Takeaways from Tallahassee — 15 years of Tobacco Free

Turning 15

Tobacco Free Florida is celebrating 15 years of helping Floridians reduce their use of tobacco, saving hundreds of thousands of lives along the way.

When Florida voters approved the use of tobacco settlement funds for education and prevention programs in 2006, the Department of Health responded the following year with Tobacco Free Florida. Since then, the program has reduced smoking rates in youth and adults, helped more than 254,000 Floridians quit tobacco and saved the state an estimated $17.7 billion in smoking-related health care costs.

“Since the late 1990s following the tobacco industry settlement, the state of Florida has been recognized as a worldwide leader and model program because we have been effective in addressing the tremendous public health harms of tobacco use on our society,” said Laura Corbin, bureau chief for Tobacco Free Florida. “Through innovative and effective campaigns and programs, we have continued to evolve to meet new challenges as the tobacco industry has adapted.”

Youth cigarette use in Florida declined from 10.6% in 2006 to 1.1% in 2021, but the organization is opening another front in the battle against tobacco. This year, Tobacco Free Florida launched Live Vape Free, a program to help addicted teens quiet e-cigarettes. The text-based program helps teens ages 13 to 17-years-old quit e-cigarettes and provides adults with the tools they need to support teens on their quit journey.

There are fewer adult smokers in Florida total today than when Tobacco Free Florida launched despite Florida’s population growing by more than 3 million people in those 15 years. In addition to preventing people from dragging on cigarettes in the first place, there’s been fewer relapses among adults.

The positive results come despite Tobacco Free Florida continuing to be funded at less than 40% of the level recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Through its Quit Your Way program, Tobacco Free Florida also provides Phone Quit, Group Quit, Virtual Quit and Web Quit. Additionally, the Tobacco Free Florida toll-free number, 1-877-U-CAN-NOW (877-822-6669), is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and designed to help people looking for information on how to quit.

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Coming up, the usual assortment of news, intel, and observations from the week that was in Florida’s capital city by Peter Schorsch, Drew Wilson, Renzo Downey, Jason Delgado, Christine Jordan Sexton, Tristan Wood and the staff of Florida Politics.

The “Takeaway 5” — the Top 5 stories from the week that was:

Take 5

Gov. DeSantis signs congressional map his office drew – Republicans’ chances to retake the U.S. House are at a new high after lawmakers signed and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved congressional district lines drawn by the Governor’s staff. The 28-district map includes 20 districts in which Republican Donald Trump won the 2020 Presidential Election and eight where Democrat Joe Biden prevailed. Although activists are already suing to throw out the map, it will likely be in place for the 2022 Election. Lawmakers approved the map along party lines. As the House approached the map’s final legislative, Reps. Travaris McCurdy and Angie Nixon, two Black Democrats, started a protest with a sit-in that lasted more than an hour before Speaker Chris Sprowls called the chamber to a vote as chanting continued.

DeSantis approves bills targeting Disney – In an unprecedented fashion that saw the Governor — over the course of four days — announce and sign largely partisan legislation, the Sunshine State is targeting its largest private employer with a pair of bills to remove the company’s special protections. After DeSantis expanded the scope of the redistricting Special Session after being “provoked” by Disney, Republicans delivered with a bill to eliminate old special districts, including Disney’s self-governing district, and a second bill undoing a carve-out from last year’s social media bill. Disney doesn’t deserve the special protections anyway, Republicans argue, but the recent spat over the Parental Rights in Education bill gave Florida a reason to reevaluate them.

Manny Díaz pitched for Ed Commissioner – DeSantis will recommend Miami Republican Sen. Manny Díaz to become Florida’s next Education Commissioner after Richard Corcoran steps down. Díaz, the vice president for financial affairs at a school affiliated with and paid by charter schools and charter school management companies, has long been an influential voice in the Legislature over education policy. “Manny Díaz has done a great job in the Legislature on education issues ranging from teacher pay to parental rights and choice,” DeSantis said. “I am confident that he will serve our state well as the Commissioner of Education.”

DeSantis signs “anti-woke” bill – Florida has become the latest state to ban “woke ideology” associated with critical race theory after DeSantis signed HB 7. The measure, which is already being challenged in court over First Amendment concerns, targets “discriminatory” classroom instruction and corporate training. We are not going to use your tax dollars to teach our kids to hate this country or to hate each other,” DeSantis said. While he warned that teachers and textbooks are indoctrinating children, Democrats argued the bill would scare educators from teaching students about the details of Black history. “I truly believe this legislation furthers systematic racism as an attempt to erase and whitewash American history. It’s a delusional culture war GOP issue,” Rep. Ramon Alexander said.

Property insurance Special Session expected next month – DeSantis plans to call the Legislature for another Special Session in late May, this time to address property insurance. The Governor had previously encouraged lawmakers to take up property insurance legislation when they met this week, giving the nod to Republican Sens. Jim Boyd and Jeff Brandes. “Issues like property insurance and trying to bring some sanity and stability, and have a functioning market, I’m confident that we’re going to be able to get that done,” DeSantis said. Democratic lawmakers are optimistic they’ll have more input on property insurance than they did during this week’s Special Session, but they also acknowledge there are no silver bullet proposals that will stabilize the insurance market while lowering rates for residents.