MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

  Exit  

MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News

MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

  Exit  

MDN.ORG Mo. Digital News Missouri Digital News MDN.ORG: Mo. Digital News MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News

Help  Close

Tobacco settlement money destination unclear

How to deal with billions of dollars in tobacco settlement money was the topic today/Tuesday in Jefferson City. Lee McGuire reports from the state capitol.

Senate President Pro Tem Ed Quick wants to put the tobacco money in a trust fund while the state figures out whether it should be returned to taxpayers under the Handcock amendment.

The A.A.R.P. supports that idea. Spokeswoman Betty Holman told a Senate Committee she favors the trust fund plan because it keeps the billions of tobacco dollars from disappearing into the general revenue pot.

But Saint Louis County Republican Senator David Klarich proposed a bill that would put the question of refunding the money under Hancock directly to the voters themselves. In Jefferson City, Lee McGuire, KMOX News.

What to do with those billions of dollars headed to Missouri under the tobacco settlement was the topic today in a senate committee. Lee McGuire reports from Jefferson City.

Senate President Pro Tem Ed Quick's bill would send the tobacco money into a trust fund while the state figured out what to do with all that cash.

But St. Louis County Republican David Klarich wants voters to decide whether to let the legislature appropriate the money, or refund it to taxpayers under the Hancock Amendment. He says if it's not a ballot question, a lawsuit could take control out of public hands.

Both Klarich and Quick told a Senate committee the state has to act quickly before the money starts coming in next year. In Jefferson City, Lee McGuire, KMOX News.