Share

Legislative Update 4/29

We have come to the point in the legislative session (Week 16!) where most of the real work is being done in small negotiating sessions held behind closed doors. It is difficult to wait this out, but we don’t have a lot of choice.  We must be patient and continue to advocate for decisions that will improve the lives and health of Iowans. 

The Health and Human Services budget bill (HF 649), with an amendment restoring $5 million in funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, was voted out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday. It is now eligible for debate on the Senate floor.

 

We need to continue our push for more funding for these life-saving programs with calls and e-mails to senators.  Although $5 million is better than the $0 allocated by the House, it is not enough to maintain effective services.  We continue to ask for $7.8 million, which is what we started this fiscal year with.

 

Click here to find your Senator's email address.  The Senate switchboard number is: 515-281-3371.   (The switchboard is closed until 11:30 Monday morning.)

This is our message:

  • Tobacco control programs improve the health of Iowans; since 2000 adult smoking rates have decreased from 23% to 14% and youth smoking rates decreased from 33% to 20%.
  • Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in Iowa. Nearly 4,500 Iowans will die this year of smoking-related illness. Hundreds of millions of health care dollars are spent in treating current and former smokers.
  • Almost 85% of Iowa smokers report they want to quit, and 65,000 Iowans have been assisted by Quitline Iowa since FY 2008.
  • There is strong support among Iowans (63 percent) for the state to fund tobacco prevention and cessation services.

We confirmed with a policy aide to Gov. Branstad this week that the governor remains commited to maintaining funding at $5.9 million, which is the amount he proposed back in February. We want to thank him for his leadership on this!  You can contact his staff by calling 515-725-3518 or going to his web site here . 

 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about issues or strategy, get in touch – peggy.huppert@cancer.org or 515-727-0076.



Iowa Updates

ACS CAN provides this webpage for the convenience of the American Cancer Society.
Unless specifically noted otherwise, the Society, and not ACS CAN, is conducting the activities described on this page.