California Tobacco Control Program

California Tobacco Control Program:

Proposition 99 and the Legislative Mandate for the California Tobacco Control Program

In November 1988, California voters approved the California Tobacco Tax and Health Promotion Act of 1988 (Proposition 99), which increased the state surtax on cigarettes by 25 cents per pack (and an equivalent amount on other tobacco products). Revenues from the new tobacco tax were earmarked for tobacco-related disease research, health education against tobacco, and health care for medically-indigent families.

Twenty percent of revenues from the new tax were earmarked for health education efforts aimed at the prevention and reduction of tobacco use. Approximately one-third of the health education funds go to the California Department of Education and two-thirds go to the Department of Health Services. The authorizing legislation established the goal of reducing tobacco consumption by 75 percent in the State of California by the year 1999.

The mandate for the California Tobacco Control Program is contained in California Health and Safety Code, Chapter 1.2, commencing with Section 104350. The California Department of Health Services was charged with conducting a variety of innovative approaches to reduce tobacco use, including a statewide media campaign, tobacco control programs in local health departments, competitively-selected state, regional and community-based projects as well as an extensive evaluation of the entire tobacco education campaign. The Department created a California Tobacco Control Program in its Cancer Control Branch to implement these programs.