The Louisiana Bond Commission recommended that the state securitize the remaining payments on its share of the 1998 nationwide tobacco settlement, taking cash up front in lieu of future payouts, the Associated Press reported May 9.

The sell-off plan is supported by Gov. Kathleen Blanco but was opposed by Bond Commission chairman John Kennedy, who called it "a sucker play," and groups like the American Heart Association. The legislature would still have to approve the securitization of the payments.

Louisiana sold off 60 percent of its anticipated settlement payments in 2001 in exchange for a $1.1 billion lump-sum payment. The state is expected to get $8 billion over the next few decades from the settlement agreement if no sell-off takes place.