10-50B-1. Legislative findings. The Legislature finds the following:

(1) Cigarette smoking presents serious public health concerns to the State of South Dakota and to the citizens of the state. The surgeon general of the United States has determined that smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases, and that there are hundreds of thousands of tobacco-related deaths in the United States each year. These diseases most often do not appear until many years after the person in question begins smoking;

(2) Cigarette smoking also presents serious financial concerns for the state. 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, and those persons may have a legal entitlement to receive such medical assistance;

(3) Under these programs, the state pays millions of dollars each year to provide medical assistance for these persons for health conditions associated with cigarette smoking; and

(4) On November 23, 1998, major United States tobacco product manufacturers entered into a settlement agreement, entitled Master Settlement Agreement, with the state. The Master Settlement Agreement 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.Source: SL 1999, ch 60, § 1.