Okla. Stat. tit. 37, § 37-600.21: Legislative findings and policies concerning tobacco

manufacturer liability – Master Settlement Agreement.

A. The Oklahoma Legislature finds that cigarette smoking

presents serious public health concerns to the State of Oklahoma and

its citizens. The Oklahoma Legislature also finds that:

1. The Surgeon General has determined that smoking causes lung

cancer, heart disease and other serious diseases;

2. There are hundreds of thousands of tobacco-related deaths in

the United States each year; and

3. These diseases most often do not appear until many years

after the person in question begins smoking.

B. The Oklahoma Legislature further finds that cigarette

smoking also presents serious financial concerns for the State of

Oklahoma; that, under certain health care programs, the state may

have a legal obligation to provide medical assistance to eligible

persons for health conditions associated with cigarette smoking;

that those persons may have a legal entitlement to receive such

medical assistance; and that, under these programs, the State of

Oklahoma pays millions of dollars each year to provide medical

assistance for those persons for health conditions associated with

cigarette smoking.

C. The Oklahoma Legislature additionally finds that it is the

policy of the State of Oklahoma that financial burdens imposed on

the state by cigarette smoking should be borne by tobacco product

manufacturers rather than by the State of Oklahoma to the extent

that such manufacturers either determine to enter into a settlement

with the state, or are found culpable by the courts; and that on

November 23, 1998, leading United States tobacco product

manufacturers entered into a settlement agreement, entitled the

“Master Settlement Agreement”, with the state, which obligates these

manufacturers, in return for a release of past, present and certain

future claims against them as described therein, to pay substantial

sums to the state (tied in part to their volume of sales); to fund a

national foundation devoted to the interests of public health; and

to make substantial changes in their advertising and marketing

practices and corporate culture, with the intention of reducing

underage smoking.

D. The Oklahoma Legislature therefore finally finds that it

would be contrary to the policy of the State of Oklahoma if tobacco

product manufacturers who determine not to enter into such a

settlement could use a resulting cost advantage to derive large,

short-term profits in the years before liability may arise without

ensuring that the state will have an eventual source of recovery

from them if they are proven to have acted culpably; and that it is

thus in the interest of the State of Oklahoma to require that such

manufacturers establish a reserve fund to guarantee a source of

compensation and to prevent such manufacturers from deriving large,

short-term profits and then becoming judgment-proof before liability

may arise.