1 billion in Medicaid payments alone. This supplemental appropriation represents a small step toward restoring the $30 million that the State appropriated for tobacco prevention in fiscal years 2001 through 2003, which is still far short of the roughly $120 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
