Hi, Atlanta!

School’s out for summer – but our state legislators are spending their summer studying.

The legislative session ended in April, and now legislators will turn their attention to “study committees” that take a close look at policy issues and often result in draft legislation. Public health is on the agenda this year, and a study committee focused on the costs and effects of smoking has held its first meeting.

A key question before the committee is whether Georgia should increase its tax on cigarettes. Georgia has the second-lowest tax in the country, at 37 cents per pack, according to the American Lung Association, trailed only by Missouri. Nationwide, the average tax is $1.93 per pack. Georgia taxes smokeless tobacco at 10% and many vape products at 7%.

About 12.5% of Georgians smoke, according to information shared with lawmakers from the American Lung Association, which estimates that nearly 7,000 Georgians will get lung cancer in 2025, and about 3,680 people will die of lung cancer.

Smoking costs Georgia about $3.7 billion in annual health care costs, including nearly $700 million for Medicaid, the state insurance program for low-income people, according to the American Heart Association.

The committee is chaired by Republican Sharon Cooper, a former nurse, and also includes Republicans Lee Hawkins, a dentist; Ron Stephens, a pharmacist; as well as Democrats Michelle Au, a doctor; and Debbie Buckner, who has worked in health care.

Stephens said he had pushed to increase Georgia’s tobacco tax every year of his term, but has not succeeded. This year, Au sponsored a bill that would have increased the tax rate to 57 cents per pack, but it did not advance.

“It’s a very bipartisan issue that many of us are concerned about,” Cooper said during the meeting. “The big bad word is that it’s a tax.”

Other study committees will focus on public health funding, improving access to internal medicine, family caregivers, addiction recovery residences, and cancer care. You can find out more about the committees on state House and Senate websites, and the meetings are typically live streamed.