[Because of the sensitivity of these discussions, and concerns that statements intended as inquiry or preliminary proposals might be interpreted otherwise, no effort is made to relate specific statements or ideas with individuals except as required for understanding. If you have questions about any portions of the meeting, we suggest that you contact a participant or Frank Dukes (804-924-2041).]

Some 20 tobacco farm and health advocate leaders met in Washington, DC on May 18. They were joined by representatives from the White House, Senate, and USDA, who were there to provide up-to-date information about the McCain legislation and its farm portions (a modified LEAF Act), as well as the challenge offered to the LEAF Act by Sen. Lugar.

Impact of the Work of Farmers and Health Advocates

The word from the administration and Senate was that the coalition of tobacco farming and health interests involved in the Southern Tobacco Communities Project has had a significant and even decisive impact on the advancement of public health and farming community goals. Key policymakers in the White House, the Senate, and House have responded to their shared concerns. There are three main courses of action that Roundtable participants should take in order to ensure that health and farmer concerns remain in the picture:

• Stay together and send out a consistent message;
• Target those senators most interested in public health issues; and
• Develop some way to stay in touch with the administration.

It was reported that after a week of intense debate about the McCain bill on the Senate floor, the bill will most likely be passed. As of May 19, it was difficult to gauge the amount of support for the LEAF and Lugar Acts. Key senators who might need to be educated about tobacco farming issues included Senators Mosley-Braun, Boxer, Weiden, Feingold, Harkin, Chafee, Jeffries, Gray, McConnell, Leahy, Harkin, Frist, Thomson, and Durbin.

It was also reported that the administration has been working diligently with Senator McCain's office on the legislation, and that they have reached agreement on key provisions, including the farm program. When the President outlined his list of five principles that national tobacco legislation should advance, the fifth was protection of the farming community - a goal they feel is best advanced through Senator Ford's amended LEAF Act. The administration has heard consistently from tobacco farmers that a tobacco program offers them much needed stability.

It was also reported that the community investment fund proposal in the LEAF Act may be amended if the legislation passes. That was good news for those who had been working to strengthen farm and community based development and local say in how economic development moneys would be spent.

Rich Hamburg, the Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs from the American Heart Association, provided the most recent update on the Senate tobacco negotiations. According to Mr. Hamburg, the May 1st version of the McCain bill was replaced by a manager's version. The major changes in the bill occurred in the following areas:

Finance provisions. The estimated increase in price per package of cigarettes would remain at $1.10; however, this would be levied as a tax as opposed to an overall assessment on the cigarette companies [NOTE - both farm and health participants preferred any levy to be in the form of a per-pack tax].

Look-back provisions. Revisions center upon the constitutionality of some of the phraseology and placing more of an onus of responsibility for youth smoking on the cigarette companies.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) provisions. Revisions would allow states to opt out of the national ETS provisions. The states would have 2 years to send down an affirmative vote to opt out. States would also have to go to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and meet OSHA requirements in order to opt out, a feature that will likely keep states from even attempting to opt out.

Public funding provisions. The rough breakdown for public funding in the first five years after enactment of the bill would allot 40% for state use, 22% for public health programs, 22% for National Institutes of Health biomedical research, and 16% to tobacco growers.

International provisions. As expected by many, this area was significantly changed by the manager's amendment, as some of the provisions were unconstitutional and/or impossible to enact according to international law.

Liability provisions. The cap was raised from $6.5 billion to $6.8 billion.

Incentives. National incentives were repealed and replaced by state incentives for tobacco companies to not sell to children.

Retailer provisions. The language changed more to the benefit of the retailers.

Growers provisions. Senator Lugar's proposal currently serves as the greatest challenge to passage of the McCain bill.

Before the Roundtable meeting, representatives from the health sector met to develop a list of specific health objectives which national tobacco legislation should achieve. The list would then serve as talking points which might help to explain the interests of the health community to tobacco growers and their communities. The health representatives intentionally did not separate health goals from farm community goals, because they feel that the farm provisions are public health goals. They also recognize that the growers would not share all of their goals.

After discussion with the growers to clarify some of what was written, the following unprioritized list was approved by the health advocates:

• Immediately increase federal excise tax on tobacco products to at least $1.50 or more.
• No special legal protection for tobacco companies.
• FDA granted full regulatory authority over tobacco products (FDA off the farm).
• After quota compensation, revenues first to tobacco use prevention, cessation, and research, and agricultural/economic development of tobacco farming communities.
• Allow strong complementary federal, state, and local laws (i.e., no pre-emption).
• Hold US tobacco companies accountable for international marketing practices and ensure world-wide tobacco control efforts.
• Strong penalty for non-compliance with public health laws.
• Retain a tobacco production control program without federal costs.
• Provide incentives for tobacco farmers who wish to reduce their dependence on tobacco, and allow them independence in deciding their futures.

Joint Strategies

Because of the rapid pace of the debate in the Senate, Roundtable participants felt it would be essential to act quickly to deliver a strong statement to the public. A joint letter was approved emphasizing key portions of the Core Principles Statement Between the Public Health Community and the Tobacco Producer Community. A joint advertisement, to run in tobacco community newspapers, was also approved. Participants also agreed to host a joint news conference the next day to counter disinformation being promulgated concerning tobacco farmers' views, health goals, and legislation. A group of large flue-cured farmers called the Tobacco Fairness Coalition published the results of a poll claiming that 87% of flue-cured producers wanted to get rid of the tobacco program, a figure hard to reconcile with the vote of farmers a few months ago to support the program 97% to 3%. The intention of the letter, advertisement, and press conference is to point to the shared public health and tobacco farm goals at a time when significant legislation impacting those goals is being considered.

Participants in the Southern Tobacco Communities Project (STCP) met at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 18, 1998 at the Governor's House Hotel in Washington, DC. The proposed agenda for the meeting included:

• an update on the McCain and other proposed national tobacco legislation,
• a discussion of key public health goals,
• a discussion of key farm goals, and
• a joint strategies session.

Ridge Schuylar from Senator Robb's office reported that after a week of intense debate for and against toughening the McCain bill on the Senate floor, the bill will most likely be passed on Friday. Although indicating that it would be difficult to gauge support for the LEAF and Lugar Acts at the current stage in the process, Mr. Schuylar noted that STCP should invest extra efforts in communicating with specific Senators who might need special attention. Among those Mr. Schuylar suggested were: Senators Mosley-Braun, Boxer, Weiden, Feingold, Harkin, Chaffey, Jefferies, Grey, McConnell, Leahy, Harkin, Frist, Thomson, and Durban. In regards to the idea of sending a letter to all Senators from STCP, Mr. Schuylar felt that it would be helpful as a mechanism to clarify public health objectives and that at the least it could not hurt their case.

With respect to the McCain bill, no major concepts have changed. The focus has been more on strengthening and fixing some of the structural mistakes in the act. Mr. Schuylar also noted that the current focus of the tobacco legislation debate will remain in the Senate as opposed to the House of Representatives. The outcome of the Senate debate will then have a strong effect on the decision of the House.

Tom Friedman, a special assistant to the President, provided STCP with the current stance of the administration which has been working diligently with Senator McCain's office on the Senator's proposed tobacco bill. According to Mr. Friedman, from the administration's viewpoint, the fact that STCP exists and if it can stay together, will have enormous utility in the advancement of public health and farming community goals. When the President outlined his list of five principles that tobacco legislation should advance, the fifth was protection of the farming community - a goal best advanced through Senator Ford's LEAF Act. The administration has heard consistently from tobacco farmers that a tobacco program offers them much needed stability. The President has already indicated that his fifth principle would be very difficult to meet with the Lugar Act.

Mr. Friedman outlined three main courses of action STCP should take in order to ensure that health and farmer concerns remain in the picture:

1. Stay together and send out a consistent message;
2. Target those senators most interested in public health issues; and
3. Develop some way to stay in touch with the administration.

Finance provisions. The estimated increase in price per package of cigarettes would remain at $1.10; however, this would be levied as a tax as opposed to an overall assessment on the cigarette companies.

Look-back provisions. Revisions center upon the constitutionality of some of the phraseology and placing more of an onus of responsibility for youth smoking on the cigarette companies.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) provisions. Revisions would allow states to opt out of the national ETS provisions. The states would have 2 years to send down an affirmative vote to opt out. States would also have to go to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and meet OSHA requirements for clean indoor air.

Public funding provisions. The rough breakdown for public funding in the first five years after enactment of the bill would allot 40% for state use, 22% for public health programs, 22% for National Institutes of Health biomedical research, and 16% to tobacco growers.

International provisions. As expected by many, this area was severely weakened by the manager's amendment.

Liability provisions. The cap was raised from $6.5 billion to $6.8 billion.

Incentives. National incentives were repealed and replaced by state incentives for tobacco companies to not sell to children.

Retailer provisions. The language changed more to the benefit of the retailers.

Growers provisions. Senator Lugar's proposal currently serves as the greatest threat to passage of the McCain bill.

Before the STCP meeting, representatives from the health sector met to develop a list of specific health and grower objectives which national tobacco legislation should achieve. The list would then serve as talking points which might help to clarify the desires of the health community for the tobacco growers. The health representatives intentionally did not separate health goals from farmers goals because they feel that each advances the other.

After discussion with the growers, the following unprioritized list evolved:

• Immediately increase federal excise tax on tobacco products to at least $1.50 or more.
• No special legal protection for tobacco companies. * FDA granted full regulatory authority over tobacco products (FDA off the farm).
• After quota compensation, revenues first to tobacco use prevention, cessation, and research, and agricultural/economic development of tobacco farming communities.
• Allow strong complementary federal, state, and local laws (i.e., no pre-emption).
• Hold US tobacco companies accountable for international marketing practices and ensure world-wide tobacco control efforts.
• Strong penalty for non-compliance with public health laws. Retain a tobacco production control program without federal costs.
• Provide incentives for tobacco farmers who wish to reduce their dependence on tobacco, and allow them independence in deciding their futures.

Because of the rapid pace of the debate in the Senate, STCP felt it would be integral to act quickly to deliver a strong statement before the public. Project members worked to revise a letter to be sent to all Senators as well as an open letter advertisement to Senators to be placed in two newspapers in each of the tobacco producing states. STCP also made plans for a press conference to be held the next morning.