By Sarah Green
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, April 23
The Kansas House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means committees have approved $800,000 for two programs aimed at reducing tobacco access to minors.
Efforts to stop minors from purchasing tobacco are increasingly important to the state, said Kelly Peak, director of prevention for the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
Compliance rates are tied to the federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment block grant, a $12 million source of funding. The federal government can withhold up to 40 percent of the grant, if states fail to meet the rates, reducing the treatment services the state can offer, Peak said.
The compliance standard is 20 percent. Rates below 20 percent, or where minors successfully purchase tobacco less than 20 percent of all attempts, are considered acceptable. In 2005, 38 percent of minors who attempted to buy tobacco in Kansas succeeded.
The state spent $2.3 million on enforcement efforts in 2006; the rate dropped to 19.9 percent.
“You”re living on the edge when you have that sort of money at stake and that”s not where we want to be,” Peak said.
The House and Senate budget committees each agreed to provide $400,000 to continue those efforts with the creation of a Tobacco Enforcement Unit, Peak said, which will work closely with the Department of Revenue”s Alcohol Beverage Control division, which also enforces tobacco laws.
The Tobacco Enforcement Unit will take over the administration of the state”s Reward and Reminder program, which works with willing young people who test store clerks by attempting to buy tobacco products.
The prevention centers don”t have law enforcement authority to fine clerks who sell to minors, but the Alcohol Beverage Control division does. Peak said the new Tobacco Enforcement Unit would combine the educational support and the enforcement needed to improve the state”s compliance.
Additional help for stores
The House and Senate budget committees also agreed to allocate $400,000 for a private program requested by the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association of Kansas to provide independent compliance checks for stores that sell tobacco.
The BARS Program, sends young “mystery shoppers” into the state”s convenience, discount and grocery stores that sell tobacco, said Tom Palace, director of the convenience store association. Stores will receive regular updates if clerks fail to verify identification before selling tobacco; the information will also be made available to the state, Palace said.
Convenience stores in particular tend to have high employee turnover rates, Palace said, making the additional compliance checks necessary.
“We”re conditioning clerks through a number of compliance visits without a big stick, or a fine,” Palace said.
The association had asked for $800,000 for the BARS program, which would have ensured a monthly compliance check at each of the state”s 2,500 tobacco retail outlets. An additional 800 bars and smoke shops are licensed to sell tobacco, but are age-restricted environments, Palace said.
If the budget committees” reports pass, they”ll find a way to make the program work with $400,000, Palace said.
“It”s a start,” he said. “I”m pleased to the extent that we can try to help the state get a higher compliance rate. I”m disappointed in the fact that we don”t have enough to do checks every month.”
Funding necessity questioned
Funding sources for anti-tobacco programs has been an issue this legislative session, and remain a question with these two programs.
The House Appropriations Committee asked that funding for the two programs come from the Children”s Initiatives Fund, which distributes all of the revenue from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between states and tobacco companies that aimed to reimburse states for health costs attributed to smokers. This year, the state received $50.2 million from the agreement.
However, the Senate Ways and Means Committee asked that the funds come from the State General Fund. Final legislative decisions on the funding source will be made during the wrap-up session, which begins Wednesday.
Anti-tobacco advocates applauded the initiatives but said they were wary of tobacco control programs that don”t include cessation and other education components. The state now spends $1 million on comprehensive anti-tobacco programs, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least $18.1 million.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment estimated that 64 percent of underage tobacco users obtain the products from sources other than stores, such as friends or family.
“We focus on trying to protect kids, but enforcement and retailer education is just one component,” said Mary Jayne Hellebust, executive director of the Tobacco-Free Kansas Coalition. “Unless it”s wrapped in with other components we know actually work, we”re only treating part of the problem, and a small problem at that.”
-Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at
sgreen@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118.