SOUTH DAKOTA RECEIVES
$12.3 MILLION TOBACCO PAYMENT

Attorney General Mark Barnett said that South Dakota received its third tobacco payment yesterday in the amount of $12.27 million, and will receive a smaller payment of $162,000 today. These payments bring the total amount received from the tobacco settlement to $28.5 million. The first two payments totaling $16 million were made last December.

"As these payments continue to come in, I hope the Legislature will stay the wise course of banking it," Barnett said. "There are no guarantees of how long the companies will stay afloat. If we are to build up enough money to really put a dent in tobacco related illnesses, we must guard every penny at this stage."

The payments are a result of the November 1998 $206 billion settlement between 44 states and the tobacco industry. Under the settlement South Dakota will receive an estimated $748 million over the next 25 years.