[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1289 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1289

 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary 
    of Health and Human Services to waive recoupment of the Federal 
 government Medicaid share of tobacco-related State settlements under 
                          certain conditions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 25, 1999

  Mr. Waxman (for himself, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Rangel, and Mr. Lewis of 
   Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary 
    of Health and Human Services to waive recoupment of the Federal 
 government Medicaid share of tobacco-related State settlements under 
                          certain conditions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tobacco Use Prevention and Public 
Health Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. WAIVER OF RECOUPMENT OF MEDICAID TOBACCO-RELATED RECOVERIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1903(d)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1396b(d)(3)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(A)'' before ``The''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) Subparagraph (A) and paragraph (2)(B) shall not apply to any 
amount recovered or paid to a State as part of a settlement or judgment 
reached in litigation initiated or pursued by a State against one or 
more manufacturers of tobacco products, as defined in section 5702(d) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, if (and to the extent that), with 
respect to amounts recovered or paid to a State in a fiscal year, the 
Secretary finds that following conditions are met:
            ``(i) The State will spend at least 25 percent of the 
        amounts so recovered or paid in any fiscal year on tobacco 
        control activities in accordance with subparagraph (C).
            ``(ii) The State will spend at least 25 percent of the 
        amounts so recovered or paid in any fiscal year for health 
        activities, including public health activities and expenditures 
        described in subparagraph (D), but excluding amounts expended 
        to meet the requirement of clause (i).
            ``(iii)(I) Subject to subclause (II), the amounts described 
        in clauses (i) and (ii) will be spent only in a manner that 
        supplements (and does not supplant) funds previously being 
        spent by the State (or local governments in the State) for such 
        or similar activities.
            ``(II) At the request of a State, the Secretary may waive 
        the requirement of subclause (I), with respect to not 
        supplanting State and local government expenditures for tobacco 
        control activities, to the extent that the total level of such 
        expenditures (taking into account expenditures required under 
        clause (i)) is sufficient to provide for a well-funded, 
        effective program of tobacco control in the State.
    ``(C) For purposes of subparagraph (B)(i), expenditures for tobacco 
control activities are made in accordance with this subparagraph if--
            ``(i) the expenditures are made for any (or all) of the 
        following activities:
                    ``(I) Activities to reduce the use of tobacco 
                products using methods that have been shown to be 
                effective, such as tobacco use cessation programs, 
                State or local counter-marketing programs, enforcement 
                of laws relating to tobacco products, community-based 
                programs to discourage the use of tobacco products, and 
                school-based and child-oriented education programs to 
                discourage the use of tobacco products, and for ongoing 
                evaluations of these programs.
                    ``(II) Activities to fund research related to 
                nicotine addiction, tobacco use cessation, and 
                prevention of the use of tobacco products, including 
                surveillance and epidemiology research related to 
                tobacco.
                    ``(III) Activities to assist in economic 
                development efforts designed to aid tobacco farmers and 
                workers and communities as they transition to a more 
                broadly diversified economy; and
            ``(ii) the expenditures include an annual contribution by 
        the State of its pro rata share for the National Tobacco Use 
        Prevention Program (under section 3 of the Tobacco Use 
        Prevention and Public Health Act of 1999).
    ``(D) For purposes of subparagraph (B)(ii), the expenditures 
described in this subparagraph are State expenditures for outreach 
activities in enrolling individuals under this title and State 
expenditures for medical assistance with respect to individuals who are 
eligible for such assistance only on the basis of a State plan 
amendment approved on or after January 1, 1999.
    ``(E)(i) For purposes of subparagraph (C)(ii), a State's `pro rata 
share' for a fiscal year is equal to $605,000,000 (or, if less, the sum 
of the amounts provided under subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 
3 of the Tobacco Use Prevention and Public Health Act of 1999 for the 
fiscal year) multiplied by the ratio of (I) the amount of the State's 
aggregate recoveries or payments described in subparagraph (B) for the 
fiscal year, to (II) the total of such aggregate recoveries or payments 
for all the States for the fiscal year.
    ``(ii) Amounts contributed under subparagraph (C)(ii) shall be 
deposited in a separate account in the Treasury to be known as the 
`National Tobacco Use Prevention Account'. Amounts in such Account 
shall remain available until expended for obligation under section 3 of 
the Tobacco Use Prevention and Public Health Act of 1999.
    ``(F) For purposes of applying subparagraph (B) for amounts 
described in such subparagraph recovered or paid in a fiscal year 
before fiscal year 2000, such amounts shall be treated as being 
recovered or paid in fiscal year 2000.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) apply to 
amounts recovered or paid to a State before, on, or after the date of 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL TOBACCO USE PREVENTION PROGRAM.

    (a) National Public Awareness Campaign.--There shall be made 
available from the National Tobacco Use Prevention Account (provided 
for under section 1903(d)(3)(B)(E)(ii) of the Social Security Act) to 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, without fiscal year 
limitation, $500,000,000 for each fiscal year (beginning with fiscal 
year 2000) to implement a national public awareness campaign to 
discourage the use of tobacco products.
    (b) National Program To Reduce Tobacco Use by Minority Groups.--
There shall be made available from such National Tobacco Use Prevention 
Account to such Secretary, without fiscal year limitation, $100,000,000 
for each fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2000) to implement the 
recommendations contained in the 1998 report by the Surgeon General 
entitled ``Tobacco Use Among U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups''. The 
Secretary shall implement such recommendations through the Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and in consultation with an 
advisory committee composed of individuals from the private sector who 
are experienced with respect to minority health concerns.
    (c) National Economic Stabilization Program for Tobacco Farmers.--
There shall be made available from such National Tobacco Use Prevention 
Account to the Secretary of Agriculture, without fiscal year 
limitation, $5,000,000 for each fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 
2000 and ending with fiscal year 2005) to promulgate and enforce 
regulations to provide economic stabilization for tobacco farmers. Such 
regulations--
            (1) shall provide that any manufacturer of tobacco products 
        in the United States which purchases (or which controls a 
        person who purchases) tobacco grown in a foreign country in any 
        year, beginning with 2000 and ending with 2004, may not reduce 
        in such year its level of purchases of tobacco from farmers in 
        the United States below the level of such purchases in 1997;
            (2) may be enforced through an action brought by such 
        Secretary in an appropriate district court of the United States 
        to enjoin any failure to comply with such regulations or to 
        impose a civil penalty for such failure to comply of not more 
        than $25,000 per day of violation; and
            (3) shall not apply to purchases made on or after January 
        1, 2005.
    (d) Adjustment.--If the aggregate amount deposited into such 
National Tobacco Use Prevention Account for a fiscal year is less than 
the sum of the amounts specified under subsections (a), (b), and (c) 
for that fiscal year, the amounts so specified shall be reduced in a 
pro-rata manner so that the total of such amounts for the fiscal year 
is equal to the aggregate amount so deposited for the fiscal year.
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