Funds transferred to jobs creation

COLUMBUS (AP) — Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers on Tuesday put a fence around $230 million originally intended for anti-smoking programs that now will be spent on a jobs-creation package.

Strickland, a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled Legislature last week proposed moving the money from the Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation into the state’s general fund. In response, the foundation tried to put the money into nonprofit accounts in an attempt to preserve the funding for tobacco prevention uses.

The House and Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved legislation that blocks the foundation’s move. The bill had an emergency clause, meaning it became law upon receiving Strickland’s signature. He signed it about one hour after it passed the Senate.

The tobacco foundation immediately asked state Treasurer Richard Cordray to transfer the money to the American Legacy Foundation, a national anti-smoking group, but Cordray’s office said it was liquidating the tobacco fund under the law Strickland had just signed. Cordray will oversee a separate $40 million fund the foundation can use to pay its current bills.

The $230 million will sit in the state treasury until Strickland and other leaders decide how it will be used to create jobs. It’s part of a $1.57 billion economic recovery plan announced by Strickland and Republican legislative leaders last week.

The foundation, whose board members are mostly appointees of the governor and the Legislature, said it could not comment further because it is “in consultation with legal counsel.” The group is funded by money from a settlement between tobacco companies and 46 states.