Legislative cuts could trim back tobacco cessation efforts

Legislators may decide as soon as Wednesday whether to cut several million dollars from programs that help people quit using tobacco.
Programs including Quitline Iowa and JEL (Just Eliminate Lies) could see a total of $2.4 million cut from their budgets this fiscal year and $6.7 million the next two years.

Both programs are under the umbrella of the state Division of Tobacco Use, Prevention and Control, and the proposed cuts would be spread throughout its programs and total budget of about $7 million, according to Garin Buttermore, JEL coordinator.

The proposed cuts are part of about $500 million suggested to be eliminated from the state budget in a bill put together by the Iowa House of Representatives Republicans.

Buttermore pointed out since the start of JEL in 2000, youth tobacco use has dropped from 34 percent to 20 percent as of 2008.

JEL's work includes a public ad campaign, youth peer-to-peer education and anti-tobacco use events and activities for youth across Iowa.

Quitline Iowa started offering services in 2001, according to Aaron Swanson, executive officer with the Division of Tobacco Use, Prevention and Control.

Quitline Iowa offers ongoing telephone counseling, information via the mail, online resources at www.quitlineiowa.org and email access to counselors to ask questions about quitting.

In the last three years it has provided services to almost 65,000 Iowans, he said.

An evaluation completed by the University of Northern Iowa found that from January 2008 to June 2010, about 20 percent of people who called Quitline Iowa quit using tobacco that year.

"That's a very good success rate," Swanson said. "Among people who don't use any type of service to get help to quit using tobacco, research shows that only 3-5 percent of people who quit on their own, cold turkey, are successful."

From 2002 to 2008, adult tobacco use has dropped from 23.4 percent to 14.3 percent -- 208,000 fewer current adult smokers, he added.

The Quitline Iowa budget this fiscal year was $980,233, with nearly $900,000 coming from the state and the remaining portion from federal dollars.

JEL is fully paid for by state dollars with a budget of $1.7 million.

State Rep. Chuck Soderberg, of Le Mars, is one of the Republicans backing the bill that proposes the $500 million in cuts.

He said he has heard arguments in favor of tobacco cessation programs, including that they help cut back on state Medicare expenses.

"It's not that it's a bad program, but right now we just have to focus on reducing the total budget," Soderberg said. "The bottom line is we're $700 million short of fully funding all the programs."

He also said he felt the $100,000 price tag for a two-day JEL conference was "probably not a wise use of taxpayer money."

House Republicans are evaluating all state programs across the board, Soderberg said.

"We knew coming into this session that some difficult choices had to be made to bring the budget back in line with the revenues we have to work with," he said. "This is one of the programs we thought there might be a savings from state taxpayer money and maybe the private sector could pick up some of those programs."

He admitted there is no guarantee that would happen.

"Maybe at this point next year we can reinstitute some of the programs that we have to cut, but right now we are just looking at ways to reduce expenditures so we can live within our means," he said.

The impact of the proposed cut is unknown at this time, Swanson said.

"It's a bit early to say," he said. "Certainly, with the amount of the cut that's being proposed, even yet this fiscal year with six months to go, I can say that every program we provide funding to in the Division of Tobacco Use, Prevention and Control would be impacted in one way or another."

While the discussion of cuts is on the table, both Quitline Iowa and JEL continue to operate, Swanson pointed out.

"Quitline is here. It's a free service available to help people with their tobacco use, 1-800-QUIT-NOW, it's just a phone call away," he said.

A public hearing about the proposed cuts in the House bill, including those for state smoking cessation efforts, will be held at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) at the House chambers.

"It will be probably an hour long and everybody will have 3 minutes to present their information," Soderberg said, adding that time slots will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"We'll have time to hear a number of concerns, either supporting or opposing the cuts," he said. "We always have the ability to amend the bill through the debate process. If we see that there are some changes that need to be made, most definitely we will make those changes."