Business And Health Leaders Call For Lawmakers To Triple Cigarette Tax

By James Polston
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS — A coalition of business and health professionals launched a campaign Thursday calling for Indiana lawmakers to increase the state’s cigarette tax by $2 per pack during the 2019 legislative session.

For the second straight year, the Raise it for Health Coalition is pushing for the higher tax on cigarettes, which is currently $1 per pack. The group is made up of more than 130 partner organizations with one common goal—improving the health of Hoosiers.

Kevin Brinegar, CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has achieved its goals of building an attractive business climate with low taxes, limited regulations, and a good infrastructure.

 

But the state lags behind the rest of the nation in health measures with a smoking rate that is 50 percent higher than the national average. Indiana ranks 38^th in overall health.

“We don’t generally strive just to be average,” Brinegar said. “But if we were average in this category we would be saying we would be saving employers billions of dollars a year.”

Brinegar said smokers in the workplace cost employers $6.2 billion in higher health care costs, absenteeism and lost productivity.

Emily Scott, vice president of the Indiana Academy of Pediatrics, works primarily with babies and sees the effects of smoking every day.

“Babies are especially vulnerable to the effects of tobacco use during a mom’s pregnancy,” Scott said.

Scott said pregnant women who smoke are depriving their babies of oxygen, making it more likely for the child to be born premature, at a low birth weight or with a cleft lip or cleft palate or worse, dying in infancy.

“Unfortunately, these risks add up to big problems in Indiana,” Scott said. The state ranks 42^nd in infant mortality.

Scott said there are 12,000 smoking-affected births each year in Indiana and 14 percent of pregnant women smoke, or twice the national average.

“When a woman smokes during her pregnancy, there is a higher chance that she will not take home a healthy baby from the hospital,” Scott said.

Raise it for Health Coalition data projects if lawmakers would increase the state’s cigarette tax by $2 per pack, the state would raise more than $350 million and Indiana would be in the top 10 for public health funding if all cigarette tax revenue is put toward health initiatives.

The federal government is also taking steps to curb smoking rates. Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration announced efforts to combat the raising underage use of tobacco by imposing strict sales restrictions on flavored e-cigarettes and plans to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

FOOTNOTE:  James Polston is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com

After dismissing a First Amendment complaint that alleged a Monroe County charter school violated religious protection laws, a district court judge has awarded the Indiana superintendent of public instruction nearly $1,500 in costs and is considering an award of more than $1,800 for the school.

Defendants Jennifer McCormick, who was sued in her official capacity as state superintendent, and Ellettsville’s Seven Oaks Classical School, Inc., sought more than $3,300 in costs after prevailing on summary judgment in Indiana Coalition for Public Education – Monroe County and South Central Indiana, Inc. v. Jennifer McCormick, 1:17-cv-01295. The Coalition for Public Education filed the suit in April 2017, challenging the portion of the Indiana Charter School Act that allowed Grace College, a religious private college in Winona Lake, to authorize a charter for Seven Oaks.

Specifically, the coalition — which is comprised of Monroe County public school teachers and employees who support traditional public schools — alleged the act violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause by allowing religious schools to authorize charters and the Indiana Constitution by allowing religious authorizers to receive up to 3 percent of public funds diverted to their charter schools. After initially letting the case proceed last November, Indiana Southern District Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson dismissed the complaint about lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

Seven Oaks then sought $1,853.34 and McCormick sought $1,490.74 in costs, including the costs of depositions, pro hac vice fees, and docketing fees. McCormick’s costs specifically targeted deposition fees, and Magnus-Stinson agreed to award $1,490.74 to each defendant, though only to the extent the defendant actually paid for deposition transcripts.

The chief judge also agreed to award Seven Oaks a $20 docket fee, which is an “authorized statutory fee for prevailing parties under 18 U.S.C. section 1923.” But she stopped short of granting the school the full $1,853.34 it requested, agreeing with the coalition that the school “failed to submit any proof that it — as opposed to a law firm or other outside group — actually paid (the costs).”

“The Court rejects Seven Oaks’ assertion that who paid its costs is ‘irrelevant and none of the plaintiff’s business,’” Magnus-Stinson wrote, citing Neal v. Honeywell, Inc., 191 F.3d 827, 833 (7^th Cir. 1999). “… Donated or otherwise uncharged costs may not be recovered. Moreover, given the facts of this case, the court finds it unreasonable to require the Coalition, with its limited resources … to shoulder a cost that Seven Oaks itself did not bear.”

Further, Magnus-Stinson denied Seven Oaks’ request to recover the $300 it spent on pro hac vice fees, noting “Seven Oaks chose to have six attorneys, including three who were not members of this Court’s bar, appear on its behalf. Only one of the three admitted pro hac vice signed his name to any substantive filings.”

“Nonetheless, Seven Oaks (or another nonparty) paid for three pro hac vice fees, which adds up to over one fee for ‘lifetime admission to this court’s bar,’” she wrote. “And parties may not ‘charge to an opposing party the costs of lifetime admission to the bar.’”

Finally, Magnus-Stinson declined to find the coalition indigent, noting it has an annual income of $600 to $1,600 and has about $2,500 on hand, which is “already committed to paying for brochures, publicity, and our routine advocacy activities.”

“The fact that the Coalition may have to rearrange its spending from its preferred advocacy activities to pay the costs of this lawsuit does not demonstrate that it cannot or will not be able to pay the costs with future income,” the chief judge said. “Moreover, the costs claimed in the case amount to a modest $3,044.08 (once the $300 disallowed pro hac vice fees is excluded), and may total even less once the sums Seven Oaks did not actually pay are excluded. The Court, therefore, declines to disallow Defendants’ bills of costs based upon the Coalition’s asserted indigency.”

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 Marilyn Odendahl

Over 1,700 Tri-State families will be receiving food baskets filled with turkey, macaroni, green beans, stuffing mix, and more.

After a chapel service, a food assembly line will run several times throughout the day to help Tri-State families celebrate the holiday with a full table.

“Families will be walking away with 40 to 50 items worth of food in a makeshift box donated by Vincennes’ Packaging Corporation of America,” says Evansville Rescue Mission vice president of development Chris-Michael Morrison.

“40 plus schools have donated their time and collection efforts as well as churches, businesses, and it’s just to be a testament of how generous and how giving our Tri-State is.”

Donations of stuffing mix and 14 ounces of canned yams are still needed, as well as infant coats and accessories for the Coats For Kiddo’s Drive.

The Rescue Mission is accepting donations until 8 p.m. tonight.

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