TWO GOP LAWMAKERS SAY STATE SHOULD TAKE TOBACCO DEAL

Missouri should take the tobacco deal worked out between states' attorneys general and tobacco companies, two Republican lawmakers said Tuesday.

"I think we need to settle: Take the money and run," said state Rep. Patrick Naeger, R-Perryville.

U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., said the state should sign onto the $206 billion settlement because it offers major gains in efforts to reduce tobacco use by young people.

As part of the settlement, states' lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers would end.

"The central medical and legal reality is that tobacco is a product that causes death when used as directed," Ashcroft said. "We know that most new tobacco users are young people. Most people who reject tobacco as teen-agers will never become users," he said.

Nationwide, about 3,000 children a day start smoking. A third of them will die from smoking-related illnesses, the National Association of Attorneys General said.

Ashcroft said the proposed settlement focuses on the right targets -- discouraging tobacco use by young people and requiring tobacco companies to pay for the damage caused by their products.

Missouri would receive about $6.7 billion over the next 25 years under the proposed settlement. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has until noon Friday to decide whether to accept the deal or continue with the state's own lawsuit against tobacco companies.

At least a dozen states have said they will sign the agreement.

Ashcroft said Missouri stands to receive more than a third more in settlement money under the current proposal than would have been the case in the tobacco bill defeated in Congress.

Naeger and two other Southeast Missouri legislators -- state Sen. Peter Kinder and Rep. Mary Kasten -- said the settlement money should be considered part of total state revenue, making it subject to the Hancock Amendment.

In that case, said Kinder, taxpayers would be owed refunds because Missouri would be over the constitutional limit on state revenue.

"That money should be refunded to the taxpayers," he said. "This should not be a grab bag for the politicians or the trial lawyers."

Kinder said legislators may have to sue the Carnahan administration to force it to abide by the state's Hancock Amendment in regards to use of the settlement money.

Kasten, Naeger and Kinder said the Missouri Legislature needs to enact significant tax cuts.

Said Kasten, "This is like an extra bonus that you need to give back to the people who pay the taxes."

Kinder said he wasn't sure how the proposed tobacco settlement would affect his lawsuit against Nixon.

Kinder discussed the issue during a 45-minute conference call Tuesday with his lawyer and other legal experts. Kinder said they reached no decision.

In August, Kinder sued Nixon over the attorney general's decision to hire outside lawyers to handle the state's lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

Kinder had argued that the arrangement violates the Missouri Constitution because the Legislature never appropriated money for such control. He also said it is illegal under state law for Nixon to hire outside counsel on a contingency fee basis.

Under the proposed settlement, tobacco companies would pay the legal fees of the state's team of private lawyers. Nixon has said payment of the legal fees won't come from Missouri's share of the settlement.

Under the settlement proposal, tobacco companies would curb their advertising and marketing campaigns, fund a $1.5 billion anti-smoking campaign, open previously secret industry documents and disband industry trade groups.

States' attorneys general have charged that the trade groups conspired to conceal damaging research about smoking.

Under the settlement, tobacco companies would pay the states more than $9 billion a year beginning in 2008. The payments would extend through 2025.

The payments don't include the settlements already reached with four other states -- Mississippi, Florida, Texas and Minnesota -- totaling over $40 billion.

Terms of the settlement call for the industry to pay the states $12 billion in "up front" money over five years. The payments would be adjusted annually based on inflation and the number of cigarettes sold.

More than 40 states have sued tobacco companies, alleging among other things that the industry violated anti-trust and consumer protection laws.

Ashcroft said the proposed settlement avoids the uncertainty of protracted litigation.