Democrat Rep. Joan Hurdle urged the panel to approve her House Bill 484, which would dedicate all but 5 percent of the state's tobacco settlement funds to a variety of health and tobacco-use prevention programs. The measure would go to voters in November of 2002. Health advocates lined up to support the measure and there were no opponents at the hearing. The panel took no action on the bill.
Officials unite on tobacco issue.
On Thursday morning, two dozen Billings people gathered at the Northern Rockies Cancer Center for a news conference to promote Constitutional Amendment 35. State Sen. John Bohlinger, a Republican, and state Rep. Kim Gillan, a Democrat, turned out to support CA-35. Chief executives of Deaconess Billings Clinic, St. Vincent Healthcare and St. John's Lutheran Ministries crowded into the conference room with doctors, nurses and representatives of the March of Dimes and the Tobacco Free Coalition. St. Vincent and Deaconess have been working together on presentations to the community and to their staffs. The American Society of Retired Persons has been passing out cards to members and paying for newspaper advertisements in support of CA-35.