A windfall – of sorts – for North Dakota.
The state is getting another $34 million from the tobacco settlement.
"A part of the terms for that settlement was that we would also diligently enforce the requirement that companies that didn't join the tobacco settlement would pay money into an escrow account," said North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. "That was to level the playing field, competitively."
Stenehjem said the tobacco companies had claimed that North Dakota and other states did not enforce the tobacco control statute – and withheld some of their annual settlement payments.
"We did (enforce it)," Stenehjem said. "An arbitration panel agreed."
That was for 2003. Stenehjem said the tobacco companies claimed the same thing for 2004, and North Dakota was supposed to go to arbitration on that this month.
"But we just decided this process is getting too lengthy and expensive, to constantly be bringing these arbitration claims," Stenehjem said. "We were finally able to work with the tobacco companies, and convinced them they should release money they had been withholding."
So the $34 million settles disputes through 2017.
"And it was money no one had anticipated receiving," Stenehjem said.
The state is still receiving $23 million annually from the settlement. Stenehjem said through the end of the 2015-2017 biennium, the state has received more than $470 million from tobacco settlement payments.
The extra $34 million will be divvied up, according to the formula the Legislature established for the settlement money. Under that, 45% of the money goes to the Water Development trust Fund, 45% to the Common Schools Trust Fund, and 10% to the Community Health Trust Fund.