TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y. — Tompkins County and area educational organizations are set to receive $657,313 from a multi-state settlement payout from the e-cigarette company Juul Labs.
The funds must be used for programs to reduce or deter youth e-cigarette use, research into such programs or enforcement of anti-vaping regulations.
Tompkins County will receive $473,932 from the settlement. Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES (TST-BOCES), the public education cooperative that supports school districts in the three counties, will receive $183,380, according to a press release from the state attorney general.
The county’s funds will be administered by Tompkins County Whole Health and the county’s Department of Youth Services, County Administrator Lisa Holmes said during Tuesday night’s county legislature meeting.
Leaders from the two departments will present suggested uses for the funds to county legislators in the fall, Holmes said. The funds may be disbursed in several payments over the course of several years.
A TST-BOCES spokesperson said the educational cooperative plans to share more details about its plans for the settlement funds early next week.
New York State is set to receive a total of $112.7 million from the multi-state settlement.
The lawsuit originated in November 2019, when New York State Attorney General Letitia James brought a lawsuit against Juul along with other state attorneys general. The lawsuit claims that the e-cigarette company intentionally targeted young people with “deceptive and misleading” marketing claims.
The settlement also places restrictions on the company and businesses that sell Juul products. Among them are limits on the number of Juul products that consumers can purchase, compliance checks on some of the businesses that sell Juul products and restrictions on how and where the company can advertise their e-cigarette products.
The full settlement totals $462 million.
In a separate case last year, some school districts, including the Ithaca City School District (ICSD), signed on to a settlement agreement with tobacco conglomerate Altria. Altria once held a minority stake in Juul and currently owns Phillip Morris, among other tobacco companies.
ICSD, which signed on as one of roughly 600 co-litigants in the class action lawsuit, received $8,208 in settlement funds and is restricted from seeking future legal action against Altria.
