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Citizens group says I-185, the tobacco-tax initiative, is unconstitutional

Posted at 12:22 PM, Aug 22, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-22 14:22:30-04

A Montana-based citizens group says the ballot measure to raise state tobacco taxes and extend Montana’s Medicaid-expansion program is unconstitutional and should be tossed from the November ballot.

In a letter sent late Tuesday to Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, the Guardian Group said Initiative 185 violates the state constitution by appropriating money, and asked Stapleton to remove I-185 from the ballot.

Stapleton’s office told MTN News it will not be removing I-185 from the ballot.

Nathan Pierce, a Billings contractor and spokesman for the Guardian Group, told MTN News Wednesday that the group may consider legal action to press its case.

I-185, if passed by voters this November, would increase state tobacco taxes by $2 on a pack of cigarettes and by 67% on other tobacco products.

It also makes permanent Montana’s Medicaid expansion, which provides government-funded health coverage to nearly 100,000 low-income Montanans, and allocates a portion of the increased tobacco-tax revenue to help finance the state share of Medicaid expansion costs.

The federal government finances most of Medicaid expansion, but the state is scheduled to pay 10 percent of the costs by 2020.

The Guardian Group said the measure violates Section III of the state constitution, that says initiatives may be enacted on all matters “except appropriations of money.”

“I-185 unambiguously appropriates money to many areas, including Medicaid expansion, in clear violation of (the) Montana constitution,” Pierce said in a statement.

The Guardian Group is funded by various organizations and citizen groups and is involved in “consumer advocacy,” Pierce said. It’s hasn’t received any funding from the tobacco-industry-funded committee opposing I-185, he added.