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1999 SESSION

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996473400
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 653 Offered January 21, 1999 Requesting the Governor, Attorney General and Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to develop a plan for protecting Virginia’s tobacco farmers. ---------- Patron-- Phillips ---------- Referred to Committee on Agriculture ----------

WHEREAS, tobacco is Virginia’s top cash crop, with receipts of $188 million in 1996; and

WHEREAS, many Southside Virginia communities are economically dependent on tobacco farming; and

WHEREAS, over 27,000 Virginians are employed in the tobacco industry, and as many as 120,457 jobs are supported by tobacco-related activities; and

WHEREAS, 40 states have sued the tobacco industry seeking damages for smoking-related health costs, and the parties to these lawsuit have negotiated a national settlement; and

WHEREAS, the national settlement is expected to result in substantial changes in the tobacco industry and Virginia’s tobacco economy; and

WHEREAS, the interests of tobacco growers may not be adequately addressed by the national settlement; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Governor, Attorney General and Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services be urged to develop a plan for protecting Virginia’s tobacco farmers. The plan should include recommendations for use of Virginia’s share of the tobacco industry’s payments under the recent national settlement; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly in this matter.