California Tax on Cigarettes to Fund Anti Tobacco Ads Upheld
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Banta, 272 F. Supp. 2d 1085 (E.D. Cal. 2003); 72(4) U.S. Law Week 1060-61 (Aug. 5, 2003)
A California law that directed a state agency to develop a media program to discourage tobacco use with funding provided by a surtax on wholesale cigarette sales was upheld by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. California voters in 1988 enacted a 25¢ per pack surtax with the revenue placed in a limited-use fund, a portion of which is used for the media campaign. Various tobacco companies challenged the law, asserting that the state annually spends $25 million on anti-smoking ads and the surtax compels them to fund speech with which they disagree...