Monday, 21 January 2008 00:31
Sen. Cox Wants First Five’s $2.5 Billion Back
State Senator Dave Cox, has
presented a bill in the state legislature to place a measure on the ballot
asking the voters to take back 2.5 billion in tobacco tax dollars held in
reserve by local and state First
Five Commissions. Voters created these commissions when they passed Proposition
10 in 1998. The initiative created a 50-cent per pack tax on cigarettes
that generates about $580 million per year to be used for early childhood
development programs. $2.5 billion of collected tobacco tax is sitting in local
and state First Five reserve accounts.
In his weekly Capitol report, Cox said, “$2.5 billion is a lot of
money. This is money not being used to help kids. Yes, some good things are
being done, but we have also found some very questionable expenditures
including funding for Kids Days, Art Shows, Photo Collage Projects and even a
grant to a youth soccer club to provide swimming lessons.” First Five officials say that the
reserve accounts are needed for long-term planning and funding so that programs
aren’t disrupted year to year by state budget fluctuations. This week
Cox presented a bill to place a measure on the ballot asking the voters to
reprioritize this money. The bill would eliminate the 58 local First Five
commissions and the state commission. Cox says, if passed, his ballot measure
would put money directly into providing health coverage for kids.
