Tobacco settlement to bring $50M back to Missouri

The office of Attorney General Chris Koster announced Monday it reached a deal with tobacco companies that will recover $50 million in lost payments.

The money stems from a 1998 national settlement in which tobacco companies would make payments to states to help cover health care costs for people with tobacco-related illnesses, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.

The current settlement would generate for Missouri an additional $11 million annually from the payments, but depends on the General Assembly’s approval of a law upholding escrow payments made by companies that were not part of the original settlement.

Read more from the St. Louis Business Journal.