MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2006 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services; Appropriations
By: Representative Brown, Scott
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-13-403, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS IN THE HEALTH CARE TRUST FUND LAW; TO AMEND SECTION 43-13-405, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT ALL TOBACCO SETTLEMENT INSTALLMENT PAYMENTS MADE TO THE STATE SHALL BE DEPOSITED INTO THE HEALTH CARE TRUST FUND, INCLUDING ANY SETTLEMENT PAYMENTS MADE UNDER COURT ORDER FOR TOBACCO CESSATION PROGRAMS, EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN THIS ACT; TO EXTEND THE DATE OF THE REPEALER ON THAT SECTION; TO AMEND SECTION 43-13-407, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DIRECT THE LEGISLATURE TO APPROPRIATE A CERTAIN SUM ANNUALLY FROM THE TOBACCO SETTLEMENT PAYMENTS TO THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A HEALTHY MISSISSIPPI TO FUND A COMPREHENSIVE STATEWIDE TOBACCO EDUCATION AND PREVENTION PROGRAM; TO SPECIFY THE MINIMUM COMPONENTS OF THE PROGRAM; TO EXTEND THE DATE OF THE REPEALER ON THAT SECTION; TO AMEND SECTION 43-13-409, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXPAND THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE HEALTH CARE TRUST FUND; TO PROVIDE THAT THE BOARD SHALL REVIEW THE EXPENDITURES AND OUTCOMES OF THE PARTNERSHIP FOR A HEALTHY MISSISSIPPI; TO REQUIRE THE PARTNERSHIP TO PREPARE AN ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE BOARD; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 43-13-403, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-13-403. When used in this article, the following definitions shall apply, unless the context requires otherwise:
(a) "Health Care Trust Fund" means the trust fund established by Section 43-13-405 for the deposit of the funds received by the State of Mississippi as a result of the tobacco settlement, including income from the investment of those funds.
(b) "Health Care Expendable Fund" means the fund established by Section 43-13-407 for the annual transfer of certain funds from the Health Care Trust Fund that are available for appropriation by the Legislature.
(c) "Income" means all interest and dividends derived from the investment of any tobacco settlement funds and any capital gains from the sale or exchange of those investments.
(d) "Tobacco settlement" means the settlement of the case of Mike Moore, Attorney General ex rel. State of Mississippi v. The American Tobacco Company et al. (Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, Cause No. 94-1429) and the settlement of any case brought against tobacco companies by another state, and includes any later amendments and successor agreements.
(e) "Tobacco" means any cigarettes, cigars, cheroots, stogies, smoking tobacco (including granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, ready rubbed, and other kinds and forms of tobacco, or substitutes therefor, prepared in such manner as to be suitable for smoking in a pipe or cigarette) and including plug and twist chewing tobacco and snuff, when that "tobacco" is manufactured and prepared for sale or personal consumption. All words used in this paragraph shall be given the meaning as defined in the regulations of the Treasury Department of the United States of America.
(f) "Youth" includes minors and young adults.
SECTION 2. Section 43-13-405, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-13-405. (1) In accordance with the purposes of this article, there is established in the State Treasury the Health Care Trust Fund, into which shall be deposited Two Hundred Eighty Million Dollars ($280,000,000.00) of the funds received by the State of Mississippi as a result of the tobacco settlement as of the end of fiscal year 1999, and all tobacco settlement installment payments made in subsequent years, including any settlement payments made under court order for tobacco cessation programs, except as otherwise provided in Section 43-13-407(1), (2), (3) and (5). All income from the investment of the funds in the Health Care Trust Fund shall be credited to the account of the Health Care Trust Fund. The funds in the Health Care Trust Fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund.
(2) The Health Care Trust Fund shall remain inviolate and shall never be expended, except as provided in this article. The Legislature shall appropriate from the Health Care Trust Fund such sums as are necessary to recoup any funds lost as a result of any of the following actions:
(a) The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or other agency of the federal government, is successful in recouping tobacco settlement funds from the State of Mississippi;
(b) The federal share of funds for the support of the Mississippi Medicaid Program is reduced directly or indirectly as a result of the tobacco settlement; or
(c) Federal funding for any other program is reduced as a result of the tobacco settlement.
* * *
(3) This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2011.
SECTION 3. Section 43-13-407, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-13-407. (1) In accordance with the purposes of this article, there is established in the State Treasury the Health Care Expendable Fund, into which shall be transferred from the Health Care Trust Fund the following sums:
(a) In fiscal year 2005, Four Hundred Fifty-six Million Dollars ($456,000,000.00);
(b) In fiscal year 2006, One Hundred Eighty-six Million Dollars ($186,000,000.00);
(c) In fiscal year 2007, One Hundred Forty-six Million Dollars ($146,000,000.00);
(d) In fiscal year 2008, One Hundred Six Million Dollars ($106,000,000.00);
(e) In fiscal year 2009, Sixty-six Million Dollars ($66,000,000.00);
(f) In fiscal year 2010 and each fiscal year thereafter, a sum equal to the average annual amount of the dividends, interest and other income, including increases in value of the principal, earned on the funds in the Health Care Trust Fund during the preceding four (4) fiscal years.
(2) In any fiscal year in which interest, dividends and other income from the investment of the funds in the Health Care Trust Fund are not sufficient to fund the full amount of the annual transfer into the Health Care Expendable Fund as required in subsection (1)(f) of this section, the State Treasurer shall transfer from tobacco settlement installment payments an amount that is sufficient to fully fund the amount of the annual transfer.
(3) (a) On March 6, 2002, the State Treasurer shall transfer the sum of Eighty-seven Million Dollars ($87,000,000.00) from the Health Care Trust Fund into the Health Care Expendable Fund. In addition, at the time the State of Mississippi receives thetobacco settlement installment payments for each of the calendar years 2002 and 2003, the State Treasurer shall deposit the full amount of each of those installment payments into the Health Care Expendable Fund.
(b) If during any fiscal year after March 6, 2002, the general fund revenues received by the state exceed the general fund revenues received during the previous fiscal year by more than five percent (5%), the Legislature shall repay to the Health Care Trust Fund one-third (1/3) of the amount of the general fund revenues that exceed the five percent (5%) growth in general fund revenues. The repayment required by this paragraph shall continue in each fiscal year in which there is more than five percent (5%) growth in general fund revenues, until the full amount of the funds that were transferred and deposited into the Health Care Expendable Fund under the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection have been repaid to the Health Care Trust Fund.
(4) The total sum of Two Hundred Forty Million Dollars ($240,000,000.00) plus interest at the rate of five percent (5%) per annum shall be transferred into the Health Care Trust Fund from the State General Fund during fiscal years 2007 through 2013 to repay the trust fund for Two Hundred Forty Million Dollars ($240,000,000.00) of the total sum that is transferred from the trust fund to the Health Care Expendable Fund during fiscal year 2005 under subsection (1)(a) of this section. The repayment shall be made according to the following schedule: During each of fiscal years 2007 through 2012, the State Fiscal Officer shall transfer from the General Fund to the Health Care Trust Fund the sum of Thirty-eight Million Dollars ($38,000,000.00), and during fiscal year 2013 the State Fiscal Officer shall transfer from the State General Fund to the Health Care Trust Fund a sum in the amount certified by the State Treasurer as necessary to fully repay the balance of the Two Hundred Forty Million Dollars ($240,000,000.00) plus interest at the rate of five percent (5%) per annum.
(5) The Legislature shall appropriate annually, for the purpose expressed in this subsection, from the total gross funds that tobacco companies pay to the State of Mississippi under the tobacco settlement, an amount equal to Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000.00), and the appropriation required by this subsection shall be adjusted annually for inflation, using the Consumer Price Index as published by the United States Department of Labor. The money appropriated under this subsection shall be used to fund a comprehensive statewide tobacco education and prevention program consistent with the recommendations for effective program components in the 1999 Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs of the federal Centers for Disease Control, as those Best Practices may be amended by the federal Centers for Disease Control. The money appropriated for the programs listed in this subsection shall be appropriated to The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, a not-for-profit Mississippi corporation, that was organized under the tobacco settlement and that is charged by the court overseeing the settlement to reduce tobacco use rates in Mississippi. Provided, however, that no funds shall be appropriated to The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi under authority of this subsection (5) until the Partnership submits to the Legislative Budget Office a complete audit of all expenditures made by the Partnership from tobacco settlement payments beginning with fiscal year 1999 through fiscal year 2005. This audit shall include an accounting of all expenditures made by The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi during this seven-year period for state contracts, local governmental contracts, faith-based contracts and any other expenditure made, to include all monies appropriated by the Legislature and all monies not appropriated by the Legislature. The audit shall be conducted by a certified public accountant firm approved by the State Auditor. This program shall include, at a minimum, the following components, and may include additional components that are also contained within the federal Centers for Disease Control Best Practices, as periodically amended, and that are effective at accomplishing the purpose of this subsection:
(a) An advertising campaign to discourage the use of tobacco and to educate people, especially youth, about the health hazards of tobacco, which shall be designed to be effective at achieving these goals and shall include, but need not be limited to, television, radio and print advertising;
(b) Evidence-based curricula and programs to educate youth about tobacco and to discourage their use of it, including, but not limited to, programs that involve youth, educate youth about the health hazards of tobacco, help youth develop skills to refuse tobacco, and demonstrate to youth how to stop using tobacco;
(c) Programs of local community-youth-based partnerships that discourage the use of tobacco and work to educate people, especially youth, about the health hazards of tobacco, with an emphasis on programs that involve youth and emphasize the prevention and cessation of tobacco use;
(d) Enforcement of laws, regulations and policies against the sale or other provision of tobacco to minors, and the possession of tobacco by minors;
(e) Programs assisting and encouraging participation in tobacco cessation throughout Mississippi; and
(f) Publicly reported annual fiscal and programmatic evaluations and reviews to ensure that monies appropriated under this subsection are spent properly, which shall include evaluation of the program's effectiveness in reducing the preventing tobacco use, and annual recommendations for improvements to enhance the program's effectiveness.
(6) All income from the investment of the funds in the Health Care Expendable Fund shall be credited to the account of the Health Care Expendable Fund. Any funds in the Health Care Expendable Fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund.
(7) The funds in the Health Care Expendable Fund shall be available for expenditure under specific appropriation by the Legislature beginning in fiscal year 2000, and shall be expended exclusively for health care purposes.
(8) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section may not be changed in any manner except upon amendment to that subsection by a bill enacted by the Legislature with a vote of not less than three-fifths (3/5) of the members of each house present and voting.
(9) Subsections (1), (2), (5), (6) and (7) of this section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2011.
SECTION 4. Section 43-13-409, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-13-409. (1) There is established a board of directors to invest the funds in the Health Care Trust Fund and the Health Care Expendable Fund. The board of directors shall consist of thirteen (13) members as follows:
(a) Eight (8) voting members as follows: the State Treasurer, or his designee, the Attorney General, or his designee, * * * one (1) member from each congressional district as existing on January 1, 2006, and two (2) members from the state at large, to be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Of the members appointed by the Governor, one (1) member shall be appointed for an initial term that expires on March 1, 2000; one (1) member shall be appointed for an initial term that expires on March 1, 2001; one (1) member shall be appointed for an initial term that expires on March 1, 2002; one (1) member shall be appointed for an initial term that expires on March 1, 2003; * * * one (1) member shall be appointed for an initial term that expires on March 1, 2004; and one (1) member shall be appointed for an initial term that begins on July 1, 2006, and expires on March 1, 2011. Upon the expiration of any of the initial terms of office, the Governor shall appoint successors by and with the advice and consent of the Senate for terms of five (5) years from the expiration date of the previous term. Any member appointed by the Governor shall be eligible for reappointment. Each member appointed by the Governor shall possess knowledge, skill and experience in business or financial matters commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of the board of directors in administering the Health Care Trust Fund and the Health Care Expendable Fund.
(b) Three (3) nonvoting, advisory members of the Senate shall be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, and one (1) nonvoting, advisory representative of the health care community shall be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, who shall serve for the length of the term of the appointing official and shall be eligible for reappointment.
(c) Three (3) nonvoting, advisory members of the House of Representatives shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House, and one (1) nonvoting, advisory representative of the health care community shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House, who shall serve for the length of the term of the appointing official and shall be eligible for reappointment.
(d) Any person appointed to fill a vacancy on the board of directors shall be appointed in the same manner as for a regular appointment and shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term only.
(2) Nonlegislative members of the board of directors shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for each day's official duties of the board at the same per diem as established by Section 25-3-69, and actual travel and lodging expenses as established by Section 25-3-41. Legislative members of the board of directors shall receive the same per diem and expense reimbursement as for attending committee meetings when the Legislature is not in regular session.
(3) The State Treasurer shall be the chairman of the board of directors. The board of directors shall annually elect one (1) member to serve as vice chairman of the board. The vice chairman shall act as chairman in the absence of or upon the disability of the chairman or if there is a vacancy in the office of chairman.
(4) All expenses of the board of directors in carrying out its duties and responsibilities under this article, including the payment of per diem and expenses of the nonlegislative members of the board, shall be paid from funds appropriated to the State Treasurer's office for that purpose.
(5) The board of directors shall invest the funds in the Health Care Trust Fund and the Health Care Expendable Fund in any of the investments authorized for the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program under Section 37-155-9, and those investments shall be subject to the limitations prescribed by Section 37-155-9.
(6) In furtherance of the powers granted under subsection (5) of this section, the board of directors shall have such powers as necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes and provisions of this article, including, but not limited to, the following express powers:
(a) To contract for necessary goods and services, to employ necessary personnel, and to engage the services of consultants for administrative and technical assistance in carrying out its duties and responsibilities in administering the Health Care Trust Fund and the Health Care Expendable Fund;
(b) To administer the Health Care Trust Fund and the Health Care Expendable Fund in a manner that is sufficiently actuarially sound to meet the obligations of this article and to establish a comprehensive investment plan for the purposes of this article, which shall specify the investment policies to be utilized by the board of directors in administering the funds;
(c) Subject to the terms, conditions, limitations and restrictions specified in Section 37-155-9, the board of directors shall have power to sell, assign, transfer and dispose of any of the securities and investments of the Health Care Trust Fund and the Health Care Expendable Fund, provided that any such sale, assignment or transfer has the majority approval of the entire board; * * *
(d) To annually prepare or cause to be prepared a report setting forth in appropriate detail an accounting of the Health Care Trust Fund and the Health Care Expendable Fund and a description of the financial condition of the funds at the close of each fiscal year, including any recommendations for legislation regarding the investment authority of the board of directors over the funds. The report shall be submitted to the Governor and the Legislative Budget Office on or before September 1 of each fiscal year; and
(e) To review the expenditures and outcomes of The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, which shall annually prepare a report for the board of directors, the Governor and the Legislature setting forth in appropriate detail:
(i) An accounting of the organization and a description of the financial condition of the funds at the close of each fiscal year as certified from a review of public accountants; and
(ii) The programs and outcomes of the program's objectives, as prescribed in Section 43-13-407(5).
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.