Tobacco.

TOBACCO. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Adds new statute requiring the State Department of Health Services to establish and conduct a Tobacco Education Project. The project is to gather data on tobacco smoking by young people and pregnant women; to conduct a multimedia public education campaign to convince young people not to become tobacco smokers and to convince pregnant women to stop smoking; and to fund research and report annually to Legislature. The statute establishes a surtax of twenty-five hundredths mills on each cigarette distributed (one-half cent per package of twenty cigarettes) with proceeds to be deposited into fund to implement initiative. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: This initiative would result in an increase in the cigarette excise tax of $5.6 million in 1984-85 and $13.5 million annually thereafter. The cost of the Tobacco Education Project would depend on the scope of the project\u27s advertising campaign. Over the long run, these costs would not exceed the amount of money available from the new cigarette tax. The State Board of Equalization would incur unknown, but probably minor administrative costs