NC Tobacco Prevention and Control: Recent Key Accomplishments

North Carolina Tobacco Control Accomplishments for July 1^st Through December 31, 2007: 

1. The 2007 session of the NC General Assembly saw several secondhand smoke policy advances:
   1. Although H259, Representative Hugh Holliman´s bill to prohibit smoking in most food and lodging facilities and restore local authority to prohibit smoking, failed in the NC House of Representatives, it only failed by five votes, and the science of secondhand smoke and health was not seriously questioned.
   2. Passage of H24, Prohibit Smoking in State Government Buildings, initiated from the Justus-Warren Heart Disease and Stroke Task Force and sponsored by Representative Weiss and Senator Purcell, makes all state government buildings smoke-free and provides an option for local governments to make their buildings and transportation systems smoke-free.  This law went into effect January 1, 2008.
   3. Passage of SB1086, Tobacco Free Schools, sponsored by Senator Purcell. This law requires the remaining 28 school districts (of 115) that have not gone 100% tobacco-free to do so by August 1, 2008;
   4. Passage of H1294 No Smoking Long Term Care Facilities, sponsored by Reps. Julia Howard and Carolyn Justice, prohibits smoking inside long-term care facilities;
   5. Passage of SB862, Smoke free UNC, sponsored by Senator Purcell, permits the buildings, grounds and facilities of the institutions of the University of North Carolina Systems (UNC) to be designated smoke-free indoors and within 100 feet of all buildings.
2. Tobacco price increases included an increase in the cigarette tax from 5 cents to 35 cents in 2006.  This resulted in an 18.5% decline in cigarette consumption and an additional $157 million in state revenue.  The State budget included an increase in the excise tax on all non-cigarette tobacco products from 3 percent to 10 percent of the wholesale price. The tax receipts will generate money for the University Cancer Research Fund at UNC-Chapel Hill.
3. HB 1785 –Fire Safe Cigarettes, sponsored by Rep. Verla Insko, was approved by the North Carolina General Assembly. The new law requires all cigarettes sold in North Carolina to burn out quickly when left unattended. The law goes into effect January 1, 2010.
4. In January 2007 the NC Tobacco Use Quitline received more than 1200 calls, nearly 4 times the typical monthly average.  This was in response to a number of promotional efforts that occurred either simultaneously, some of which the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch had placed and some which it did not.
5. NC Division of Medical Assistance has approved a 50% federal match for all callers to the quitline that are Medicaid recipients.