Last week, after a three-hour debate and an attempt to lower the tax to 30-cents, the House returned H. 3584, the cigarette tax bill, to the Senate with only one change: the removal of funding for the I-95 corridor added two weeks ago in the Senate. The proposed tax increase remains at 50-cents, totaling 57-cents per pack. As passed, the bill includes $5 million for the state's tobacco prevention and control program, $5 million for Hollings Cancer Center and an allocation for agriculture. The major portion of the revenue still goes toward a health care trust fund for Medicaid.

Next Steps: The Senate only has the opportunity to agree or disagree with the House amendment, it may not amend the bill again. If the Senate disagrees, the bill will go to a conference committee, with three members from each the Senate and House. If both bodies agree to the conference committee's recommendation, the bill will go to the Governor, where we fully expect his veto due to the lack of a corresponding tax decrease.

Below is the vote to table the first amendment to reduce the cigarette tax increase to 30-cents and remove all funding for tobacco prevention programs. The affirmative votes (yeas) were for maintaining the increase at 50-cents and continuing to fund smoking prevention programs.

Please remember, many votes were taken and no one vote necessarily defines how the member will vote on a veto by the Governor. Regardless of how your representative voted, please contact them over the weekend or next week and express your thanks, or concern, regarding their stance on this very important issue. And that we will need their support in the coming weeks to override the Governor's veto!

Yeas - 62
Agnew, Allen, Anderson, Bales, Bowers, Brady, Branham, Brantley, G. A. Brown, H. B. Brown, R. L. Brown, Clyburn, Cobb-Hunter, Crawford, Daning, Dillard, Erickson, Funderburk, Gilliard, Govan, Gunn, Harrison, Hart, Harvin, Hodges, Horne, Hosey, Howard, Huggins, Hutto, Jefferson, Jennings, Kennedy, King, Knight, Limehouse, Mack, McEachern, McLeod, Merrill, Miller, Mitchell, Nanney, J. H. Neal, Neilson, Ott, Owens, Parks, Rice, Rutherford, Sellers, Skelton, D. C. Smith, J. E. Smith, Stavrinakis, Umphlett, Vick, Weeks, Whipper, Whitmire, Williams, T. R. Young

Nays - 53
Allison, Bannister, Barfield, Battle, Bedingfield, Bingham, Cato, Chalk, Clemmons, Cole, Cooper, Delleney Edge, Forrester, Frye, Gambrell, Haley, Hamilton, Hardwick, Harrell, Hayes, Hearn, Herbkersman, Kelly, Kirsh, Littlejohn, Loftis, Long, Lowe, Lucas, Millwood, D. C. Moss, V. S. Moss, J. M. Neal, Norman, Parker, Pinson, M. A. Pitts, Sandifer, Scott, Simrill, G. M. Smith, J. R. Smith, J. R. Smith, Sottile, Spires, Stewart, Stringer, Thompson, Toole, Viers, White, Wylie