April 10, 2017
TO:
Senator Richard Pan, M.D.
Chair, Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services
Capitol Building, Room 5114
Sacramento, CA 95814
Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, M.D.
Chair, Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services
Capitol Building, Room 5155
Sacramento, CA 95814
FROM: California Dental Association, California Health+ Advocates, California Pan-Ethnic Health
Network, Children Now, The Children’s Partnership, UOP Dugoni School of Dentistry Pacific
Center for Special Care
RE:
Tobacco Tax initiative funding for the State Oral Health Plan
Oral health stakeholders in California are excited that the hard work of our organizations and many
others has brought new opportunities to improve the oral health of Californians. At the forefront of
these opportunities is the development of a strategic plan for action, led by our new state Dental
Director, Dr. Jay Kumar. Most recently, the successful passage of Proposition 56 last November helped
to secure funding for implementing the plan, for which we are writing to urge you to ensure that the
State Oral Health Program has the flexibility needed to appropriately utilize this funding.
Proposition 56, the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 (Proposition
56), which increased the tobacco tax by $2 a pack, was passed by an overwhelming 64 percent majority
of voters. By passing this measure, voters sent a message that revenues generated from tobacco
products that cause cancer and kill people must also fund a portion of the billions of dollars that
California spends to treat people with tobacco-related diseases. To that end, the measure intended for
the tax revenues to help low-income Californians access health care, including dental services, along
with funds dedicated to tobacco prevention and control programs, medical research, graduate medical
education, and $30 million for preventing and treating dental disease, including those caused by tobacco
products.
The importance of this funding for California’s Oral Health Program cannot be overstated, as this is the
first substantial investment in oral public health in decades and comes at a time when the state is more
prepared than ever to actively engage and coordinate the usage of this funding. At the Oral Health
Program's Advisory Partnership Committee Meeting in January, the Committee discussed the process
and protocols for distributing the $30 million in funding that the State Office of Oral Health will receive
from Proposition 56. Discussion about the needs of the local health departments and the types of
projects required to advance program goals brought a couple of concerns for fund distribution into
focus, including the need to engage in multi-year contracting with concomitant multi-year funding.
As active oral health stakeholders in California, we recognize that these elements are essential to
effectively distribute the funds and allow for strategic program planning and sustainability. To that end,
we have identified the contracting and funding practices in two programs: 1) Maternal, Child and
Adolescent Health Program (MCAH) and 2) the California Tobacco Control Program, as particularly
effective. We recommend that the State Oral Health Program utilize similar practices to engage local
health jurisdictions in receiving and administering funds that are generated by Proposition 56 dollars.
The attached statutory language will ensure that needed flexibility is provided to properly and
effectively disperse this funding over multiple years. Without this flexibility, we are concerned that the
Oral Health Program and the Department of Public Health will be dictated by timelines instead of
strategic disbursements, which could result in a significant missed opportunity to fully employ the
funding passed by voters to improve the oral health of all Californians.
We appreciate all that we have been able to accomplish together as stakeholders in California and urge
your support for a common sense approach to optimizing fund distribution from the State Oral Health
Program to the local communities who would implement its vision. Should you have any questions or
comments on our proposed statutory language, please contact Brianna Pittman with the California
Dental Association at [email protected] or (916) 554-7340.