North Dakota Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program Petition (2008)
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The Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program Initiative, or Measure 3, will appear on the November 4, 2008 ballot in North Dakota.
If approved by the state's voters, the initiative will establish a tobacco prevention and control advisory committee, develop and fund a statewide tobacco prevention and control plan, and create a tobacco prevention and control trust fund to receive tobacco settlement money.
The measure is a citizen-initiated state statute.
This measure was approved at the polls on November 4. See 2008 ballot measure election results.
2008 election results
These election results are based on North Dakota Elections Division as of Nov. 6, 2008.[1]
| Toacco Use Prevention & Control Program | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes or no | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes
| 162,774 | 53.94% | ||
 No
| 139,012 | 46.06% | ||
| Total votes | 301,786 | 100% | ||
Status
Approved, with 162,477 "yes" votes, and 138,778 "no" votes. [2]
Specific provisions
The ballot title reads, "This initiated measure would add seven new sections to the North Dakota Century Code and amend N.D.C.C. section 54-27-25 to establish a tobacco prevention and control advisory committee and an executive committee; develop and fund a comprehensive statewide tobacco prevention and control plan; and create a tobacco prevention and control trust fund to receive tobacco settlement dollars to be administered by the executive committee."
The measure would establish a nine-member board that would be put in charge of developing a comprehensive program to discourage smoking, smokeless tobacco chewing and other forms of tobacco use.
Fiscal impact
The program would cost about $18.6 million over two years, financed with part of North Dakota's income from the 1998 settlement of a lawsuit against the nation's largest tobacco companies. Heitkamp, who was attorney general from 1992 to 2000, helped negotiate the settlement.
North Dakota has received more than $200 million from the settlement since the payments began in 1999.[3]
Supporters
Over the last few months a team of 25, including team captain and Richland County Tobacco Compliance Officer Jason Bergstrand, and other county residents have been working hard to meet a goal. They've been petitioning for signatures from people to support anti-tobacco programs — hoping to reach 1,000 total. The team has met and exceeded their goal bringing in 1,371 signatures, which have been contributed to the statewide effort to get the measure on the ballot.
Former Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp, chairwoman of the campaign, has said the measure has signatures from more than 16,000 North Dakotans. It was necessary to collect 13,000 names to get on the ballot so exceeding that amount allows the petition to be turned in to the state.
The proposed ballot measure sets aside some of the money from a North Dakota lawsuit settlement against tobacco companies to pay for programs that discourage tobacco use.
The measure seeks approximately $9 million annually in state money for anti-tobacco programs and right now North Dakota is spending just over $2 million a year.
"It wasn't a hard sale at all," Bergstrand said. "We're finding that there is very little opposition to the measure because it just makes perfect sense to do it."
The Richland County Tobacco Free Coalition took the the lead in gathering signatures but there were several volunteers from Wahpeton, Hankinson, Wyndmere, Lisbon, Milnor, Valley City and Fargo.
Michelle Gjerdevig, Wahpeton, was one of those volunteers. Gjerdevid pledged to get 150 signatures and ended up handing in more than 200.
"I found it easy to ask people for," Gjerdevig said. "People were more then willing to sign it."
Many signatures Gjerdevig collected were followed by comments from the signee. Stories told often included ones of family and friends and their struggle with smoking and its consequences. Gjerdevig only encountered two individual households that denied to sign the petition.
Areas already funded by the settlement payments include water projects and education. Bergstrand said those allocations would remain the same if the the ballot measure were to pass.
"It's really a win, win for anyone," he said. "Smoker rates have stabilized in the last four years and we need to step up our efforts to see it trend downward. This is one of those ways to do that." [4]
Path to the ballot
Supporters of the initiative turned in 15,667 signatures on July 28, 2008, to the North Dakota Secretary of State. To qualify the initiative for the November 2008 ballot in North Dakota, 12,844 valid signatures were needed.[5] [6],[7]
See also
- Procedures for qualifying an initiative in North Dakota
- Laws governing the initiative process in North Dakota
- Campaign finance requirements for North Dakota ballot measures
- North Dakota 2008 ballot measures
- Petition drive deadlines in 2008
External links
References
- ↑ North Dakota Elections Division, 2008 Election Results
- ↑ North Dakota General Election Results
- ↑ ND anti-tobacco initiative petitions turned in
- ↑ Wahpeton Daily News: "Anti-tobacco group submits petition," July 29th, 2008
- ↑ Bismarck Tribune: "North Dakota anti-tobacco initiative petitions turned in", July 29, 2008
- ↑ Forbes: "ND anti-tobacco initiative petitions turned in," July 29, 2008
- ↑ Forbes: "ND anti-tobacco initiative petitions turned in," July 29, 2008
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