A timely veto

Gov. Christine Gregoire should veto the Legislature's last-minute raid on the state's tobacco-prevention fund.

Lawmakers working in conference discovered the budget wouldn't balance without cutting enrollment in the Basic Health Plan, the health-insurance program for low-income Washington residents. So legislators grabbed nearly $14 million from the tobacco-prevention fund. Bad idea. Gregoire should go with her inclination to veto this approach. Lawmakers who increased spending 12 percent next biennium should have been more thrifty all around. They spent too much.

The tobacco-prevention fund was created after the multistate lawsuit against the tobacco companies. Gregoire, then attorney general, was a lead attorney negotiating the settlement. She understands better than anyone the importance of spending the money appropriately.

Money coming to the state has been used for health care and anti-tobacco education and prevention, and that is how it should be.

Other states have used their money for different things, even roads, in one case. A few years ago, the Washington Legislature securitized or cashed in the tobacco settlement early to balance the budget — a mistake not to be repeated.

Gregoire likely will reduce the state's ending fund balance to cover health-plan enrollments, and that carries a lousy precedent of its own. But it is a better course than making budget writers think tobacco-prevention money is open for balancing everyday budget deficits.

In recent years, great strides have been made in persuading teenagers to avoid smoking. Youth smoking has declined dramatically. A recent survey showed the state has reduced smoking by 49 percent among eighth-graders, 48 percent among 10th-graders and 44 percent among seniors.

Smoking prevention is a good investment in the health and well being of the state.

Lawmakers spent too much money this year. But the tobacco-prevention fund ought to be off limits when the numbers fail to add up.