Republican lawmakers in the North Dakota House of Representatives reluctantly approved $12.9 million in funding for a pair of committees tasked by voters to come up with a statewide plan to prevent smoking, the Associated Press reported May 5.

The advisory board and executive committee were established when state voters approved Measure 3 last fall, but some Republican lawmakers opposed state support for the panels, which operate independently of the state health department. GOP lawmakers wanted the health agency to run the antismoking campaign, not the boards.

The voter-approved initiative will see the program funded with $124 million in payments from the state's share of the nationwide tobacco settlement.

Funding for the boards was included in a larger spending measure that was approved 36-10 in the state Senate and 86-7 in the House.

Republican leaders feared that voters would punish lawmakers in the 2010 elections if they did not approve the Measure 3 funding.