SB 1095 - This act creates the "Health Care for Missouri's People" program within the Department of Health and Senior Services. An advisory board composed of fourteen members shall be responsible for administering the program. The purpose of the program is to provide health care services for the uninsured and the under-insured residents of Missouri. The goals of the program shall include:

-placement of health care practitioners;

-timely access to high quality health care services;

-implementing, expanding, or maintaining access to services;

-funding the program by assessing a cigarette tax;

-funding evidence-based prevention and cessation programs; and

-increasing the availability of pharmaceuticals.

The Department of Health and Senior Services, with the advice of the advisory board, must establish a grant process for qualified health centers. A new section 191.1012 creates the Health Care for Missouri's People fund into which any moneys appropriated by the General Assembly or any moneys received pursuant to sections 149.015 and 149.160, RSMo, may be deposited.

This act also increases the cigarette tax to twenty-eight and one-half mills per cigarette, or fifty-seven cents per pack. The tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes is increased to thirty-three and one-half percent. This is a forty cent per-pack increase to cigarettes and a thirteen and one-half percentage point increase to tobacco products.

Licensees shall make a final inventory of all unstamped cigarettes in their possession and have it certified to the Department if the cigarette tax increase is approved. The tax shall apply to the final inventory and payment shall be due on February 28, 2005. The increased tax shall apply to all cigarette stamps sold by the Department beginning on January 1, 2005. Between the approval date and January 1, 2005, the Department must limit sales of cigarettes to no more than 100% of the licensee's average purchase for the previous year.

The increased revenue from these two tax changes shall be deposited in the state's general revenue fund. Amounts generated in excess of $150 million per year from the Health Care for Missouri's People program will be deposited in the state's general revenue fund.
LORIE TOWE