{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-37-37-600.21","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 37, § 37-600.21","heading":"Legislative findings and policies concerning tobacco","body":"manufacturer liability – Master Settlement Agreement.\n\nA. The Oklahoma Legislature finds that cigarette smoking\n\npresents serious public health concerns to the State of Oklahoma and\n\nits citizens. The Oklahoma Legislature also finds that:\n\n1. The Surgeon General has determined that smoking causes lung\n\ncancer, heart disease and other serious diseases;\n\n2. There are hundreds of thousands of tobacco-related deaths in\n\nthe United States each year; and\n\n3. These diseases most often do not appear until many years\n\nafter the person in question begins smoking.\n\nB. The Oklahoma Legislature further finds that cigarette\n\nsmoking also presents serious financial concerns for the State of\n\nOklahoma; that, under certain health care programs, the state may\n\nhave a legal obligation to provide medical assistance to eligible\n\npersons for health conditions associated with cigarette smoking;\n\nthat those persons may have a legal entitlement to receive such\n\nmedical assistance; and that, under these programs, the State of\n\nOklahoma pays millions of dollars each year to provide medical\n\nassistance for those persons for health conditions associated with\n\ncigarette smoking.\n\nC. The Oklahoma Legislature additionally finds that it is the\n\npolicy of the State of Oklahoma that financial burdens imposed on\n\nthe state by cigarette smoking should be borne by tobacco product\n\nmanufacturers rather than by the State of Oklahoma to the extent\n\nthat such manufacturers either determine to enter into a settlement\n\nwith the state, or are found culpable by the courts; and that on\n\nNovember 23, 1998, leading United States tobacco product\n\nmanufacturers entered into a settlement agreement, entitled the\n\n“Master Settlement Agreement”, with the state, which obligates these\n\nmanufacturers, in return for a release of past, present and certain\n\nfuture claims against them as described therein, to pay substantial\n\nsums to the state (tied in part to their volume of sales); to fund a\n\nnational foundation devoted to the interests of public health; and\n\nto make substantial changes in their advertising and marketing\n\npractices and corporate culture, with the intention of reducing\n\nunderage smoking.\n\nD. The Oklahoma Legislature therefore finally finds that it\n\nwould be contrary to the policy of the State of Oklahoma if tobacco\n\nproduct manufacturers who determine not to enter into such a\n\nsettlement could use a resulting cost advantage to derive large,\n\nshort-term profits in the years before liability may arise without\n\nensuring that the state will have an eventual source of recovery\n\nfrom them if they are proven to have acted culpably; and that it is\n\nthus in the interest of the State of Oklahoma to require that such\n\nmanufacturers establish a reserve fund to guarantee a source of\n\ncompensation and to prevent such manufacturers from deriving large,\n\nshort-term profits and then becoming judgment-proof before liability\n\nmay arise.","path":["OK Code","Title 37"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os37.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"cc5adc35e84b40ff3e91ef1b34330dc99816b6566e43bea2ce13bec524ef0965","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-37-37-600.2","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-37-37-600.22"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}