Over the past 21 years, the State of Iowa has received more than $1.25 billion in the landmark, Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) from the country’s tobacco companies. This year’s payment of $49.5 million was recently made. According to Iowa Attorney General, Tom Miller, these payments will continue in perpetuity and are based on the number of cigarettes sold in the United States. “Our office carefully monitors and aggressively enforces this agreement so Iowa gets its fair share of the settlement,” Miller says. The dollars will be divided up with 22 percent, or $10.9 million, going to the state. The remaining 78 percent will be used primarily to pay bondholders who bought bonds issued by the Tobacco Settlement Authority. The settlement also created restrictions on the advertising, marketing, and promotion of cigarettes, including a ban on targeting children through advertising. It also includes prohibitions on outdoor and public transit advertising and use of cigarette brand names on merchandise. The goal of the MSA was to reduce smoking, particularly in our youth. Since then, adult smoking rates dropped from 24 to 14 percent and only 4.6 percent of teenagers, grades eight, 10 and 12, reported smoking in the past 30 days.
