Tobacco commission changes to be studied

A subcommittee will study the recommendations made by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission after it evaluated the performance of the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (TICR).

Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, said Tobacco Commission Del. Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott County, is creating a working subcommittee to review the JLARC recommendations.
Marshall, a member of the commission, has agreed to serve on the committee, he said.
Half its members will be legislators and the rest will be residents, Marshall said.
The subcommittee is expected to begin meeting in July to consider recommendations released Monday, he said.
If any of the JLARC recommendations are adopted, it will not be the first time the tobacco commission has sought to make improvements.
Commissioners adopted eight of the 21 recommendations, some with amendments, made in 2008 by a Blue Ribbon Panel chaired by Gov. Gerald Baliles, according to Tim Pfohl, the commission’s director of grant programs.
Among those adopted were the recommendations to conduct a review of commission’s strategic plan at least every two years; reduce the number of standing committees and align them more directly with the strategic plan; implement an “investor” approach to funding and use a request-for-proposal (RFP) method to fulfill strategic plan objectives; and consider regional contributions (including in-kind) in assessing grant applications for all economic development grant awards, according to information from Pfohl.
Other recommendations were tabled or dismissed, according to his information.
The Tobacco Commission was created in 1999 to disburse Virginia’s share of the settlement from a national lawsuit against cigarette makers. It has awarded $756 million in economic development and revitalization grants in 41 Virginia localities since 2000.
JLARC recommended Monday that the commission create a more strategic approach to guide future grants, better match funding to the economic needs across the region and “do a better job of documenting the performance of its grants,” according to the draft presented to legislators.
The study also found that while the tobacco commission had “a significant positive impact on Virginia’s tobacco region,” it also has “funded projects that have not contributed to regional revitalization.”