JOINT RESOLUTIONS SIGNED
by the

PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
and the

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES

Joint Resolution No. 1
(Senate Joint Resolution No. 1)

A Senate Joint Resolution concerning

State Tobacco Settlement Funds - Medicaid Recoupment

FOR the purpose of urging the Congress of the United States to enact and the
President of the United States to support and sign legislation to prohibit the
federal government from recouping any portion of state tobacco settlement
funds; and generally relating to Medicaid recoupment.

WHEREAS, On May 1, 1996, the State of Maryland filed suit in the Circuit
Court for Baltimore City against a number of manufacturers of tobacco products for
monetary damages, civil penalties, declaratory and injunctive relief, and restitution;
and

WHEREAS, The complaint in Maryland's suit alleged that, over many years, the
State paid billions of dollars in Medicaid costs to treat smoking-related illnesses; and

WHEREAS, On November 20, 1998, Maryland joined a national settlement with
the tobacco industry under which the tobacco industry will pay the states a total of
$206 billion to settle all state lawsuits pending against it; and

WHEREAS, Maryland's share of the settlement is approximately $4.4 billion;

and

WHEREAS, Medicaid is a federal-state entitlement program under which the
federal government shares in the cost of providing covered services to eligible
individuals; and

WHEREAS, The federal Medicaid statute provides that the federal government
is entitled to a pro rata share of the net amount recovered by a state from liable third
parties in payment for the amounts the state spent under Medicaid on behalf of
eligible individuals; and

WHEREAS, The Health Care Financing Administration, which administers the
Medicaid program at the federal level, believes that it is authorized and obligated to
collect its share of any tobacco settlement funds attributable to Medicaid
expenditures; and

WHEREAS, The national tobacco settlement was solely attributable to states'
efforts and was reached without any assistance from the federal government; and