Initiative would earmark tobacco funds for health care
07/28/99
Activists kicked off a petition drive yesterday to force the state to spend tobacco settlement money on health care for the working poor.
They said their push to get the measure on the November 2000 ballot comes after three frustrating years of watching the Legislature fail to honor a 1996 vote of the people.
Voters overwhelmingly approved that year's Healthy Arizona Initiative, which called for using lottery money to expand health care coverage to the working poor.
The new measure, called Healthy Arizona Initiative 2, would require the state to fully fund the original initiative with its $3.1 billion in tobacco settlement money.
Cigarettes
