Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that increases the tobacco tax in order to expand state health coverage.

Highlights:

-Doubles the tax on a pack of twenty cigarettes from $1.00 to $2.00 by June 2007 (Sec. 1). -Establishes the Health Care Coverage Fund to expand Medicaid coverage and provides the fund with the additional tobacco tax revenue and money transferred from various state health insurance agencies (Sec. 1). -Provides comprehensive health care for all adults making at or below 116 percent of the federal poverty level (Sec. 1). -Expands coverage of the Maryland Children’s Health Program to families making from 200 percent to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text