Preliminary 2009 data show Indiana will post its lowest adult smoking rate in more than a decade, at the same time Gov. Mitch Daniels is calling for the elimination of the stand-alone tobacco prevention agency.
The administration is pushing a number of cost-saving measures for the state budget, including abolishing the Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation executive board – created in 2000. The assets and duties of the board would be transferred to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Senate Republicans voted for the change, but progress has stalled in final negotiations with House Democrats.
State Budget Director Chris Ruhl said the move could save between $1.1 million and $1.5 million in overhead and administration.
He noted that smoking is the only health issue with its own quasi-governmental agency and oversight.
He also questioned the effectiveness of the board during testimony in the House Ways and Means Committee this year, even handing out data showing a lack of improvement on adult smoking rates in Indiana.
“If we are making progress it’s very slow, particularly given how much money is being spent,” Ruhl said.
Daniels also chimed in, saying he wasn’t faulting the agency’s work, “but clearly we can do better. Progress has been slow to say the least.”
Data obtained by The Journal Gazette – and confirmed by state health officials – show Indiana’s adult smoking rate for 2009 dropped to 23.1 percent.
It is preliminary data sent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to states for review, but the rate could end up being the state’s final number, said Jennifer Dunlap, spokeswoman for the Indiana State Department of Health.
Ruhl said he had not seen the new numbers.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe said the state health department would have to hire some experts to implement a tobacco prevention program but could manage with fewer employees than the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation agency.
That’s because the state department already has finance, human resources and media experts on staff, for example
Monroe – speaking on her last day before moving to a new position at the CDC – said she supports the transfer of the duties, but she cautioned against an “erosion of funding.”
“The funding should be sustained,” she said.
Kevin O’Flaherty – Indiana’s director of advocacy for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids – said maintaining funding didn’t happen when stand-alone agencies were eliminated in Ohio and Mississippi.
“It was a power grab and a money grab in those states,” he said. “The question is whether Indiana’s efforts would suffer over time due to the switch. There are no parameters in the bill. It just abolishes the board and folds the assets and responsibilities in the state department of health.”
