By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Members of a legislative subcommittee that is scouring Arkansas’ tobacco settlement proceeds for extra money took notice of a $3 million fund balance in the master’s degree program on addiction studies at the University Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

But a Pine Bluff lawmaker says the little-known degree program and 17 community and school grants the university oversees should not be raided for funds to pay for other health-related programs because they and other minority health initiatives funded with tobacco settlement money are addressing a major problem — disparities in health services.

“It’s shocking. If you look at access to health care, you look at the demographics and minority residents, especially in the Delta, minorities don’t have sufficient health care,” Rep. Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, said last week after meeting of a joint subcommittee of the House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor committees.

During the meeting, members carefully examined the budget of the state Health Department’s Smoking Prevention and Cessation Program’s budget looking for any excess funds that could be shifted to other health-related programs, such as adult drug courts.

“I think that is the wrong direction,” Flowers said.

Sen. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, co-chairman of the subcommittee, said the panel’s review of all programs funded by Arkansas’ 25-year, $1.6 billion tobacco settlement is being done to make sure the money is being spent correctly.

Since 2000, the state has received about $446 million, including $57 million last fiscal year, under the 1998 national settlement requiring tobacco companies to make annual payments to Arkansas and 45 other states. Arkansas voters approved a ballot initiative in 2000 requiring all tobacco settlement funds to be spent on health programs.

Pritchard said the panel could hold as many as eight more meetings, which he said could result in recommendations for possible “tweaks” to the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act. Any changes would be debated in the 2011 regular session, he added.

Last week, Pritchard’s subcommittee focused on the state anti-smoking program’s estimated $17.3 million budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. The budget equals 31.6 percent of the total amount of tobacco settlement funds the state is to receive this year.

Of the $17.3 million, 15 percent, or about $3.5 million, is to go to prevention and cessation programs in minority communities, including about $1.9 million to UAPB for 17 community and civic grants, and $703,890 for the master’s program in addiction studies.

One of the few programs of its kind in the country, director Jerry Lewis told lawmakers it prepares students for intervention, prevention and treatment of those with alcohol, tobacco, drug and gambling addictions. Students also learn how to manage addiction facilities.

Lewis said 64 people have completed the 36-hour program and received their degrees, and that another 15 are currently enrolled in the program. Many of the graduates now are working directly in minority communities around the state helping people with addictions, he said.

Former state Rep. Calvin Johnson of Pine Bluff, dean of UAPB’s education department, said the grants are awarded for two years and are renewable. Some of the organizations receiving the grants include the Array Ministries, Asian Pacific Coalition for Smoke Free Arkansas, Boys & Girls Club of St. Francis County, Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas in Pulaski, Jefferson, Desha and Chicot counties, and the County and Family & Youth Enrichment Network, Inc. in Phillips, Monroe, Lee and Prairie counties.

“Are we not in danger of duplicating efforts?” Pritchard asked, noting that many community and civic nonprofit groups already receive funds for health programs.
Johnson said there was not.

“We have a partnership with the Department of Health to monitor and to be accountable and to serve communities that might otherwise not be served,” he said.

Rep. Gregg Reep, D-Warren, praised the communities programs and said they are reaching out to minorities across the state.

“They are getting out into the communities,” he said.

State health officials said the fund balance the master’s program, currently $3 million, fluctuates every year, depending on how much tobacco settlement money the state receives.

Rep. Tracy Pennartz, D-Fort Smith, described the UAPB graduate program as “excellent” but wondered how the university would continue the program if it could no longer count on tobacco settlement money.

Johnson said the university would have to “make some tough decisions,” and UAPB Chancellor Lawrence Davis said he thought another source of funding could be found, but he wasn’t sure.

“I would encourage you to begin (reviewing) what you would do if the money would go away,” Pennartz said.

Flowers defended the program and others targeting minority health.

She said she just returned from a conference at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta on health care disparities. The conference specifically looked at sexually transmitted diseases, but the overall message was that blacks and other minorities are underserved when it comes to health care.

According to the CDC, the chance of a stroke, a leading risk of smoking, is twice as high among black men as white men, and 50.5 percent of whites participate in smoking cessation programs, compared to 35.4 percent for blacks.

Rhonda Smith, a CDC spokeswoman in Atlanta and liaison for the agency’s Office of Minority Health, said in almost every aspect of health care, there is a disparity between minorities and whites in the United States.

“If you look at sexually transmitted diseases, if you look at cancer, if you look at high blood pressure, stroke and all heart-related, cardiac-related diseases, it really doesn’t matter what subject you look at, there are going to be great disparities,” she said.

Flowers said Arkansas did the right thing in 2000 when it obligated funding from the tobacco settlement for minority health issues and said should not even consider diverting money from the programs.

“We’re talking about a state that has so many people dropping out of school, has a big prison population, a big drug program and then tobacco as a source of illness. Why would we do that?” she said.