A Mississippi judge has ruled that the state legislature, not the courts, must decide whether a successful stop-smoking campaign should be funded with proceeds from the nationwide tobacco settlement.

The Associated Press reported May 30 that Jackson County Chancery Judge Jaye Bradley reversed her previous decision ordering the state to continue to pay the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi $20 million from the fund created by the 1998 deal between the state and the tobacco industry. Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour, a former tobacco industry lobbyist, has been campaigning to strip funding from the group, which works to prevent youth smoking.

Bradley said that while "Mississippi arguably has the most successful tobacco-cessation program in the nation," the political consensus about funding the group that existed when she issued her December 2000 ruling no longer exists. Her decision to put the question back into the hands of lawmakers was a victory for Barbour and left former Attorney General Mike Moore, a Partnership founder and supporter, "perplexed."

"The court has ruled that the governor's opposition has somehow extinguished the court's authority to enter its order, and we don't believe that's the law," Moore said. "We agree with the court that she had authority to enter the order when she entered it. We disagree that she loses her authority because the governor objects."

The Partnership's board will meet soon to decide whether to appeal the decision, Moore said.

Barbour praised the ruling, saying, "The only way for the state to spend state funding is for the Legislature to appropriate it through the legislative process."

Ironically, state lawmakers voted earlier this year to put the funding through the legislative process, but Barbour vetoed that measure.

Meanwhile, the judge's ruling has stripped funding from the Partnership as it enters a new budget year. "Unless funding for the program is restored, Mississippi's kids will pay the price and Gov. Barbour should bear the responsibility," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.