Summary: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that Alabama spend $56.7 million a year to have an effective, comprehensive tobacco prevention program.  Alabama currently receives $2.3 million a year for tobacco prevention and cessation, which includes both state and federal funds.  This is 4.1% of the CDC's recommendation and ranks Alabama 48th among the states in the funding of tobacco prevention programs.  Alabama's spending on tobacco prevention amounts to 0.9% of the estimated $259 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects each year from settlement payments and tobacco taxes.

Recent Developments: Alabama's tobacco settlement payments are governed by a 1999 law approved by the Legislature and signed by then-Governor Don Siegleman (D). This law allocated up to $70 million in FY2002 and annually thereafter to a package of health and youth-related programs called the Children First Trust Fund.  Up to $7 million (10 percent of the fund) is designated to the Department of Public Health for youth programs including tobacco control programs and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).  Additionally, up to $700,000 is set-aside for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) for education and the enforcement of laws to prohibit access to tobacco products by minors.

For FY2009, Alabama will receive $2.3 million in federal and state funds for tobacco prevention programs, approximately the same amount that was spent in FY2008.