How to Spend $1.6 Billion
by July 12, 1999 12:00 am 47 views
We hear that since the end of the legislative session, attention and negotiations have turned to spending plans for the $1.6 billion tobacco settlement that the state will receive. About $62 million annually will be distributed through 2025.
It appears consensus is building for what is known as “The Better Health Plan,” being developed by the Arkansas Department of Health, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the UA Division of Agriculture and Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
A number of initiatives involving health education, medical education and treatment, and disease prevention are on the drawing board, but the key research element involves creation of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute – a potentially significant boon to higher education and lucrative biotechnology economic development in Arkansas.
Several key legislators are on board, and Gov. Mike Huckabee likely is as well because he’s the one who asked Dr. Harry Ward, the UAMS chancellor, and Dr. Fay Boozman, director of the Health Department, to recommend a master plan for the funds.
We’re told to expect a special session of the Legislature, which obviously would want to move forward with the plan before the next election.