THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994 TAG: 9406160517
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940616 LENGTH: RALEIGH
Sen. Ed Warren, a Democrat, and Rep. Zeno Edwards, a Republican, are sponsoring legislation that would let North Carolina recoup any unemployment benefits paid workers laid off by the state's tobacco industry if a hostile lawsuit is successful.
{REST} Both lawmakers represent Pitt County, which produced 31.4 million pounds of tobacco in 1993, more than any other county in the state.
While their proposal would apply to any state that successfully sues the tobacco industry, it is aimed at Florida, the bill's sponsors say.
The Florida legislature recently amended a little-used law so that the tobacco industry can be held liable for the state's cost of treating people with smoking-related ailments. The amended law allows the state to sue tobacco companies on behalf of the class of smokers on Medicaid.
``The Florida law could be very, very costly for North Carolina,'' said Warren in an interview Wednesday. ``This bill is a way that we can get back at them.''
Edwards said he sent a copy of his bill to Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, a family friend, and asked Chiles to work to repeal the measure when that state's legislature convenes this month.
This is just the latest volley fired in recent weeks by North Carolina legislators against Florida.
Last week, Sen. Sandy Sands, a Reidsville Democrat, filed a bill that would tax every piece of citrus fruit brought into the state. Under the bill, anyone carrying citrus fruit into North Carolina would pay a fee to cover the cost of inspecting it.
Sands, who is running for Congress in a district that includes the headquarters of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said he filed the bill in response to all the recent attacks on tobacco, particularly the new Florida law. At the time, Sands said an ``economic war'' has been declared on North Carolina.
Efforts to reach press aides to Chiles in Tallahassee were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Edwards, a vocal supporter of the tobacco industry, earlier this year criticized East Carolina University's medical school for inviting Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, a critic of tobacco, to speak at its graduation.
Edwards' bill has been referred to a House committee on rules, a move which usually means a proposal has been taken off the fast track in the legislature. Warren's bill has been referred to a Senate committee on manufacturing and labor.
Edwards said the legislature probably won't adopt any of the tobacco measures this session and said the bills are ``just symbolic.''
He said he filed the bill because tobacco is ``still a hell of an investment'' for North Carolina. ``Until it's illegal, we have to do everything we can to protect it.''
A spokesman for R.J. Reynolds said the company is pleased that the bills in defense of tobacco have been filed.
``We are pleased whenever our elected officials stand up for the tobacco family,'' said Maura Ellis, R.J. Reynolds spokesman Wednesday.
by CNB