The state of Iowa, which sold 78 percent of its share of the 1998 nationwide tobacco settlement for a lump-sum payment in 2000, has almost exhausted its tobacco trust fund, Radio Iowa reported Dec. 1.

As sales-tax revenues decline due to the recession, Iowa also must deal with making up for the depleted tobacco account, which has provided about 12 percent of the budget for the state Department of Public Health.

"I think in hindsight the thing we've learned is if government has an unrestricted pot of money to spend they will spend it, and that's unfortunate because I think the model was the right model for us to do," said former state Sen. Jeff Lamberti, who pushed for the state to securitize its share of the settlement and set up the trust fund.

The fund was slated to pay only for healthcare, but rising costs led lawmakers to dip deeper into the pot each year. "It's not that were spending the money wrong, we just don't have enough of it to spend," said state Sen. Jack Hatch.

"The tobacco-control community was never in support of the securitization," said Cathy Calloway from the state chapter of the American Cancer Society. "The idea that tobacco companies were going to go bankrupt or out of business (the original rationale for getting a lump-sum payment up front) was preposterous. Once it happened here in Iowa, we weren't surprised how the money has been spent."

Tobacco-control groups in Iowa are now searching for other ways to fund smoking prevention programs.