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Representative Richard Heath's Legislative Update

Representative Richard Heath's Legislative Update
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By Representative Richard Heath
Aug. 19, 2019 | MAYFIELD
By Representative Richard Heath Aug. 19, 2019 | 01:15 PM | MAYFIELD
I have talked about interim joint committees for some time now, but I rarely mention statutory committees. In addition to interim joint committees, statutory committees are authorized by Kentucky Revised Statutes and function as subcommittees of the Legislative Research Commission. They meet regularly throughout the year. Last Wednesday (August 14), the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee met for its regularly scheduled meeting.

What is the Kentucky Tobacco Settlement Agreement? Known as Kentucky's Master Settlement Agreement, or MSA, it is an agreement between 46 states and the major cigarette companies (the remaining four states entered into separate agreements). The settlement came from state lawsuits against tobacco companies for Medicaid costs related to smoking. Kentucky's payments continue as long as cigarettes are sold by participating manufacturers. Kentucky received $102 million last year and is on pace to collect another $500 million over the next five years, bringing the total for the state to nearly $2.5 billion.  

We are making great progress toward lessening Kentucky’s dependence on tobacco production while revitalizing the farm economy by investing a portion of Kentucky's Master Settlement Agreement Funds into the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund. As the Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, I am excited about the promise of this program. To date, Kentucky has invested more than $605 million in an array of county, regional and state projects designed to increase net farm income and create sustainable new farm-based business enterprises. These funding approvals, made possible by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund, represent just a few of the more than 6,100 projects approved, since the inception of the program in January 2001.

Highlighted in this month’s committee meeting by Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy Executive Director included Kentucky State University’s $5,000 agricultural mini-grant program and the non-profit Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development which is supported in part by grants supported through KADF as well as the youth program component of CAIP, or the County Agricultural Investment Program, also under KADF. It also streamlines a county’s ability to use its share of the state’s tobacco settlement money for youth agricultural projects. Projects range from entering a country ham at the state fair to showing livestock.

Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy Deputy Executive Director Bill McCloskey highlighted some of the funds dispersed through the KADF. The City of Somerset was approved for up to $240,000 in State and $10,000 in Pulaski County funds for the construction of a farmer’s market structure and commercial kitchen. Bluegrass Community & Technical College was approved for up to $15,000 in State funds to establish the Kentucky Honey Testing Laboratory. Marion County Fiscal Court was approved for up to $20,000 in Marion County funds to purchase a new truck for its deceased animal removal truck.

These are just a few examples of what Tobacco Settlement Funds are used for, including financing provided to small farmers through the Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation working in the SOAR (Shaping our Appalachian Region) counties of eastern Kentucky to assist them in commercializing their products. We have taken a negative and turned it into a positive by funneling these funds back to the farmers and Kentuckians that need it the most.

As always, I will share an update after this month’s interim joint committee meetings. In the meantime, I hope you will write or call about this or any other issue that interests you. I can be reached here anytime, or call the toll-free message line at 1-800-372-7181. Those with hearing impairments may leave messages for me by calling the TTY message line at 1-800-896-0305.
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