Farmers to Receive $16.5 Million in Tobacco Payments

Source from:  louisville.bizjournals.com 12/30/2005

The final distribution of 2004 Phase II tobacco settlement payments for certified Kentucky recipients will be made Friday, Dec. 30. Payments of more than $16.5 million will be mailed to more than 164,000 payees, according to a news release. Since 1999, Kentucky tobacco quota holders, growers and tenants received payments to compensate for the anticipated decline in the demand for tobacco and tobacco products resulting from the Master Settlement Agreement among states and tobacco companies. Although the Phase II tobacco settlement program is scheduled to continue through 2010, the tobacco companies' obligation to fund this program effectively ended when the Federal Tobacco Buyout began, the release said. In June, Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher and the state's General Assembly provided $114 million along with $10 million from the Burley Tobacco Growers' Cooperative as a safety net for recipients who did not receive their payment last year, because pending litigation against the tobacco companies. Phase II recipients will have received in 2005 over $140.3 million after this distribution. Phase II payees received more than $732.6 million since the beginning of the program. Enditem